Restaurant Glossary

Plain-English definitions of restaurant-industry terms — KOT, KDS, POS, BOM, AOV, GST Invoice, and 14 more. India-focused.

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This page defines 20 common terms restaurant operators encounter when evaluating POS, KDS, inventory, and analytics software. Useful for new restaurant owners, kitchen staff, and anyone researching restaurant technology in India.

A-D

AOV— Average Order Value: The average rupee value of a single order. AOV = total revenue / number of orders. Increasing AOV through upselling and combos is one of the fastest ways to grow restaurant revenue. Related feature →
Aggregator— Food Aggregator: Third-party platforms that take customer orders and pass them to restaurants for fulfillment. In India the main aggregators are Swiggy and Zomato. Aggregators charge commissions (typically 18-30%). Related feature →
ARPU— Average Revenue Per User: The average revenue generated per customer over a defined period. In restaurant SaaS, ARPU refers to revenue per merchant (restaurant), not per diner. Used for unit economics planning.
BOM— Bill of Materials (Recipe BOM): The list of raw ingredients and quantities required to produce one unit of a menu item. BOM drives auto-decrement of stock on every order and is the foundation of food-cost percentage calculations. Related feature →
Cloud Kitchen— Cloud Kitchen / Dark Kitchen / Virtual Restaurant: A restaurant model with no dine-in seating that serves customers exclusively through delivery (typically aggregators). Lower rent, higher delivery-platform dependency. Often runs multiple brands from one kitchen. Related feature →
COGS— Cost of Goods Sold: The direct cost of ingredients used to produce the food sold in a period. COGS / revenue = food cost percentage. Indian restaurants typically target 28-35% food cost. Related feature →
DSR— Daily Sales Report: End-of-day summary of total revenue, order count, payment-method breakdown, channel mix, and discounts. Required for daily reconciliation between POS, cash, and bank deposits. Related feature →

E-K

ETA— Estimated Time of Arrival: Predicted minutes until an order is ready for the customer (dine-in or pickup) or arrives at the customer's address (delivery). Accurate ETAs reduce calls to the restaurant asking 'where's my order?' Related feature →
Food Cost %— Food Cost Percentage: COGS divided by food revenue, expressed as a percentage. The single most-tracked operational metric in restaurants. Indian sit-down restaurants target 28-35%; QSRs target lower. Related feature →
GST Invoice— Goods and Services Tax Invoice: A tax-compliant invoice required for all Indian restaurant transactions, showing HSN/SAC codes, CGST + SGST breakdowns (or IGST for inter-state), and the restaurant's GSTIN. RestroBomb generates these automatically. Related feature →
KDS— Kitchen Display System: A screen in the kitchen that replaces paper KOTs. Shows live orders, their preparation stage, and elapsed time. Reduces lost tickets, miscommunication, and the chaos of a paper-spike pile-up during peak service. Related feature →
KOT— Kitchen Order Ticket: The slip (paper or digital) sent from the front-of-house to the kitchen specifying what to cook. Traditionally printed on a thermal printer; modern KDS systems display KOTs on a screen instead. Related feature →

L-R

Par Level— Par Stock Level: The minimum quantity of an ingredient that should be on hand at all times. When stock drops below par, it's time to reorder. RestroBomb's Brain can suggest par levels based on actual consumption patterns. Related feature →
POS— Point of Sale: The system used to take orders, process payments, and print bills. Modern POS systems are cloud-based and include inventory, reporting, and integrations. RestroBomb is a cloud-native POS plus KDS plus AI. Related feature →
PWA— Progressive Web App: A website that behaves like an installed app — works offline, can be added to the home screen, sends push notifications — but is installed via the browser, not an app store. RestroBomb's customer-facing menu is a PWA. Related feature →
QR Menu— QR Code Menu / Scan-to-Order: A QR code printed on the table that customers scan to open the restaurant's menu in their phone browser. No app install required. Customers can browse, order, and (optionally) pay directly from the menu. Related feature →

S-Z

Stock Take— Stock Take / Inventory Count: Physical counting of all ingredients on hand. Done weekly or monthly to reconcile actual stock against what the system says (variance). Variance flags theft, waste, recipe BOM errors, or supplier short-shipments. Related feature →
Table Turnover— Table Turnover Rate: How many distinct parties are seated at a table during a service period. Higher turnover = more revenue from the same physical space. Reducing order, prep, and payment friction directly increases turnover. Related feature →
Upsell— Upsell / Cross-sell: Suggesting additional or premium items to a customer at the point of order. 'Would you like cheese with that?' is upselling. AI-driven upsell suggestions in the customer PWA can lift AOV 15-30%. Related feature →
Variance— Inventory Variance: The difference between the stock the system says you have and the stock physically on hand after a stock-take. Positive variance = system over-counted (waste, theft, BOM error). Negative variance = received-but-not-recorded stock. Related feature →

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