POS for cafes and coffee shops
A cafe is a modifier problem. The menu is short, but almost every order is customised — size, milk, shots, syrup, temperature — and the till has to keep up with a queue at 8am.
What is configured differently for cafes and coffee shops
- Nested modifier groups with defaults, so a flat white is one tap and a customised one is three.
- Cup-size variants that change the recipe draw-down, not just the price.
- Loyalty on visit frequency rather than basket size, which is how cafes actually retain.
Modifier structure that matches a drinks menu
Drink items are built with modifier groups that carry sensible defaults, so the common order is a single tap and only the deviation costs extra taps.
Groups can be required or optional and can be constrained, so a barista cannot accidentally send a latte with no milk selected.
- Size variants that change price and ingredient draw-down together.
- Milk alternatives priced individually.
- Extra shots and syrups as repeatable modifiers.
Where the margin actually is
Coffee has high gross margin and high waste. Recipe costing at the shot and millilitre level is what surfaces the gap between what should have been poured and what was.
Prep recipes cover the batch items a cafe genuinely makes — cold brew, syrups, sauces — rather than pretending each drink is assembled from raw stock.
Repeat custom
Cafes are a frequency business. The loyalty program tracks visits and rewards accordingly, and the WhatsApp receipt turns an anonymous walk-in into a contactable customer without asking anyone to fill in a form.
Speed at the morning peak
A cafe’s worst half hour decides its reputation. Ordering has to be fast enough that the queue does not visibly stall, which is mostly a question of how many taps the median order takes.
Grid layout, item ordering and sensible modifier defaults are the levers. A menu arranged the way the menu board is arranged, rather than alphabetically, removes a surprising amount of hesitation from a new barista.
Takeaway and dine-in at different prices
Many cafes price a sit-down coffee differently from a takeaway one, and in Sindh the tax treatment also moves with how the customer settles.
Order channel is recorded on every order, so the takeaway and dine-in splits are visible in reporting rather than inferred from the time of day.
Food that is prepped, not cooked to order
Most cafe food is assembled from things made earlier — sandwiches from prepped fillings, cakes bought in or baked in batches. Prep recipes model that directly, so the food side of a cafe costs correctly instead of being treated as an afterthought to the drinks.
Frequently asked questions
Can I run a cafe on the Starter plan?
Yes — modifiers, combos and WhatsApp receipts are all on Starter. Loyalty and inventory are on Pro, which is where most cafes end up once they want to control waste.
Try it on your own menu
Fourteen days free, no card required. Setup takes about thirty minutes.