The verdict in three sentences
A restaurant chain loses margin on three fronts: unconsolidated tills, poorly tracked food cost and stockouts. In 2026, a custom platform costs 50,000 to 130,000 EUR (excl. VAT), ships in 20 to 28 weeks and unifies sales, stock and multi-site scheduling. The payback comes mainly from food cost -3 to -5 points and stockouts down about 25%.
What each building block costs
A chain does not need everything at once. Here is a 2026 order of magnitude per module to prioritise the budget.
| Module | Range EUR (excl. VAT) | Indicative time |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-till sales consolidation | 14,000-30,000 | 6-8 weeks |
| Stock management and food cost | 12,000-28,000 | 5-7 weeks |
| Staff scheduling and clock-in | 8,000-20,000 | 4-6 weeks |
| Centralised supplier ordering | 7,000-18,000 | 3-5 weeks |
| Per-site margin reporting | 6,000-16,000 | 3-4 weeks |
| Integrations (existing till, accounting) | 5,000-15,000 | 2-4 weeks |
Maintenance runs at about 15%/yr of development cost: fixes, enhancements and multi-site support.
The quantified impact on margin
The real lever for a chain is not the software price but its effect on the P&L. Here is the typical impact on a restaurant with 900,000 EUR annual revenue (excl. VAT).
| Metric | Before | After | Annual gain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food cost (% of revenue) | 32% | 28% | ~36,000 EUR |
| Stockouts (% of SKUs) | 8% | 6% | Sales preserved |
| Manager admin time/week | 9 h | 5.5 h | ~3.5 h/site |
| Till discrepancies | untracked | tracked | Losses reduced |
| Gross margin | baseline | +2 to 4 pts | Consolidated |
Need a professional website?
Kolonell builds websites that attract clients, optimized for the Sénégalese market. Free quote in 2 minutes.
Mini case study
Sophie, director of a 6-restaurant chain in Lyon (combined revenue 5.4M EUR excl. VAT), sees an average food cost of 32%. She invests 95,000 EUR in a custom platform plus 14,000 EUR of annual maintenance. Centralised stock and ordering brings food cost down to 28%, i.e. 4 points on 5.4M EUR = 216,000 EUR saved per year. The project pays back in under 6 months, and the admin time recovered (about 3.5 h per manager per week, i.e. 21 h/week across the network) is reinvested on the floor.
FAQ
Do we have to replace our existing tills? Not necessarily. Current tills can be connected via API, with the consolidation and food cost layer built on top for about 25,000 to 50,000 EUR.
How long to roll out across all sites? The core ships in 12-16 weeks, then per-site rollout takes 1 to 2 weeks each including training. Budget 20 to 28 weeks for a full network.
How do we gain 3 to 5 food cost points? Through theoretical/actual variance tracking, centralised supplier ordering and stockout alerts, which remove over-stocking and waste.
Is staff scheduling included? Yes, as a module (8,000-20,000 EUR): scheduling, clock-in and hours tracking, with export to payroll.
What budget for a small 3-site chain? From 50,000 EUR for the sales + stock core, then extensions as needed. Maintenance stays at ~15%/yr.
Let's scope your project. Tell us your number of sites, your current till system and your target food cost for a quote between 50,000 and 130,000 EUR (excl. VAT). 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.
