How to Choose a Restaurant POS in Pakistan: A Checklist

How to use this checklist

1. Ask every vendor the same questions and take notes. Do not rely on memory.
2. Ask for answers by email or in the contract. A promise made in a demo is not a promise.
3. Mark each answer as yes, no or "on the roadmap". Roadmap is a no until it ships.
4. Run a real trial with your own menu and your real shift, not a canned demo.
5. Calculate total cost for one year, not the headline monthly figure.

Competitor facts quoted in this guide come from each vendor's own published information, checked 25 October 2026, and are not independently verified.

Group 1: Price and hidden fees

1. What is the total monthly price for one branch with the features I need, not the entry plan?
2. Is there a setup, onboarding or app-development fee, and is any payment required in advance?
3. Is there commission or a percentage fee on orders, online orders or card payments?
4. What is limited by plan: users, terminals, orders per day, riders, kitchen screens, branches?
5. What do extra units cost, and what happens when I grow past a limit?
6. What is not in the price: domain, hosting, mobile app, printers, payment gateway, support?

Hidden costs are where a cheap headline turns expensive. Our post on hidden costs in restaurant software explains the common ones. For reference, RestroAI is PKR 15,000 per branch per month with every feature included, no commission on orders and no setup fee. Hardware is billed separately. Card payments through Stripe carry Stripe's processing fees.

Notice that capacity, not features, is what you pay extra for. Ask every vendor to show you their equivalent.

Group 2: Features that matter in daily service

1. Does it handle dine-in, takeaway and delivery on one screen, with cash and card?
2. Does the kitchen get orders on a display or printer, and can I see order times?
3. Does it include rider and delivery management, or is that a separate product?
4. Does it take online orders on my own branded website and domain?
5. Which aggregators does it connect to, and what exactly syncs: orders, menu, status, payouts?
6. Does it track inventory, recipes and waste, and is that included or extra?

The aggregator question has real traps. RestroAI receives Foodpanda orders into the same order list, with menu and order-status sync. It does not reconcile Foodpanda payouts, and no other aggregators are integrated. Other vendors may differ, so ask exactly what is covered. Also ask whether table-number QR ordering is live, since vendors often show it in demos. In RestroAI it is not live yet.

Group 3: Tax integration: ask whether it is live

1. Is it integrated with the tax authority that applies to me (FBR, PRA, SRB, or ZATCA in Saudi Arabia), and is that integration live today, not planned?
2. What do I receive as proof, such as certification or approval documents?
3. What does it cost, and is it in the base price or a higher plan?
4. What happens to my sales if the authority's system is unavailable?

Read our guides to the rules: FBR POS integration and ZATCA Phase 2.

Group 4: Data ownership and security

1. Who owns my sales, menu and customer data, and is that written in the terms?
2. Can I export it in a usable format, and is there a fee?
3. What happens to my data and my website address if I cancel?
4. How are card payments processed, and who stores card details?
5. Is there a long contract, and what is the notice period?

Exit terms are as important as entry terms. RestroAI has no long-term contract and no notice period: you cancel any time, effective at the end of the paid period. Card payments are processed by Stripe, which is PCI DSS Level 1. Whatever vendor you consider, read the terms for data export before you rely on them.

Group 5: Support, offline mode and hardware

1. What are support hours, in my time zone, and through which channels?
2. Does support speak my language, and is it remote or on site?
3. What is the uptime target, and what happens when the system is down?
4. Does the POS keep selling when the internet drops, and does it sync afterwards?
5. Which hardware is supported: tablets, receipt printers, cash drawers, and who supplies it?
6. How long does setup take, and is menu import from my current system included?

For reference, RestroAI support is Monday to Saturday, 9am to 9pm PKT, from Lahore, by email at support@restroai.io. Support is remote, with no on-site teams in other cities. There is a 99.9% monthly uptime target. The POS keeps selling offline and syncs when the connection returns. Hardware runs on iPads, Android tablets or any touchscreen with a browser, and receipt printers and cash drawers are supported. Most restaurants go live within 24 to 48 hours, with menu import included.

Scoring the answers and making the call

Give each question a score: 2 for a clear yes in writing, 1 for partly or at extra cost, 0 for no or roadmap. Add up each group, then weight the groups by what you need most. A restaurant with delivery will weight Group 2 heavily. A restaurant that must have direct tax integration will weight Group 3 above everything else and may need a different vendor than us today.

• Eliminate any vendor that cannot answer the price questions in writing.
• Eliminate any vendor whose "live" integration cannot be shown working.
• Trial the top two with your real menu for the same week.
• Choose on total cost for a year, exit terms and how they treat you when something breaks.

RestroAI has a 14-day free trial with no credit card required.

Start free at restroai.io. One branch. One price. Every feature.

Frequently asked questions