How to Choose a Bill/POS (Cashier) Program? 2026 Checklist
A bill/POS (cashier) program is the software that holds the tables, orders, kitchen tickets and payments of a restaurant, café or bar, and closes the revenue and the cash drawer at the end of the day. The cost of a wrong choice is paid on a busy Friday night: the internet drops, the printer garbles Turkish characters, two cashiers collide on the same table, or a sale after midnight is written to the wrong day.
This guide gives you the 20 points to ask about whichever product you choose. For each point we wrote why it matters and how to test it under your own venue's conditions, not in the sales demo. Where Genu stands on this list is in a separate section at the end.
Checklist: cashier, printer and hardware (1-7)
| # | Point | Why it matters | How to test it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | How far offline working goes | "Works offline" can mean two different things: only viewing open bills, or full selling including new orders, payments and closing bills. If the outage comes at a busy hour, the difference shows up directly in revenue. | In the demo, unplug the network cable of the cashier computer; open a new table, enter an order, print a kitchen ticket, take a split payment and close the bill. Then restore the connection and check that the transactions were processed exactly once. |
| 2 | Hardware independence | If the system only works with the terminals and printers it sells, both the upfront cost and the dependence at the moment of a failure go up. | Count the Windows computer, thermal printer and phones you already have; ask in writing which of them can be used. |
| 3 | Thermal printer and Turkish characters | A large share of ESC/POS printers print "ş, ğ, İ" garbled unless the Turkish code page is selected correctly. A kitchen ticket nobody can read means the wrong dish. | Print a kitchen ticket containing "Şiş, Çiğ Köfte, Işık, Güveç" on your own printer. Try the USB and network connections separately. |
| 4 | Kitchen display and station routing | If the bar, the grill and the dessert station all see the same ticket, orders slip through. A product has to go to the right station and the right printer. | Enter an order with one drink and one main course; see that each item lands only on its own station's screen and printer. |
| 5 | Waiter device | A requirement for a dedicated handheld terminal means a separate device cost for every waiter; a system that runs on phones and tablets keeps capacity flexible. | Try a waiter logging in with a PIN from their own phone and placing an order; ask whether an app store is required. |
| 6 | Multiple printers and backup | A printer that runs out of paper or has its cable pulled can stop the whole kitchen at a busy hour. | Unplug the kitchen printer's cable or switch it off; watch whether the ticket goes to the backup printer and whether the queue is lost. |
| 7 | Cash drawer and customer display | Being able to follow cash flow at the cashier through the drawer and a customer display reduces cashier errors. | Ask how the drawer is opened on a cash payment; check that the display shows the total and, in a split payment, the remaining amount. |
Checklist: bill and payment (8-13)
| # | Point | Why it matters | How to test it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Bill splitting | On busy tables, equal split, split by item and a free amount are daily work; going back to a calculator costs both time and mistakes. | At a table of four, two people pay by item and two pay equally; one pays cash and one by card. Check that the remaining amount is correct at every step. |
| 9 | Meal card | If meal cards are written to a single "card" line, reconciliation by provider is done by hand. | Take payment with two different meal cards; ask for the providers to appear on separate lines in the end-of-day report. |
| 10 | Delivery, takeaway and counter | Selling without a table, without opening a table, with a queue number and channel-based pricing, saves time when delivery is busy. | Make one delivery and one counter sale without picking a table; see that the delivery fee and the channel price are applied automatically. |
| 11 | Bills to be paid later | If a table whose bill will be paid later is left open, the end of day does not close or the amount is written to the wrong day. | Try closing a bill without payment; ask where it goes and which day it is written to when it is collected the next day. |
| 12 | Two devices on the same bill | If two cashiers, or a waiter and a cashier, change the same table at the same time, items are lost or payment is taken twice. | Open the same bill on two devices and try adding items from both; watch how the system handles the conflict. |
| 13 | Sales after midnight | In a venue that closes late, writing a 00:30 sale to the next calendar day splits the reports in two. | Ask where you set the business-day closing time; check which end-of-day report a sale entered after midnight appears in. |
Checklist: back office, permissions and commercial terms (14-20)
| # | Point | Why it matters | How to test it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | End of day and the accountant | Having the Z report, with its VAT breakdown, payment-method breakdown and cancellations, reach the accountant automatically lightens the month-end load. | Ask for a sample end-of-day report; check whether the VAT breakdown, cancellation reasons and complimentary items appear separately, and ask about the automatic email setting. |
| 15 | Stock and recipes | Without recipe-linked stock deduction, cost and profit margin remain guesswork. | Define a recipe for a product and sell it; check that the raw materials are deducted automatically and the product cost is shown. |
| 16 | Customer credit account (tab) | If the credit ledger for company accounts and regular customers is kept apart from the cashier, receivables tracking breaks down. | Sell to a credit account and take a partial payment; verify that the balance and the transactions appear in one place. |
| 17 | Permissions and cancellation log | Who cancelled an item, gave a complimentary item or a discount, and for what reason? Without a record, the source of a cash shortfall cannot be found. | Try cancelling a confirmed item with a waiter role; check that the permission belongs only to the cashier and manager roles, that a reason is mandatory and that the event appears in the log. |
| 18 | Multi-branch | If branches live in separate accounts, menu and price changes are made separately in each branch and the comparison is prepared by hand. | Ask which plan it is in; ask to change the menu from headquarters and publish it to one branch, and to see the report across branches. |
| 19 | Pricing model | In a system with a low-looking base price, the kitchen display, stock, printer or an extra terminal may be priced as a separate module; the price list excluding VAT and a per-order commission change the total. | Ask in writing for the one-year total including VAT with all the modules you need; ask whether there is a setup fee, a per-terminal fee or a commission. |
| 20 | Trial, data migration, KVKK and support | You cannot know a system you could not trial with your own menu before a busy day; where the data is kept and how you get it out when you leave also matters for KVKK. | Ask for written answers about a trial period that does not ask for a credit card, who does the menu migration, the KVKK privacy notice and the support channels. |
Scoring suggestion
Split the points into three for your venue: "must have", "important" and "nice to have". Remove from the list any product that fails one of the must-haves, whatever its price.
