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- Case study · Restaurant point of sale · Offline first
Rose POS
A restaurant point of sale that keeps taking orders when the internet does not
Industry: Restaurants and hospitality
Engagement: 6+ months, ongoing
- Works with the internet cable pulled out
- Split bills that add up, every time
- Card payments through Worldpay
A busy restaurant cannot stop because the wifi did
Rose POS is the till, the kitchen printer, the cash drawer and the manager’s reports for restaurants with several locations. Servers take dine in and to go orders, split bills, take cards through Worldpay, and reprint receipts. Managers count cash at close, see voids, and run reports across every site.
The one thing the client would not compromise on: a Friday night rush cannot stop because the internet dropped. So every location runs on a small local server that keeps working offline and syncs to the cloud when the connection returns. That single requirement shaped every other decision, including one we got wrong the first time.
We are building it as a multi location product from the ground up: one restaurant group’s data is fully separate from another’s, and the same codebase serves every terminal, so a fix for one site is a fix for all of them.
Key Capabilities
What staff and managers use it for, every shift
Orders and payments in one place
Printers and cash drawer that behave
Tables and dine in orders
To go and quick orders
Split bills and part payments
Order history and void tracking
Manager dashboard and reports
Barcode scanning and reprints
What it looks like
Four screens from the terminal and the admin
Under the hood
What it runs on
Chosen for one job: keep working offline, talk to real hardware, and sync safely when the connection comes back.
Frontend
- React terminal app packaged for Windows / Web admin panel for managers
Backend
- API service for orders, payments, printing and cash drawer control, running on a local Linux mini PC in each restaurant
Database
- PostgreSQL, one database per restaurant group in the cloud (AWS RDS) and a local copy in each location that syncs when online
Hardware & Integrations
- Worldpay triPOS card payments (EMV, surcharge, PCI scoped) / Thermal and dot matrix printers / Cash drawers via the receipt printer / USB barcode scanners / Virtual printer for testing
Hosting & Infrastructure
- Local server per site for offline operation, cloud sync to AWS
Building something that has to work when the internet does not?
Restaurants, clinics, shops, warehouses. Offline first is a design decision, not a feature you add later. Talk to us before you pick a database.
What made it hard
Real hardware, real rushes, and no internet
A POS is judged at 8pm on a Saturday, not in a demo. Printers jam, drawers stick, tablets behave differently from terminals, and the connection drops. The software has to be boring and predictable through all of it.
On the floor
Business challenges
What the restaurant staff told us they were living with:
- Tablets and terminals behaving differently
- Slow order entry and payment mistakes at peak
- Confusing table and order flows for new staff
- Split bills that did not add up
- Managers unable to see who voided what
Engineering
Technical challenges
What we had to solve in the code:
- Same printer and drawer behaviour from every device
- Printing that retries instead of silently failing
- An order history that survives an offline period
- Cashier, server and manager roles on one codebase
- Keeping data for each restaurant group completely separate
How it works
Six parts, and the one we rebuilt
Every terminal is a thin screen. The real work, orders, payments, printing, cash, happens on a small server in the restaurant, so every device behaves the same and nothing depends on the internet being up.
One local brain per restaurant
Terminals send actions to a local server that owns the business logic and the hardware. If a terminal crashes, the order is safe. If the internet drops,nobody notices.
- Local server per site
- Thin terminals
- Secure local API
- Keeps working offline
- STEP 01
Printers and drawers that behave
Every print job goes through a queue with retries.Printers are named by role (kitchen, bar, receipt),so a swapped printer needs no code change.Every drawer open is logged.
- Printers named by role
- Print queue
- Automatic retries
- Drawer open log
- STEP 02
Every order, every void, on record
Orders, edits, voids and payments are stored locally first and synced up, so the history is complete even for a shift spent offline. Managers see who did what.
