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CountStand
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The platform

Restaurant POS software, from the first tap to the GST return

CountStand is restaurant POS software for India. Billing and tables, the kitchen display, stock by recipe, the day’s numbers and GST work as one system, in a browser, on the screens you already have.

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The short answer CountStand runs one restaurant’s till, kitchen screen, stock and GST from one login. It works in Chrome on the counter computer and in any browser on a tablet or a TV, and prints to thermal printers on your network through the print agent. When the internet drops it keeps billing, and tickets and bills print when the line returns. The Single plan has all of it, from ₹2,999 a month per outlet, plus GST.
  • One loginfor the till, the kitchen, stock and GST
  • To the paisaCGST and SGST, with the odd paisa to CGST
  • 8 minand a late kitchen ticket wears a red ring
  • GSTR-1the month as one JSON file for the portal

01Billing and tables

A till that keeps up with the counter.

A tap adds the dish, the tax is worked out as the bill grows, and one press sends the order and charges it. The pictures on this page are the product, drawn for a sample outlet: Akira, in Surat.

Fig. 1The till at 1:42 pmAkira, Surat · a sample order
Fig. 1The bill at 1:42 pmAkira, Surat
  1. 1The tile keeps count.A tap adds the dish, and the number on the tile says how many are on the bill.
  2. 2One line, one price.The portion and the add-ons sit on the dish they belong to.
  3. 3The tax as you go.₹890.00 of food carries ₹22.25 CGST and ₹22.25 SGST before anyone presses pay.
  4. 4Send and charge, one press.The kitchen gets its tickets and the bill takes the payment from the same button.

At the counter

What the till takes care of.

  • Typing badly still finds the dishSearch forgives spelling and short forms: pnr finds paneer, and Enter adds the highlighted dish.
  • Tables, and captains on a phoneEvery table shows its state, its clock and its bill. Captains open a table on a phone and send the order to the kitchen.
  • Cash, UPI or cardThe bill carries a UPI QR with the amount in it, paid straight to your own account. A bill splits equally or by dish.
  • A void needs a managerA cashier cannot void or discount alone. The manager’s PIN and the reason are recorded every time.
  • The law, checked at the tillNo FSSAI number, a GSTIN that does not check out, or ₹2,00,000 in cash on one bill: the till says which, and refuses.
  • Billing goes on when the internet dropsOrders, cash and settling carry on. Kitchen tickets and bills wait in the till’s queue and print, in order and exactly once, when the line returns.

02The kitchen

Every ticket on a screen, with a clock.

The kitchen display puts each KOT on the board as it is sent, routed to its station, so the kitchen works one queue in order.

Fig. 2The kitchen board at 1:42 pmAkira, Surat · seven tickets
Fig. 2Two tickets at 1:42 pmAkira, Surat

In the kitchen

What the kitchen screen changes.

  • Timed, late ones firstTickets reach the board as they are sent. The clock turns amber at four minutes, and at eight the ticket wears a red ring.
  • One press per stageStart, Mark ready, Mark served: each press moves the whole ticket on, and its border takes the next stage’s colour.
  • Station by stationThe bar sees drinks, the kitchen sees food, and expo sees them all.
  • RecallRecall lists every ticket sent in the last 15 minutes, a press away.
  • KOTs on paper tooThe print agent prints every KOT on a network thermal printer, with the same ticket number as the board.
  • No special hardwareA tablet or a TV with a browser is enough. Nothing beeps: a new ticket takes its place in the queue.

03Stock

Stock, counted by recipe.

Every sale takes its ingredients off stock, so what the shelf should hold is always worked out from what you sold. An alert arrives when an item runs low.