10 questions to ask in a sales call
| # | Question | What to watch for in the answer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | When the internet drops, can I enter new orders, take payments and close bills? | An answer of "you can see the open tables" does not mean full selling. |
| 2 | How are transactions entered during an outage processed when the connection returns, and can records be duplicated? | Whether the cashier has to transfer them by hand. |
| 3 | Can I use the computer, printers and phones I already have? | A dedicated-device requirement and a per-device fee. |
| 4 | How do you solve the Turkish character problem on my own printer? | An answer of "change the printer" instead of a concrete method. |
| 5 | What is the one-year total including VAT with the modules I need? | Per-module extra fees, per-terminal fees, a setup fee. |
| 6 | Do you take a commission on orders? | A percentage cut or an order quota. |
| 7 | Can I try it with my own menu, without giving a credit card? | Only a sales demo being offered instead of a trial. |
| 8 | Who migrates my menu and data, and how do I get my data out if I leave? | Unclear migration fees and export route. |
| 9 | Does the end-of-day report go to my accountant automatically, and does it have a VAT breakdown? | The report staying only on screen. |
| 10 | Where is personal data kept, and where is your KVKK privacy notice? | Not being able to show a written notice. |
Where Genu stands on this list
Genu is a bill and POS (cashier) program for restaurants, cafés, bars, patisseries, delivery and chains. The bill, cashier screen, kitchen display and receipt printer integrations are in the Pro plan (₺24.999 per year, VAT included); the Pro plan also includes the stock, customer credit account, expense, shift and end-of-day report (Z report) features of Premium. There is no order commission and no setup fee, and the 30-day free trial does not ask for a credit card. By point:
- Offline (1): At a cashier with Genu Desktop installed, when the internet drops, new orders, payments, closing bills, putting bills on hold, customer credit accounts, cashier expenses, cash counts and the end-of-day close continue; receipts are printed from the printers connected to the cashier. When the connection returns, transactions are recorded in the cloud in order and exactly once.
- Hardware (2, 5, 7): A Windows cashier computer, an ESC/POS thermal printer and a phone, tablet or the browser of an Android handheld terminal are enough; no special hardware is sold. A serial-port customer display is supported.
- Printer (3, 6): 58 and 80 mm ESC/POS printers connect over USB, network or as a Windows printer; the Turkish code page is selected in one click with a calibration receipt, and if the printer cannot be reached the job moves to the backup printer.
- Kitchen (4): Category, station and printer mapping; each station sees only its own tickets.
- Bill and payment (8-13): Equal, by-item and free-amount splitting; the meal card providers (Multinet, Sodexo, Ticket, Setcard, Metropol, Paye and Winwin) are reported separately; delivery, takeaway and counter without a table; putting on hold; bill lock and event log; end of day tied to the business-day closing time.
- Back office (14-18): The Z report goes to the business owner and the accountant by email; recipe-linked stock and customer and supplier credit accounts (in Premium and above plans); cancelling a confirmed item is limited to the cashier and manager roles, with a mandatory and recorded reason, and an audit log; multi-branch is in the Enterprise plan (2-3 branches at the Pro price per branch, 4+ branches at a custom price).
- Migration (20): The menu is imported from a photo or PDF with AI, or directly from Excel, and is migrated together with you; setup is usually completed the same day.
Fiscal cash register (ÖKC) and delivery platform integrations are on Genu's roadmap.
Frequently asked questions
Is a bill program the same as a POS system?
In daily use, yes. A bill program is the software that holds tables, orders and payments; a POS (point of sale) system describes the same job together with the hardware at the cashier. When comparing, ask separately which hardware the software runs on.
What is the most critical point in a bill program?
Whether it can keep full selling going when the internet drops. If new orders, payments and closing bills do not work during an outage, the cashier stops for the length of the outage; that is why you should unplug the network cable in the demo and try it yourself.
Do I have to buy new hardware for a bill program?
Most of the time, no. A Windows computer, an ESC/POS-compatible thermal printer and a phone or tablet for the waiters are enough. For systems that require a dedicated device, add the device cost to the yearly total.
How should prices be compared?
Do not look at the monthly base price; look at the one-year total including VAT with all the modules you need. Ask one by one about the kitchen display, stock, extra terminals, the setup fee and the order commission.
What should I test during the trial period?
A busy-service scenario with your own menu: opening a table, a kitchen ticket, bill splitting, a meal card, a delivery sale, an outage test and the end-of-day report. A sales demo is no substitute for these scenarios.
Is it hard to switch from another bill program?
The real work is migrating the menu. Ask whether the menu can be imported from Excel, PDF or a photo and who does the migration; in Genu the menu can be imported with AI from a photo or PDF, or from Excel.
Test the checklist on Genu
30-day free trial, no credit card required. Upload your own menu, unplug the cashier's network cable, print a Turkish receipt from your printer and tick off the 20 points one by one.
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