Hello folks,

I've spent the better part of career here on Reddit following this sub. I'm not a chef by any means, but you guys are probably what give me the most laughs and chuckles after a day at work. You all rock. Also, I apply the knowledge I get here to my own cooking to some degree of success (nobody is dead that I've fed).

However, I've noticed a trend over the years here. Apparently stock management or "kitchen management" software sucks in general.

Well, I'm a professional developer. I'm looking at things in the kitchen space, and they all suck or look as dated as I can possibly imagine.

So here is my question:

I'm going to commit to following through on developing a new kitchen management software system. This will include a full FOH POS system, full BOH ticket system and full management system including salary, time clock, inventory and so on.

I've decided to also develop the integrated computer stations for the servers to use. I'll be developing a POS register using low cost (but highly reliable) components, since cost of these types of systems seems to be a huge bar of entry. With all this said, what would be your "Dream System"? What features don't exist in anything else that do exist otherwise? What absolutely tickles your pickle in such a way that a brand new system shouldn't be without?

In return, however legally binding this is, everyone who contributes to this will receive software licenses for an undetermined (but long) period of time for free and hardware at cost as a "thank you" for helping me design this.

One thing that I've considered already is ticket time integration with the cooking times. For example:

A table of 5 orders 6 items, each item takes a different amount of time to cook and put to the pass. The ticket system will spit out tickets to the line in such a way that all items arrive to the pass together so the expediter can use their ticket to assemble the table as one cohesive experience with minimal stress. Combine this with an "order queue" and time estimations for the servers to know when food is going to come up and some form of "heads up display" to let servers know when to pick up food (something discreet) which can also serve as a "self-service" pick up station (think Panera Bread).

Another few obvious options would be easy to design and manage websites, online menu, online reservations, mobile and text message integration, Facebook and Twitter integration for marketing and menu design generation with many styles to choose from at no cost.

Tracking of vendor prices obviously includes, with order sheet integration to keep stock levels correct. Liquor integration for bars. Open bar tab integration and so on.

Is this over zealous? Yep. Will I succeed with delivering a product? Yea, most definitely. Will it be good? To be determined, I've got little experience in this space, I just recognize a need.

In later development cycles, I'll be back to purchase your opinions, test drive the software and so on.

Also, bonus points if you're willing to share your last invoice from your existing ordering systems so I can see how they're billed, and how their SKUs work in the space and get a rough idea of how much you guys are getting ripped off on.

I would like to avoid any type of "modular" pricing, I rather a kitchen simply pay by employee or something similar for all the core features. Of course that's a lot of room for me to get screwed over by untrustworthy managers (as from what I've read, they're unfortunately semi-common).

So throw your ideas at me, once I get some stuff fleshed together we'll do a round two of this and I'll send out some Amazon Gift Cards or something that you guys may be interested in or offer some options. When I get into the actual QA testing, I'll be looking to hire some folks to give me a few hours of your precious hard earned free time each week to test things out and make sure that it's not a total mess.

Thanks!