The verdict in three sentences
A market till solution (Lightspeed, Tiller, Zelty) handles payment and stock for one restaurant at 40 to 90 EUR per site per month, but does not naturally consolidate several venues. A custom layer (45,000 to 110,000 EUR) centralises recipes, food cost, group purchasing and real-time reporting above the existing tills. The financial lever is direct: -3 points of food cost on a group buying 3M EUR of goods is worth about 90,000 EUR a year.
Till solution vs multi-site custom layer
| Criterion | Market till | Till + custom layer |
|---|---|---|
| Cost (per site/month) | 40 to 90 EUR | 40 to 90 EUR (kept) |
| Initial cost | 1,000 to 6,000 EUR | 45,000 to 110,000 EUR |
| Multi-site consolidation | manual export | real-time |
| Recipe / food cost management | per site | centralised and standardised |
| Group purchasing | no | consolidated orders |
| Time to deploy | 2 to 6 weeks | 5 to 10 months |
| Year-1 cost (6 sites) | 8,000 to 20,000 EUR | 55,000 to 130,000 EUR |
Below 3 sites a market till is often enough. Beyond that, the custom layer turns weekly Excel exports into real-time steering.
Multi-site quote modules
| Module | Scope | 2026 range (EUR ex. VAT) |
|---|---|---|
| Till connectors | multi-editor aggregation | 10,000 to 24,000 EUR |
| Recipe & food cost management | spec sheets, margins | 12,000 to 26,000 EUR |
| Purchasing & suppliers | consolidated orders, pricing | 8,000 to 20,000 EUR |
| Multi-site stock | inventories, transfers, waste | 8,000 to 18,000 EUR |
| Group reporting | revenue, food cost, labour cost per site | 6,000 to 14,000 EUR |
| Testing & training | site-by-site rollout | 6,000 to 12,000 EUR |
Mini case study
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Karim runs a group of 6 restaurants in Lyon, 12M EUR revenue and about 3.6M EUR of goods purchases a year, at an average food cost of 31%. He invests 88,000 EUR in a custom layer. By standardising spec sheets and centralising purchasing, he brings food cost to 28%, i.e. -3 points and about -108,000 EUR in annual materials cost. The tool pays back in under 10 months, before gains on stock waste and the weekly reporting time saved by the chefs.
FAQ
Do we have to change each site's tills? No: the layer connects to existing tills via API; you only replace them if they expose no usable connector.
How do you save 3 points of food cost? Through standardised spec sheets, waste tracking and centralised purchasing that improves supplier pricing.
How long to roll out across 6 sites? Expect 5 to 10 months: scoping and connectors first, then a site-by-site rollout to secure data.
Is reporting really real-time? Yes: sales and stock feed continuously, replacing weekly Excel consolidation with a group dashboard.
What maintenance budget? Budget 15 to 20% of the development cost per year for enhancements and till connector upkeep.
Let's scope your project. Share your site count, your current tills and your priorities (food cost, purchasing, reporting), and we will price the layer. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
