Bar and Pub POS Software: Tables, Orders and Split Bills

A bar's hardest bill is the one that has been open since 8 p.m. Table 5 started as three people, grew to seven, ordered four rounds and two plates of sekuwa, and at midnight wants to pay in three parts. Add a band night, a bartender working from memory and a drawer counted at 1 a.m., and it's easy to see where money slips away.

This guide covers what bar and pub software actually needs to handle, how Saauzi does it with three apps, a hypothetical Friday and the honest limits, especially around bottle stock.

What software a bar or pub actually needs

• Tabs that stay open for hours, taking round after round without a paper tally.
• A floor that matches your layout: the bar counter, a lounge, a terrace.
• Drinks sold in measures, such as a whisky by the 30 ml or 60 ml peg.
• Food orders that reach the kitchen as tickets.
• Bills that follow groups: split when friends pay separately, merge when two groups end up together.
• A late-night close that adds up, when tired eyes miss mistakes.

How Saauzi covers a bar or pub

When you sign up and choose Bar & Pub as your industry, Saauzi switches on three apps: POS Restaurant, Online Store and Cashbook. They share one catalog and one book, the core of an all-in-one ERP (see our plain-English guide to ERP for small businesses). The Saauzi page for bars and pubs lists the set, and other apps can be installed from the hub later.

POS Restaurant: tabs, tables and the kitchen

• Floors and tables. Set up the bar counter, lounge and terrace as separate floors, each with its own tables.
• Table orders as running tabs. Each round goes on the table's open order until the group asks for the bill.
• Options on menu items. Give a spirit 30 ml and 60 ml options, or a snack half and full plates, under one item each.
• KOT to the kitchen. Food orders go to the kitchen as a kitchen order ticket (KOT), not as orders shouted over the music.
• Split and merge bills, plus reservations for birthday groups and big-match nights.
• Bills with your details. Set VAT once in Settings; bills print your name, address and PAN/VAT.

Online Store: sales away from the bar

The Online Store is a branded, mobile-first storefront on the same catalog, accepting eSewa, Khalti, cards and cash on delivery. Use it for branded T-shirts and glasses, snack platters ordered ahead or a party package paid in advance. If you want to sell alcohol online, check your licence and local rules first.

Cashbook: the 1 a.m. close

Every sale posts to Cashbook automatically, and you add expenses such as the band's fee and ice by category, across cash, bank and wallet accounts. At closing you count the drawer and see any difference against the book that night.

A hypothetical Friday

Say you run a pub with a ten-seat bar, 12 tables and a terrace, and Friday is band night. At 6 p.m. you check reservations, including a birthday group of 12 on the terrace, and record the band's NPR 15,000 fee, paid by bank transfer, in Cashbook.

From 8 p.m. the tables fill. Table 5 keeps adding rounds to the same order while food goes to the kitchen as KOTs. Two friends from the bar join the birthday group, so their bill is merged into the terrace table's. At midnight table 5 splits its bill three ways.

At 1 a.m. the drawer is NPR 500 over the book, which usually means a round was paid in cash but never rung up. On Saturday the best-sellers report shows which beers and snacks carried the night, and slow movers show the cocktail nobody orders.

A checklist for choosing bar and pub POS software

• Can a tab stay open all night and keep taking rounds?
• Can one drink be sold in more than one measure under a single menu item?
• Do food orders reach the kitchen as tickets?
• Can you sell merchandise or party packages online from the same catalog?
• Is it a flat price, with no commission on sales?

If your place is more dining room than bar, our guide to restaurant management software goes deeper on tables and group bills.

Where Saauzi fits and where it doesn't

Saauzi fits a bar or pub that wants tabs, kitchen tickets, bills and a clean nightly close in one place. For a bar, the limits are sharper:

• No bottle-level stock by default. Menu items don't track stock by default; Saauzi records how many of each drink you sold, not how much is left in the bottle or the cooler. There's no pour tracking and no conversion from bottles to pegs, so keep your own bar stock count.
• No recipes, cocktail costing or food-cost reports.
• No delivery-app integrations and no delivery management.
• No online booking or event ticketing. Staff record reservations.
• No payroll or staff rostering.
• Cashbook is not full accounting. VAT and excise returns stay with your accountant.

What it costs

Your first app is free forever, so you can run POS Restaurant alone at first. One flat subscription unlocks every Saauzi app, including the Online Store and Cashbook: NPR 1,500 per user per month or NPR 12,000 per user per year (US$20 per user per month or US$200 per user per year internationally), with no commission on sales.

With four users, say you, two bartenders and a floor manager, that's NPR 6,000 (US$80) a month, or NPR 48,000 (US$800) a year on annual billing. The pricing page has the details.

FAQ

Can Saauzi tell me how much liquor is left in each bottle?

No. Menu items don't track stock by default and there's no pour tracking. Saauzi tells you what you sold and what the night took in.

Can a tab stay open all night?

Yes. A table order stays open until you bill it, and you can split or merge bills at the end.

Can I sell alcohol through the Online Store?

That depends on your licence and local law, not on Saauzi. Many bars use the store for merchandise and pre-paid party packages instead.

If your bar still runs tabs on paper, put tables, rounds and the nightly close on one system, and keep your own bottle count alongside it. See how Saauzi sets up software for bars and pubs, and start with one app free.