Restaurant & Hospitality Inventory & Cost Management Platform

A Datawise-delivered SaaS platform enabling restaurants and hospitality groups to manage inventory ordering, recipe costs, supplier relationships, waste, and profitability — while also connecting merchants directly with suppliers through a built-in marketplace.

Key Highlights

Main achievements and outcomes

Problem Statement

Restaurants lacked a unified platform for managing inventory, ordering supplies, and controlling food costs. Manual workflows and disconnected POS systems made it difficult to understand true profitability and optimize procurement.

Approach

Delivered a domain-driven, event-driven, multi-tenant platform combining inventory management with a supplier marketplace.

Results

Empowered merchants to optimize costs and streamline stock management, while enabling suppliers to directly service restaurants via the platform, fostering transparency and efficiency across the supply chain.

Project Overview & Results

Comprehensive project details, challenges, solutions, and outcomes

Domain

Restaurant & Hospitality Technology

Tech Stack/Tools

Backend: Java, Spring Boot
Architecture: Hexagonal, modular monolith, event-driven, multi-tenant, , Domain-Driven Design (DDD)
Frontend: React (SPA webapp, both merchant and supplier apps). React Native for mobile for cross platform mobile apps.
Data Layer: PostgreSQL for structured data, ElasticSearch for catalog/ingredient/inventory search, and S3-compatible object storage for files and reports
Deployment: Cloud-native on GCP with containerized services
Other: Integration with Spotlight POS and external supplier systems

Problem Statement

Restaurants and hospitality groups faced challenges managing inventory orders, recipes, supplier relationships, and waste. POS systems tracked sales but lacked insights into food costs, stock levels, or procurement needs. Suppliers had limited visibility into merchant demand, leading to inefficiencies in replenishment and missed opportunities for direct engagement.

Solution

Datawise delivered a unified inventory and supplier marketplace platform:
Inventory Ordering: Automated stock ordering to ensure kitchens and outlets remain supplied.
Supplier Marketplace: Merchants could buy directly from suppliers onboarded on the platform, supported by a dedicated supplier app.
Recipe & Supplier Management: Centralized catalog, recipe costing, and supplier contracts in one platform.
Advanced Reporting: Dashboards covering COGS%, turnover, waste, menu engineering, and profitability analysis.
Search & Accessibility: ElasticSearch-powered free-text search across suppliers, products, recipes, and inventory.
Multi-Tenant Flexibility: Supported two distinct tenant types — merchants and suppliers — within a single codebase.
Integration: Real-time data sync with Spotlight POS for accurate consumption and cost tracking.
Deployment: SaaS and enterprise-ready on GCP, with scalability, resilience, and strong security practices.

Outcomes

Operational Control: Enhanced visibility into stock levels, ordering, and waste across outlets.
Profitability: Improved cost management and menu engineering, reducing waste and increasing margins.
Supplier Empowerment: Gave suppliers a digital channel to connect directly with merchants and fulfill orders.
Speed & Consistency: State-of-the-art development practices (DDD, automated testing, static code analysis, peer reviews) ensured rapid, reliable delivery.
Scalability: Multi-tenant, event-driven architecture supporting both merchant and supplier networks.
Future-Ready: Extensible platform adaptable to new integrations, reporting needs, and supply chain models.