Starting a restaurant · updated 01/09/2026
How restaurant owners save lakhs in startup costs with Fooduru
Before you have sold a single dosa, a POS vendor will quote you a touchscreen terminal, a printer, a customer display and often a self-ordering kiosk — anywhere from ₹85,000 to over ₹3,00,000 in hardware. Fooduru does the same jobs on the phone and tablet you already own, and on your customer’s own phone. The only thing you might buy is a ₹5,000 printer, and only if you want printed bills.
The four things a POS salesman will quote you
These are the hardware line items on a typical Indian restaurant POS quotation. Prices shown are a major vendor’s own published figures from a 2026 brochure, checked on 01/09/2026, and are before 18% GST.
Touch-POS terminal
The billing screen your cashier taps to make a bill and take payment.
Typical price
₹50,000 – ₹54,000 + GST
On Fooduru: ₹0 — Cashier Mode runs in the browser on the Android phone or tablet you already own.
Thermal printer
Prints the customer bill and the kitchen ticket (KOT).
Typical price
₹7,500 – ₹12,000 + GST
On Fooduru: About ₹5,000, and only if you want printed bills — any ESC/POS printer, supplied at cost. Taking orders and payments needs no printer at all.
Customer display
The second screen that shows the customer what they are being charged.
Typical price
₹12,000 – ₹18,000 + GST
On Fooduru: ₹0 — the customer reads the menu, the item list and the total on their own phone, and pays from it.
Self-ordering kiosk
The standing touchscreen customers use to order without staff.
Typical price
₹70,000 – ₹1,45,000 + GST each
On Fooduru: ₹0 — a printed QR sticker on the counter. The customer orders and pays on the phone in their hand, which is a better kiosk than the kiosk: no queue for it, and you can have twenty at once.
What each brand recommends, versus Fooduru
Every rival figure is a published brochure price on 01/09/2026, before GST. The Fooduru column is our standard setup.
| Hardware | Typical POS setup | Fooduru |
|---|---|---|
| Touch-POS terminal | ₹50,000 – ₹54,000 + GST | ₹0 — Cashier Mode runs in the browser on the Android phone or tablet you already own. |
| Thermal printer | ₹7,500 – ₹12,000 + GST | About ₹5,000, and only if you want printed bills — any ESC/POS printer, supplied at cost. Taking orders and payments needs no printer at all. |
| Customer display | ₹12,000 – ₹18,000 + GST | ₹0 — the customer reads the menu, the item list and the total on their own phone, and pays from it. |
| Self-ordering kiosk | ₹70,000 – ₹1,45,000 + GST each | ₹0 — a printed QR sticker on the counter. The customer orders and pays on the phone in their hand, which is a better kiosk than the kiosk: no queue for it, and you can have twenty at once. |
| Cash drawer | ₹3,500 – ₹4,000 + GST | ₹0 — use any generic drawer, or none |
| Onboarding & setup | Quoted separately | ₹0 — menu digitisation, training and payment-gateway setup included |
| Software | Subscription, not publicly listed | ₹599/month, or ₹5,990/year |
Rival hardware prices are from a 2026 brochure, checked on 01/09/2026, and exclude 18% GST; they are cited as an example of typical market pricing. Vendor prices change without notice — verify before deciding. All product names are trademarks of their respective owners; this is an independent comparison published by Fooduru and is not endorsed by any vendor named. Spot an error? Tell us and we will correct it.
What you keep in your pocket on day one
Hardware totals below include 18% GST. The Fooduru column assumes you already own one phone or tablet — the only optional spend is a printer.
| Setup | Typical POS hardware (incl. GST) | On Fooduru |
|---|---|---|
| Counter billing onlyOne touch-POS terminal, one printer, one customer display, one cash drawer. | ₹86,000 – ₹1,04,000 | ₹0 – ₹5,000 |
| Add one self-ordering kioskThe same counter, plus a single standing kiosk for customers to order themselves. | ₹1,70,000 – ₹2,75,000 | ₹0 – ₹5,000 |
| Two counters and two kiosksA mid-size QSR: two billing points and two kiosks in the lobby. | ₹3,00,000 and up | ₹0 – ₹5,000 |
That is ₹1 to ₹3 lakh you do not spend before opening — money that can go into your kitchen, your rent deposit, or your staff instead.
And there is nothing to depreciate, nothing under a hardware warranty, and nothing to replace in three years. When a device breaks you buy another ordinary phone.
