Restaurant / café software, built around ServSafe, ABC and plate/recipe costing & menu engineering

Arkathos gives a restaurant a workspace tailored to how the work actually runs — This workspace is built around running nightly service — POS close, tips, and food cost — while the books reconcile themselves. Arkathos tailors a restaurant workspace around 6 agents: Treasury, Armory, Quartermaster, mint-warden, bulletin-board, Herald.

Compliance a restaurant can't afford to miss

Watchtower tracks every license, bond, insurance policy, and continuing-education requirement for a restaurant, with renewal cadences and staged reminders so nothing lapses.

• A restaurant must maintain a General Business License, which renews every year.
• A restaurant must maintain a Retail Food Establishment Permit / Food Service License, through the Local (county/municipal) health department, which renews every year.
• A restaurant must maintain a Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM / ServSafe Manager), through the ANAB-Conference for Food Protection accredited program (e.g., ServSafe/National Restaurant Association, Prometric, NRFSP); recognized by state/local health authority, which renews every 5 years.
• A restaurant must maintain a Retail Food Service Establishment Permit, through the Local Health Dept, which renews every year.
• A restaurant must maintain a Certificate of Occupancy, through the Local Building Dept, which has no fixed renewal cycle.
• A restaurant must maintain a Food Handler Card / Certificate (food employees), through the State or local health authority via ANAB-accredited training provider, which renews every 3 years.
• A restaurant must maintain a Food Protection Manager Certification (ServSafe), through the ANSI-Accredited Provider (ServSafe / National Restaurant Association), which renews every 5 years.
• A restaurant must maintain a Liquor License / On-Premise Alcoholic Beverage License, through the State Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) authority (with local approval), which renews every year.
• A restaurant must maintain a Employee Food Handler Cards, through the Local Health Dept / ANSI Provider, which renews every 3 years.
• A restaurant must maintain a Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) / Alcohol Server Certification, through the State ABC authority / accredited alcohol-server training provider (e.g., CA ABC RBS, TIPS, ServSafe Alcohol), which renews every 3 years.
• A restaurant must maintain a Sales Tax Permit / Seller's Permit, through the State Department of Revenue / Taxation, which has no fixed renewal cycle.
• A restaurant must maintain a Sales Tax / Seller's Permit, through the State Dept of Revenue, which has no fixed renewal cycle.
• A restaurant must maintain a Commercial Kitchen Hood Fire Suppression System Certification (NFPA 96), through the Local fire marshal / AHJ; serviced semi-annually by licensed suppression contractor per NFPA 96 §11.6, which renews every 6 months.
• A restaurant must maintain a On-Premise Liquor / Beer & Wine License (if serving alcohol), through the ABC/Liquor Board, which renews every year.
• A restaurant must maintain a Grease Trap / FOG Wastewater Discharge Permit, through the Local wastewater / sewer authority (POTW) or municipal public works, which renews every year.
• A restaurant must maintain a Music Licensing (ASCAP/BMI/SESAC), through the Performing Rights Organization, which renews every year.
• A restaurant must maintain a Commercial General Liability Insurance, through the Commercial insurance carrier, which renews every year.
• A restaurant must maintain a General Liability Insurance, which renews every year.
• A restaurant must maintain a Liquor Liability (Dram Shop) Insurance, through the Commercial insurance carrier, which renews every year.
• A restaurant must maintain a Property / Commercial Package Insurance, which renews every year.
• A restaurant must maintain a Workers' Compensation Insurance, through the State-regulated workers' compensation carrier / state fund, which renews every year.
• A restaurant must maintain a Cyber Liability Insurance, through the Commercial insurance carrier, which renews every year.

Everything Arkathos runs for a restaurant

These are the agents set up first for a restaurant — and because it's one platform, every plan includes all 16 Arkathos agents. Also included whenever you need them: Sentinel, Guardhouse, Scribe, Courier, War Room, Marshall, Mint Warden, Vault Keeper, Watchtower, Bulletin Board, Client Portal.

• Treasury — Invoicing & payment collection, Expense tracking, Accounting & bookkeeping, Business tax prep & filing, Recurring billing & subscriptions, Financial dashboards & reports.
• Armory — Inventory & stock tracking, Supplier & purchase orders, Receipt scanning (OCR), Waste & shrink tracking, Low-stock alerts.
• Quartermaster — Online booking & appointments, Calendar & availability, Events & waitlists, Automated reminders, Job dispatch & scheduling.
• Herald — SEO & get-found content, Social media scheduling, Email & newsletter campaigns, Brand voice & content studio, Review & reputation growth, AI-overview & directory visibility.

Your tailored restaurant workspace

These are net-new, restaurant-specific capabilities — not a generic CRM bolted onto your industry.

