How to choose a restaurant POS in Nepal: a 10-point checklist

Most restaurant owners in Kathmandu and beyond choose a POS the same way: a salesperson shows a demo on a quiet afternoon, the screens look tidy, and the decision is made on price. The trouble shows up three weeks later, on a Friday night, when the internet drops, a table wants to split a bill five ways, and the kitchen is reading a ticket that no longer matches the order.

This checklist is built from that Friday night. Ask every vendor, including us, these ten questions before you sign anything.

1. What happens when the internet drops?

A POS that stops when the connection stops is a liability in any city with unreliable broadband. Ask for a live test: unplug the router and take an order. The floor and kitchen screens should keep working and sync when the connection returns.

2. Does the kitchen see the same ticket the floor sent?

Whether an order is entered by a waiter or placed by a guest from a QR menu, it should land on one kitchen ticket, with timers, notes and modifiers. Two places to check means missed orders.

3. How flexible is the bill?

Real tables split by item, by guest, and across cash, card and online payments on a single bill. Add VAT and service charge on top, and a bill that can be printed or shared. If the demo only shows one payment per bill, keep asking.

4. Is stock connected to sales?

Recipes that deduct ingredients as you sell, low-stock alerts, vendor purchases and wastage records turn a POS into a cost-control tool. Without them you are guessing at food cost.

5. Can you see more than one outlet?

Even if you have one outlet today, ask how a second one would work. A central overview across branches, with roles that keep each team in its own lane, saves a painful migration later.

• 6. Roles and permissions: cashiers, waiters, kitchen and inventory staff should see only what they need, and financial pages should be protected.
• 7. Reports and exports: sales by hour, category and channel, plus Excel and PDF exports your accountant can use.
• 8. Guest ordering: a QR menu and online ordering that run from the same menu as the POS, not a separate system to keep in sync.
• 9. Setup effort: can your existing menu be imported from a photo or PDF rather than retyped item by item?
• 10. Support you can reach: a local team that answers by phone or WhatsApp in your own timezone.

Where Navalyst POS fits

Navalyst POS is built around exactly these questions: live floor and tables, kitchen tickets, flexible billing, stock and recipes, multi-branch overview, roles, reports and a QR menu with online ordering. If you would like to run the Friday-night test on your own menu, we will set up a walkthrough.