  1. 1Recipes do the countingEach dish lists its ingredients, so every sale takes them off stock.
  2. 2Counts on one sheetEvery ingredient on one list; Enter moves to the next row.
  3. 3Variance in rupeesThe count against what the recipes used, in quantity and in money.
  1. 4Low and out, in a wordEach item says where it stands against its reorder level.
  2. 5Purchase orders you raiseRaised for a supplier, sent by you, marked received when the delivery comes.
  3. 6Wastage, written downSpoilt or dropped stock comes off with its reason.

04The numbers

Reports that read from the bill.

Every report reads the same orders and payments that printed your bills, so the numbers agree with the cash in the drawer.

  1. 1Sales against last weekToday set against the same day last week, and any period against the one before it.
  2. 2Food cost against your targetRecipe cost against sales, and prime cost with labour added.
  3. 3The day ends at 5 amA bill rung at 1 am counts for the night that earned it.
  1. 4Every dish, rankedUnits, revenue, cost and margin, sorted into menu-engineering quadrants.
  2. 5Payments, discounts and voidsThe payment mix, and every discount and void with the person who gave it.
  3. 6Out to your accountantCSV, JSON or PDF, and each day’s sales as Tally XML.

05GST

A tax invoice the law accepts, and the return already added up.

Each invoice is checked for its Rule 46 particulars before it prints, and each month’s sales come out as one GSTR-1 file for the portal.

  1. 1Rule 46, checked before it printsA tax invoice short of a particular is refused, with the reason.
  2. 2A serial the law acceptsINV/S0001/000184: consecutive, unique for the year, restarting on 1 April.
  3. 3Your FSSAI number on every billPrinted beside your GSTIN.
  1. 4CGST and SGST to the paisaKept in whole paise, with the odd paisa to CGST, the same way every time.
  2. 5IGST when the state differsA supply across a state line prints IGST instead of the split.
  3. 6GSTR-1 as one fileThe month’s sales as one JSON file the portal accepts, for you or your CA to upload.

06Hardware

It runs on what you already have.

A computer at the counter, a screen in the kitchen, and printers on your network.

  • Any screen with a browserThe till runs in Chrome on the counter computer, and the kitchen board on a tablet or a TV.
  • Thermal printers on your networkAdded by their IP address, on 80 mm or 58 mm paper, for bills and kitchen tickets. USB and Bluetooth printers are not supported.
  • The print agentOne program on the counter computer sends bills and tickets to the printers. It is the only thing to install.
  • The captain’s phoneCaptains and waiters take the order at the table. Taking payment stays with the cashier.
  • A UPI QR on the billThe guest scans and pays the exact total, into your own account. CountStand never holds the money.
  • When the internet dropsBilling, cash and settling carry on. Reports and the other screens wait for the line to return.

07For the technical eye

How it is built.

No benchmarks, only how the system keeps money, data and records.

  • Money in whole paiseA bill, its lines and the GST return never disagree by a rounding.
  • Each restaurant walled offRow-level security, forced in the database, so one restaurant’s request cannot return another’s rows.
  • Saved before it says savedAn action taken offline is written to the device first, then sent once with a key, so a resend cannot double it.
  • Guest details encryptedNames and phone numbers are stored encrypted, and erased two years after a guest’s last order.
  • Records kept eight yearsBills, payments, GST records and the audit log, as the law asks.
  • Yours to takeExport everything you have put in, any time, including on the way out.

08Glossary

The words on this page.

  • KOTKitchen order ticket: the slip, on paper or on the kitchen screen, that tells a station what to cook.
  • KDSKitchen display system: a screen in the kitchen that shows each ticket with its clock and its stage.
  • GSTR-1The GST return that lists a month’s sales. CountStand gives you the month as one JSON file for the portal.
  • B2CSThe GSTR-1 table for sales to customers without a GSTIN, totalled by state and tax rate, apart from large invoices to another state.
  • Rule 46The rule in the CGST Rules that sets out what a tax invoice must carry, from the GSTIN to a consecutive serial.
  • VarianceThe gap between the stock you counted and the stock the recipes say was used.

Questions

Questions about the product.

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