Restaurant POS system with M-Pesa in Kenya: what to look for

Most Kenyan guests pay with M-Pesa, some with cash, a few with a card, and a table of friends often wants to split the bill three ways. If your till cannot do that quickly, the queue at the cashier grows and mistakes follow. Here is what a restaurant POS system with M-Pesa should do, and what to ask before you pay for one.

1. M-Pesa, cash and card on the same bill

The cashier should enter the amount paid by each method on one bill, with change worked out for the cash part. The M-Pesa transaction code should be kept with the sale, and a code that was already used on another sale should be refused. That protects you from a guest or a staff member reusing a code.

2. Split bills

When four friends share a table, one person pays for the drinks and another for the food. A good restaurant POS lets the cashier move ticked items to a new bill at the same table and take payment for each part.

3. Bills with numbers

Every table or tab should become a numbered bill. The waiter prints it for the guest, and it shows for the cashier as unpaid until payment is confirmed. The cashier can search by bill number, table, waiter or amount. This is the part that works as restaurant billing software.

4. Orders that reach the kitchen

A POS that only takes payment solves half the problem. Waiters should send orders from a phone to the kitchen and bar screens, with notes, so nothing is shouted across the room. This is the restaurant ordering system side of the till.

5. Control over who can do what

Waiters should not take money or void sales, and the kitchen should not see prices. Look for separate logins for cashier, waiter, kitchen and bar.

6. Stock and daily reports

Each item sold should reduce its stock, and you should see sales, profit and each cashier's takings by day.

An example: Saturday lunch in Westlands

Picture a restaurant in Westlands, Nairobi, with twelve tables, three waiters and one cashier. A table of four finishes lunch and asks for the bill. It comes to KES 4,800 as an example. Two friends want to pay for the food and the other two for the drinks.

The waiter prints the numbered bill and the cashier finds it under unpaid bills. The cashier ticks the drinks, moves them to a new bill at the same table, and takes KES 3,000 by M-Pesa for the food with its code. The other two hand over KES 2,000 in cash for drinks worth KES 1,800, and the change is worked out. Two receipts, no calculator, no argument. If someone later tries the same M-Pesa code on another sale, it is refused.

Checklist before you choose a restaurant POS

• Can the cashier mix M-Pesa, cash and card on one bill?
• Is the M-Pesa code saved, and is a reused code refused?
• Can a bill be split by moving items to a new bill?
• Does every bill have a number you can search?
• Do waiters send orders to the kitchen and bar without taking payment?
• Does stock go down with every sale?
• Can you see each cashier's takings by shift?

Common mistakes to avoid

• Buying a till that only takes payment. If orders still travel by shouting, you have fixed half the problem.
• Letting waiters take money. Separate the person who serves from the person who collects.
• Ignoring the M-Pesa code. Without it saved on the sale, you cannot check a payment later.
• Skipping the closing count. Open the till with a float and close it with the cash counted every day.
• Paying for features you will not use. A small shop may only need the Starter plain till.

Questions

Does a restaurant POS need special hardware? No. Afritelligence runs in a browser on a phone, tablet or computer.

Can one guest pay part by M-Pesa and part by cash? Yes, enter each amount on the same bill.

Can waiters see the till? No. Waiters send orders and print bills, and the cashier confirms payment.

Is it only for sit-down restaurants? No. A small fast food place can use the Starter package as a plain till.

Where Afritelligence fits

Afritelligence is a restaurant POS system with all of the above in the Business package. The Starter package is a plain till for a small fast food shop. Hotel rooms come with the Pro package. See the prices and how the till works.