Note
What to fix before you buy any restaurant software
Software makes an existing process faster. If the process is undefined, the software simply produces confusion at speed.
4 min read
We would rather a restaurant arrive with three habits in place than with a large budget. Tools amplify whatever process already exists — including the absence of one.
One agreed menu, in one place
It sounds obvious, and it almost never holds. The printed menu, the delivery listing, the kitchen's working list and the recipe costings drift apart within weeks of a change. Before any system is introduced, decide which version is the truth and who is allowed to change it.
One definition of waste
A remake, a comp, a spoiled ingredient and a staff meal are four different things, and treating them as one number hides every useful signal. Agree the categories with the kitchen — not with the spreadsheet — and keep them stable long enough to compare weeks.
One person who owns the numbers
Shared ownership of a report means nobody reads it. Name the person who reviews the day, and give them the authority to change tomorrow's prep in response. Without that, better data changes nothing.
Then, and only then, connect the parts
Once those three are in place, connecting ordering, service and stock is genuinely transformative — because every number that appears has an owner, a definition and a decision attached to it.
If you are working through this and want a second pair of eyes, we are happy to talk about your restaurant whether or not Ordena turns out to be the right fit.
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