An ordering system that needs no new hardware

Ordering systems in hospitality usually assume dedicated hardware: a POS terminal, handhelds, receipt printers, plus multi-year contracts. For a school cafeteria, a bakery or a food truck that effort is wildly out of proportion to the benefit. What was needed was a system that clears the queue and still stays small enough for a small operation to adopt without an investment and without an IT department.

We built browser-first throughout. The guest scans a QR code and orders in the browser, no install and no forced account. The kitchen sees open orders live on a screen the operation already owns, from a tablet to an old monitor. Through the same route the operator gets a POS view, balance accounts, receipts and reporting. Built with Next.js, React and TypeScript on PostgreSQL, with live updates for the kitchen view, containerised and hosted in Germany so the data-protection question is settled from day one.

An operation sets FairOrder up itself in a few minutes and starts on the devices already in the building. What used to be a queue at the counter now arrives pre-ordered and prepared. FairOrder is our own product; the current terms are on fair-order.de.