- Order history
- Void Tracking
- Payment log
- Manager reports
- STEP 03
Flows that match a real service
We benchmarked Toast, Square, Clover and Lightspeed so staff who had used any of them would feel at home, then trimmed every flow to
the fewest taps.
- Tables
- To go orders
- See the order at a glance
- Quick Edits
- STEP 04
Payments and cash that reconcile
Card payments run through Worldpay triPOS with EMV and surcharge handled. Split bills and part payments are calculated once, centrally. Closing cash is counted in the app and variances are recorded.
- Worldpay card payments
- Split and part payments
- Cash count at close
- Variance record
- STEP 05
Reprints and scanners
Any receipt can be reprinted from history. USB barcode scanners work on every terminal. A virtual printer lets us test print layouts without wasting paper.
- Receipt reprint
- Barcode scanning
- Virtual printer for testing
- STEP 06
Problems on the way
Five things that were hard, including the one we got wrong
In plain terms, with what happened.
The first database design was wrong for offline
Solution
We started with one shared database for all restaurant groups. Midway through it became clear that true offline operation needed a cleaner boundary. We told the client, showed the trade offs, and rebuilt to one database per group with a local copy in each restaurant.
Result
A design that can actually run offline and sync safely. It cost and the client heard about it the same week, not at the end.
Printers failed silently
Solution
Moved all printing behind a queue on the local server with retries and named printer roles.
Result
Kitchen tickets stopped going missing, and a swapped printer no longer needs a developer.
Split bills did not add up
Solution
Rewrote split and part payment logic to run once, centrally, instead of on each terminal.
Result
Totals match on every terminal and at close
New staff got lost in the screens
Solution
Redesigned table and to go flows against the POS systems staff already knew, and cut taps per order.
Result
Faster orders at peak and less training for new hires.
Card payments without the PCI headache
Solution
Integrated Worldpay triPOS Cloud so card data never touches our software, keeping the restaurant out of most of the PCI scope.
Result
EMV chip payments and surcharges handled, with a far smaller compliance burden for the restaurant.
- Where it stands
Rose POS is in active development and Card payments are live on the back end, the offline first architecture is in place, and the terminal app is being built against 103 user stories the client signed off. Same two developers since the start.
~50%
Reduction in order and billing errors
Feedback
Hear it from our clients
Reviews
What clients say after launch
Unedited reviews from real projects
The project went well, the team was professional and got up to speed quickly on the work and performed effectively. They help us get the project back on track and now we are in a good position. I will definitely use them in the future for subsequent tasks as they arise. I recommend them and look forward to working with them again in the future!
Jonathan Torleson
I approached Sunil to assist me with a specific part of a project. His quick understanding of the project and clear technical skill and proficiency resulted in his involvement growing into a lead role. Will definitely be working with again in the future.
Adam New
Rajvjay and his team delivered exactly what they promised on time and within budget. They handled every requirement with great care, and I have to say, they're true masters of process. I actually learned a lot about Agile practices and tools like Jira and Trello from them. I'd highly recommend this team to anyone who values a structured, process-driven approach for smooth and efficient project delivery.
Shivangi
Working with Arun has been a great experience! The team is very knowledgeable and has provided several design and product enhancement ideas along the way. I highly recommend!
Gil Comeaux
Sunil showed strong technical knowledge and delivered high-quality work. Communication was clear, deadlines were met, and they handled all tasks professionally. I would be happy to work with them again
Adam New
The RAPROD team sincerely appreciates the work delivered during the development phase. The contractor played an important role in building the core platform and helping establish a stable functional foundation with the current feature set. Their responsiveness, technical capability, and ability to execute on requirements contributed meaningfully to the project’s progress.
Mitesh Shetty
My second engagement with the WebAtlas team was just as great as the first. I handed off a very large codebase to them to take over from a previous developer, which was in a broken state, and they were able to effectively piece it back together, get it running again, and add new capabilities. I highly recommend the team, they are professional and easy to work with. They were flexible and responsive.
Jonathan Torleson
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