Cloud QR ordering, integrated into an existing point of sale estate
Table ordering for venues that did not want to replace the system they already depend on, in an environment where connectivity cannot be assumed.
The situation
Venues running an established point of sale wanted table ordering without replacing the system their staff already knew and their accountant already trusted. Orders were taken on paper, walked to a terminal and rekeyed, which cost time at the busiest hour of service and produced errors nobody could trace afterwards.
The constraint that shaped everything: internet connectivity in the venues could not be assumed. A design that stopped taking orders when the line dropped was not a design anyone would buy.
What I did
I scoped the integration with the venues and the point of sale vendor, designed the architecture, specified the payment flow against the partner agreement, and built and deployed the middleware and the local bridge agents. The commercial structure of the payment component was mine to define as well, which turned out to matter more than any of the engineering.
System diagram
Key decisions and tradeoffs
Three decisions that shaped the build, the alternative in each case, and what the choice cost.
A local bridge agent rather than a direct cloud to point of sale connection
Fee handling designed around the payment partner agreement, not around the code
Integrating through the vendor's API rather than at the database layer
Current status
In pilot with two venues, taking live orders through service. Rollout to the wider estate is paused until menu synchronisation is automated, which is the next piece of work.
Scheduled next: automated menu sync with the point of sale, then a phased rollout to the remaining eleven venues through Q1.
Stack and timeline
Stack: SambaPOS GraphQL API, cloud middleware, local bridge agent, ABA PayWay, Cloudflare R2.
| Phase | Work | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery | Venue observation, vendor API review, payment agreement read | 2 weeks |
| Specification | Architecture, payment flow, fixed price scope | 1 week |
| Build | Middleware, bridge agent, ordering interface, KHQR | 6 weeks |
| Pilot | Two venues, staff training, live service | 2 weeks |
Have a system that half works and nobody wants to touch?
A systems review puts the situation, the cost and the options in writing.