A till system stays with a café for years. The wrong one slows the queue, loses bills and hides your real profit. Before you pay for any system, ask these seven questions.
1. Does it keep selling when the internet drops?
The internet will go down; the only question is when. A good system keeps selling, saves every bill on the device with its own ID, and uploads it automatically when the connection returns — never twice. Ask the vendor to unplug the internet in front of you and ring up a sale.
2. Does it understand drinks?
A café isn't a generic shop. You need sizes, add-ons (oat milk, an extra shot) and a note on each cup, like "no sugar". If the note sits on the whole bill instead of the cup, the barista will get it wrong.
3. Can it take orders from a customer app?
Order-ahead shortens the rush-hour queue. What matters is that a new order rings at the counter and on staff phones, and keeps ringing until someone accepts it.
4. Is there a real loyalty program?
Points and tiers (Single, Double, Triple) bring customers back. Ask: can points be redeemed right at the till? And does changing the point value later rewrite old bills? It shouldn't.
5. Does it know your cost per cup?
Write each drink's recipe once and the system takes the ingredients out of stock with every sale, so you know what a cup really costs and what it earns you.
6. Does it keep the drawer honest?
Open the drawer with a float, log every cash in and out, and compare expected against counted at the end of the shift. Any difference should show immediately.
7. Do the reports answer your questions?
What sells most? When are you busiest? How does this month compare with last? Can you see it on your phone when you're away?
The short version
Pick a system a real café has tested, that is fully Arabic, and that doesn't stop when the internet does. Sijiliati was built inside a café and runs at its counter every day — you can try it yourself on demo data.