How each job gets done without the box
The billing terminal → a tablet you own
Cashier Mode is a full counter till in the browser: a photo grid of dishes, a running bill, cash or UPI, a printed GST bill and kitchen ticket, and a token. It runs a full day offline if the network drops. How Cashier Mode works →
The kiosk & customer display → the customer’s phone
A printed QR sticker on the counter replaces a ₹1.5-lakh kiosk. The customer browses in English or ಕನ್ನಡ, sees every price and the total, pays by UPI into your own account, and watches their token on their screen — no second display to buy.
The printer → optional
If you want printed bills and KOTs, any thermal printer that speaks ESC/POS and connects over USB or Bluetooth LE works — about ₹5,000 for a new one, supplied at cost, or free to pair if you already own one. You can also run entirely without a printer: the customer keeps a digital bill and the kitchen works from the screen. One limitation to know before you buy an Apple device: thermal printing does not work in Safari on iPhone or iPad, so a counter that must print needs Android, Windows or macOS.
Common questions
- How much does a restaurant POS system cost in India?
- The software and the hardware are two separate bills. Restaurant POS software runs from roughly ₹150 to ₹5,000 per month depending on the vendor; Fooduru is ₹599 per month. The hardware is the larger and less-discussed number. A 2026 price list from one of India’s biggest POS vendors quotes a touch-POS terminal at ₹50,000–₹54,000, a thermal printer at ₹7,500–₹12,000, a customer display at ₹12,000–₹18,000 and a cash drawer at ₹3,500–₹4,000, all before 18% GST — about ₹86,000 to ₹1,04,000 for one billing point. A self-ordering kiosk adds ₹70,000 to ₹1,45,000 more, each. Fooduru needs none of it: the cashier screen runs on a phone or tablet you already own, and the customer orders on theirs.
- Do I need a POS machine or billing machine to open a restaurant?
- No. A dedicated billing machine is a convenience, not a legal or practical requirement. What you actually need is a way to record a sale, produce a GST-compliant bill, and route the order to the kitchen. Fooduru does all three in a web browser, so an Android phone, a tablet or a laptop you already have becomes the billing point. Many small restaurants in India spend ₹50,000 or more on a terminal that is, underneath, a low-end Windows computer bolted to a touchscreen — money that a new restaurant is usually better off keeping for its kitchen or its rent deposit.
- How much does a self-ordering kiosk cost in India?
- Between about ₹70,000 and ₹1,45,000 per unit before GST, going by a 2026 kiosk brochure from a major vendor: roughly ₹70,000–₹75,000 for a 22-inch wall or floor model and ₹1,25,000–₹1,45,000 for a 27– or 32-inch floor-standing one, plus the POS software subscription on top. With Fooduru the kiosk is a printed QR sticker that costs nothing: the customer scans it and orders on their own phone. That also removes the queue that forms at a single physical kiosk during a rush, because every customer has their own.
- Can I use my own phone or tablet as a restaurant POS?
- Yes — that is the whole idea behind Fooduru. Cashier Mode is a counter-billing screen that runs in Chrome or Edge on an ordinary Android phone or tablet. Staff tap dishes on a photo grid, take cash or UPI, print a GST bill and a kitchen ticket on a paired thermal printer, and hand over a token. It also keeps working with the internet completely down, storing each sale on the device and uploading it when the connection returns. There is no per-device licence, so a second old phone as a backup till costs you nothing extra.
- Is a phone or tablet reliable enough for restaurant billing?
- For counter-service billing, yes. A modern ₹12,000 Android tablet has more computing power than the ₹50,000 terminals sold with most POS packages, which are built for durability and long vendor support contracts rather than speed. The reliability question that matters for a busy counter is what happens when the network drops, and Fooduru’s cash counter is built to run a full day offline. Two things a tablet does not replace: a heavy lockable cash drawer if you handle a lot of notes (any generic one works, and it is optional), and thermal printing on Apple devices, which their browsers do not support — use Android, Windows or macOS if the counter must print.
- What hardware do I actually need to run Fooduru?
- A phone, tablet or laptop with a modern browser — something almost every restaurant already has. That is the entire requirement. Optional extras, none of them needed to go live: a thermal printer if you want printed bills and kitchen tickets (about ₹5,000 for an ESC/POS model, or free to pair if you already own one), a spare screen or old TV for the public token board, and a cash drawer. Onboarding, digitising your printed menu, staff training and payment-gateway setup are included at no charge. Software is ₹599 per month, or ₹5,990 for a year.
Starting a restaurant in Bengaluru?
Tell us what you are opening. We will digitise your printed menu from a photo, set up your counter and hours, connect your existing payment account and train your staff from day one — all included, before you pay for a single month.
Last updated 01/09/2026. Fooduru is made in Bengaluru by Antarya Technologies. Fooduru software prices exclude GST. Competitor hardware figures are third-party published prices and may be out of date.