• Plate/recipe costing & menu engineering (Armory): A recipe/BOM layer that maps each menu item to ingredient quantities so every plate carries a live food-cost % and contribution margin, with a menu-engineering matrix (stars/plowhorses/puzzles/dogs). Armory tracks items today but has no recipe→menu-cost rollup.
• POS daily-sales auto-import (Toast/Square/Clover) (Mint Warden): Nightly pull of gross sales, voids, comps, discounts, and card tips from the restaurant POS straight into Daily close, replacing manual entry and reconciling drawer-to-POS variance automatically.
• Tip pooling / tip-out allocation + Form 8027 (Treasury): Allocate pooled tips across servers/bussers/bar/kitchen by hours or points, apply the tipped-minimum-wage tip credit, and auto-generate Form 8027 for large F&B operations. Reference tip data exists but allocation does not.
• Reservation + waitlist with SMS paging & large-party deposits (Quartermaster): Public reservation widget, SMS wait-list paging, and deposit-to-hold/no-show charge for private dining and large parties, tied to the night's table inventory.
• Prep par sheet + waste/spoilage log (Armory): A daily prep sheet driven by par levels and forecast plus a waste/spoilage log that feeds food-cost variance, so over-prep and theoretical-vs-actual usage are visible the next morning.

The agents and tabs you get

Treasury for a restaurant surfaces Financial sheet, Transactions, Sales tax, Tips, Chat. Armory for a restaurant surfaces Items, Suppliers, Quick Count, Inbox, Chat. Quartermaster for a restaurant surfaces Bookings, Waitlist, Calendar, Chat, Availability. Herald for a restaurant surfaces Brief, Compose, Get found, Directories, ✦Studio, Schedule, Chat, Brand voice.

Frequently asked questions

best restaurant management software for a small restaurant

Common picks include Toast, Square for Restaurants, Homebase and 7shifts. For the back office (finances, scheduling, payroll, marketing) with no per-seat fees, an all-in-one like Arkathos consolidates the admin side alongside your POS.

how much does a restaurant pos system cost per month

Software runs roughly $0-$300/month, plus hardware from ~$700 and 2.3-3.5% processing per transaction; add-ons $10-$100/month. Arkathos uses flat pricing with no per-seat fees for the back-office layer.

how to track tips and tip pooling for restaurant payroll

Log each employee's tips per shift, all pool contributions/payouts and hours worked; managers can't share the pool. Reconcile POS tips to payroll regularly. Arkathos's payroll and compliance agents automate tip tracking and state rules.

how do i schedule staff and keep labor costs down

Forecast demand to match staffing to sales and watch real-time labor-cost totals as you build shifts. 7shifts and Sling specialize here; Arkathos bundles scheduling with payroll so approved hours flow straight through.

how to track food cost and inventory in a restaurant

Count stock on a mobile app, tie recipes to ingredient costs, and compare actual vs theoretical usage to catch waste and variance. Arkathos's inventory agent handles counts, recipe costing and supplier reorders.

do i need my own online ordering or just use doordash

Third-party apps charge ~20-35% commission but drive discovery; your own ordering keeps margins and customer data. Most operators run both, using apps for reach and direct ordering for regulars.

can i run my whole restaurant on one app

All-in-one platforms combine POS, ordering, inventory, labor and reporting to cut logins and manual work. Arkathos extends the business side with 16 agents for finances, CRM, payroll, compliance and marketing under flat pricing.

best loyalty program app for restaurants

Toast Loyalty, Square Loyalty, Paytronix and Thanx reward repeat guests, often via card-linking so no app download is needed. Arkathos ties loyalty and campaigns to its built-in CRM for targeted follow-up.

restaurant food temperature log app for health inspections

Digital HACCP logs record date, time, item, temp, initials and corrective actions, records inspectors increasingly prefer, and some sync Bluetooth thermometers. Arkathos can schedule recurring compliance checks and store the records.

What licenses and insurance does a restaurant need?

Arkathos tracks 22 items for a restaurant, including General Business License, Retail Food Establishment Permit / Food Service License, Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM / ServSafe Manager), Retail Food Service Establishment Permit. Each renewal and expiration is monitored in Watchtower with staged reminders.

Which Arkathos agents does a restaurant get?

Arkathos tailors a restaurant workspace around 6 agents: Treasury, Armory, Quartermaster, mint-warden, bulletin-board, Herald.

How is the Arkathos workspace tailored for a restaurant?

Beyond the standard tools, Arkathos builds restaurant-specific features: Plate/recipe costing & menu engineering; POS daily-sales auto-import (Toast/Square/Clover); Tip pooling / tip-out allocation + Form 8027.

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