Fast food runs on speed. Customers want their order taken, made and ready fast. Behind every meal, ingredients are being used up, cashiers are handling cash, and staff costs are adding up. The margins are thin and the only way to stay on top of them is to know your numbers daily.
Most fast food owners use a basic till and guess the rest. Food cost is whatever feels right. Payroll is a spreadsheet. There's no number at the end of the day telling the manager whether the outlet made money.
Vendra connects the cashier screen to the kitchen, the kitchen to your ingredient stock, and your daily sales to a food cost report. That's it — that's what you need.
What fast food software actually needs to do
A fast food operation has specific requirements that a general retail POS does not cover:
- Present combo meals and size variants at the cashier screen for fast order entry
- Send orders to the correct kitchen station printer the moment the cashier confirms payment
- Deduct ingredient quantities from stock on every sale without manual input
- Show daily food cost as a percentage of sales so managers know if they are on target
- Support FIFO stock rotation for fresh ingredients like patties, buns and produce
- Handle shift-based payroll with per-hour rates for kitchen and counter staff
- Reconcile each cashier's session independently at shift end
- Manage supplier ordering for ingredients with short shelf lives
- Support multi-outlet operations under a single management account
How Vendra handles fast food operations
Combo meal POS with variants
Combo meals are configured in Vendra as product combos — a grouping of a main item, a side and a drink at a combined price. When the cashier selects a combo, the system can prompt for applicable variants: burger size, sauce preference, drink size, regular or large fries. Each combination carries its own price without the cashier having to calculate anything. The POS screen is organised by category tabs so moving between meal categories, sides and drinks requires a single tap.
For items sold individually, product attributes handle the variants. A standalone burger might have size and add-on options. A drink might have size and flavour. Every combination is configured once and available at the till without staff needing to memorise a pricing chart.
Kitchen order printing from the POS
When the cashier confirms an order and takes payment, Vendra automatically routes a preparation ticket to the relevant kitchen station printer. Burgers go to the grill printer, fries to the fryer station, and drinks to the beverages counter. The kitchen team sees orders in the sequence they were placed — no shouting across the counter, no handwritten tickets, no orders missed because the cashier got busy with the next customer.
The preparation printer configuration in Vendra lets you route each product category to a specific printer. A single order can generate tickets on multiple printers simultaneously — grill and drinks receive their instructions at the same time the cashier takes payment, which is where fast food speed comes from.
Ingredient deduction per meal via pos_stock_control
Each menu item is linked to a Bill of Materials (BOM) defining the ingredient quantities consumed. A standard burger meal might call for a 150g patty, one brioche bun, a specific sauce portion, vegetable toppings and a packaging set. When that meal is sold at the POS, those ingredient quantities are deducted from stock immediately. No manual subtraction, no end-of-day batch update — the stock level reflects what has actually been consumed.
For fresh ingredients, FIFO (First In First Out) rotation is applied at the inventory level. The oldest batch of patties or buns is consumed first, ensuring that stock closest to its use-by date is used before newer deliveries. This reduces waste on high-value fresh items and ensures quality consistency.
Daily food cost vs sales report
The POS Profit and Loss report in Vendra shows daily revenue against the cost of goods sold. Cost of goods sold is calculated from the BOM ingredient costs — what those sold portions actually cost you based on current supplier pricing. The report tells you your food cost for the day, the food cost percentage and the gross margin. Compare it against your target food cost percentage and you have a daily performance metric without waiting for a monthly stock count.
Combo meal POS
Set up combo meals as bundles — a main, a side and a drink at one price. Size and sauce options are handled as variants. The cashier taps the combo and the till does the rest.
Kitchen order printing
The moment the cashier takes payment, a prep ticket prints at the right station. Burgers go to the grill, drinks go to the beverage counter — at the same time, without anyone shouting across the kitchen.
Ingredient deduction
Every meal you sell takes the right ingredient amounts off your stock. You can see live stock levels at any point during the shift without counting anything manually.
Food cost report
At the end of each day, you see what you sold against what the ingredients actually cost you. Your food cost percentage is right there — no waiting until month-end to know if you're on track.
Cashier session reconciliation
Each cashier works their own session. When the shift ends, Vendra shows what the cash in the drawer should be versus what's actually there. Any gap is flagged before they leave.
Staff shift payroll
Pay kitchen and counter staff correctly each month. Vendra handles hourly rates, overtime, and the deductions your country requires. Payslips go out from the system.
Supplier ordering with FIFO for fresh items
Vendra's Purchase module handles supplier management for perishable ingredients. Reorder rules define the minimum stock level for each ingredient — when fresh patties drop below a threshold, a draft purchase order is generated for the supplier. You review and confirm the order from Vendra, and when the delivery arrives you receive it against the PO. Lot numbers and use-by dates are recorded on arrival so FIFO rotation is enforced automatically throughout ingredient consumption.
Staff payroll for kitchen and counter staff
The Payroll module in Vendra handles the compensation calculation for hourly and shift-based employees. You configure salary structures appropriate to your country — basic hourly rate, overtime premium, weekend loading — and Vendra calculates each staff member's gross pay, statutory deductions and net pay. Payslips are generated per employee and payment is recorded in accounting. For a fast food operation with high staff turnover, this removes a significant administrative burden from the shift manager.
Multi-outlet franchise management
The Pro Plus plan supports multiple outlets under a single Vendra account. Each outlet maintains its own POS sessions, ingredient inventory and cashier reconciliation independently. Central management can view consolidated revenue, food cost percentages and stock levels across all outlets. Purchasing can be centralised — one PO to the meat supplier serving all outlets — with stock allocated to individual locations on receipt.
Which plan do I need?
A single-outlet fast food restaurant with full POS, ingredient tracking, kitchen printing and accounting runs on the Pro plan at $27/month. Multi-outlet operations need Pro Plus at $50/month for multi-location management, consolidated reporting and inter-outlet stock visibility.