Cafe operations hub
A hypothetical independent cafe with one counter, a small kitchen and a part-time manager. Orders arrive at the counter, by phone and through delivery apps, and stock is counted by eye at the end of the week.
This is a hypothetical business and a proposed system. It is not a client project and no results are claimed.
The problem
Orders are written on paper or typed into a billing tool that does not know about stock, so the kitchen finds out an ingredient has run out when a customer has already ordered the dish.
Daily sales, wastage and supplier orders live in three different places. The owner reconciles them on Sunday night, and by then the week is gone.
The proposed solution
A single web app where counter orders, phone orders and manually keyed delivery-app orders land in one queue. Each menu item is linked to a simple recipe, so selling a dish reduces ingredient stock.
A low-stock list, a supplier order draft and an end-of-day summary the manager reviews and approves. Nothing is ordered or sent without a person confirming it.
The workflow, before and after
How it works today (hypothetical)
- Step 1: Order taken on paper or in a separate billing tool
- Step 2: Kitchen relies on memory for what is in stock
- Step 3: Stock counted by hand once a week
- Step 4: Supplier orders sent from a personal phone
- Step 5: Owner rebuilds the week from receipts on Sunday
How the concept would work
- Step 1: Every order enters one shared queue
- Step 2: Recipes deduct ingredients as dishes are sold
- Step 3: Low-stock list updates through the day
- Step 4: Supplier order is drafted, reviewed, then sent by the manager
- Step 5: End-of-day summary is ready for review at close
Features we would propose
- Unified order queue for counter and phone orders
- Menu items with ingredient-level recipes
- Low-stock alerts and reorder drafts
- Wastage log with reasons
- End-of-day sales and stock summary
- Role-based access for owner, manager and counter staff
Technology
- Next.js and TypeScript
- PostgreSQL (for example via Supabase)
- Payment gateway integration as a potential add-on, with gateway fees paid to the provider
- WhatsApp Business API as a potential integration for supplier messages, subject to Meta approval and per-message fees
Results
No results are claimed for this project. It is a concept, so there are no measured outcomes to report.
See the matching demo
Explore a clickable cafe operations demo that uses sample data only.
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