Owner's manual · every feature, plainly explained
Run your kitchen with Coal & Coin.
Coal & Coin (रसोई OS) is a restaurant operating system built for how Indian food businesses actually run — sold by the kilo, spiking every festival, cash-heavy, filed with excise. This guide explains the whole tool, then walks through all ten desks: what each is for, every tool on it in plain words, and exactly what you type in to make it yours.
How the tool works
Coal & Coin gives each kind of restaurant its own desk — just the handful of tools that place needs, not one giant dashboard. Whichever desk you land on, the shape is the same:
1 · The toolkit
A short, curated set of tool pages — pour variance, batch planner, cash close. Each opens at its own address. Only what your kind of place needs.
2 · The fleet
The centrepiece: a few AI specialists that read your live records and surface what needs attention — ranked urgent → ok, each showing the facts behind it.
3 · The copilot
A plain-language assistant. Ask “why is my milk spoiling?” and it answers from your actual data — and never invents a number.
The one idea to hold on to
Every desk opens filled with sample data so you can look around freely. The moment you enter your own numbers, that same desk turns live and every tool and AI helper starts working off your counter — not the demo. Coal & Coin never shows an invented testimonial, review or figure as if it were real.
Turning sample data into your real numbers
This is the single most important thing to do. Until you do it, a desk is a convincing demo; after, it's your business.
- 1
Open the setup wizard
From any desk, tap “Set up live data →”. You’ll see the exact things your desk tracks — bottles, cocktails and wastage for a bar; sweets, sales and bulk orders for a mithai shop.
- 2
Enter a few rows, or start from sample
Type your real items, or tap “Start from sample data” to drop in editable starter rows and change them one by one. Even a handful of rows lights up the tools.
- 3
Or feed it in automatically
Every desk has an integration bridge — a weighing scale, a POS export, a Swiggy/Zomato settlement file, a reservation form — that posts your data in so you never re-type.
- 4
Watch it go live
The moment real rows exist, the sample badge becomes live, the fleet re-reads your figures, and the get-set-up checklist ticks off.
Saving needs an account
You can explore, quote and calculate without signing in. To persistwhat you enter — so it's there tomorrow — create a free account at the end of onboarding: one step, e-mail and password. Without a saved account Coal & Coin runs in demo mode and won't keep your rows.
The AI fleet — propose, you approve
Each desk's centrepiece is its fleet: a small team of AI specialists, each with one job. Every item it raises is ranked by urgency, carries a one-line title, a short explanation, and the exact facts it used — so you can check its reasoning, not just trust it. The fleet proposes; you decide. Approve an action and it's carried out and written to an audit log. Nothing acts on your business behind your back.
Asking the copilot
Every desk has a grounded assistant you can ask anything in plain language — “which brand actually makes money?”, “what should I prep for tonight?”. It answers over your live data when you have it, or the sample context when you don't, held to a strict rule: never invent a figure. If it doesn't have the number, it tells you which data to enter.
Your first ten minutes
Describe your place in a line
Type “rooftop cocktail bar in Pune” or “highway dhaba” and Coal & Coin picks the right desk — no hunting through a grid.
Run the whole thing signed-out
Pick your desk, see your menu read, meet your agents — all before making an account. You only sign up at the final step, to save it.
The get-set-up checklist
Each desk shows a progress ring and a short checklist — one tick per kind of data — so you always know what’s left to go live.
Start from sample
One tap seeds editable starter rows so your desk opens populated instead of blank. Change or delete any of them.
Plans & pricing
Four tiers, each strictly adding to the one before it, plus a genuinely free tier for the smallest places. You can preview any plan live in the dashboard before paying.
Core
Run the floor
₹799/mo
- › Billing, KOT & table management
- › Live Floor — real-time dine-in & kitchen tickets
- › Direct, WhatsApp & table-QR ordering — commission-free
- › Virtual Brands — many delivery brands, one kitchen
- › Inventory — stock, par levels & reorder points
- › Zomato & Swiggy aggregator sync
Growth
PopularPredict the rush
₹2,999/mo
- › Everything in Core
- › Shift Commander — the AI agent fleet that proposes, you approve
- › AI demand forecasting, India-calendar aware
- › Forecast explainability & auto-reorder suggestions
- › Prep Sheet — the forecast turned into mise-en-place
- › Menu Engineering — margin × popularity, dish by dish
Network
Compound the advantage
₹5,499/mo
- › Everything in Growth
- › Supplier Network + Procurement Intel — your prices vs the network median
- › Aggregator Economics — true delivery margin + ad ROAS
- › Delivery dynamic pricing, daypart-aware
- › Win-back campaigns — approval-gated, over WhatsApp
- › Benchmarks — anonymised peer comparison
Enterprise
Run every outlet
Talk to us
- › Everything in Network
- › Multi-Outlet Console — cross-outlet view
- › Central Kitchen — commissary production planning
- › Chain Control + Anomaly Watch — variance & leakage flags
- › AI-suggested inter-outlet stock transfers
- › Roles, approvals & org-wide controls
Coal & Coin Saathi is ₹0 — a separate, mobile-first, Hindi-first product for dhabas, thelas and tea stalls (see the end of this guide). Not a discounted Core; a different tool for a different owner.
The ten desks
Every vertical, in plain words
Each desk below lists who it's for, the everyday pains it kills, every tool explained simply, the data you enter to go live, and the one integration that removes manual typing.
For breweries & brewpubs
Brewery / Brewpub
NetworkYou brew on-site, pour on tap and file with excise. Coal & Coin runs the brewhouse a POS can't, and the tank ERP charges dollars for — at an Indian price.
Lives at /brewery
The toolkit
- AI brew-vs-demand — The fleet tells you what to brew next — before your best seller dry-taps.
- Fermentation & tanks — Every litre, every vessel, and when each frees — the production board a POS never has.
- Recipe cost-per-litre — House beer's real COGS, costed to the pint — your edge over bottled liquor.
- Tap yield & pour loss — Drawn vs billed, so foam and over-pour show up in ₹, not vibes.
- Excise, automated — Daily stock register + the monthly return, drafted from your pours.
- Batch QA — Gravity → ABV, with off-spec and stuck-fermentation flagged automatically.
- Mug Club & off-sales — Membership MRR + growler take-home — recurring revenue no aggregator touches.
- One system, Indian price — Tank + tap + excise + AI, billed in ₹/mo — not the dollars Ekos or Breww charge.
What you enter to go live
| Vessels | Vessel, Capacity (L), Beer, Status Powers: Fermentation & tanks · brew-vs-demand · vessels committed |
| Pours | Beer, Poured (from vessel) (L), Billed (L) Powers: Tap yield & pour loss · tap revenue |
| Batches | Beer, Original gravity, Final gravity Powers: Batch QA · ABV · off-spec alerts |
For delivery-only kitchens
Cloud kitchen
NetworkNo dining room — just aggregators, direct orders and per-brand economics. Coal & Coin runs the kitchen that never seats a guest.
Lives at /desk/cloud
Command
- Overview — Orders, commission, net across brands and the payout shortfall to dispute — at a glance.
- Cloud fleet — Five AI specialists on brand P&L, payout recovery, ad ROAS, item margin and the prep line.
- Shared prep line — All brands cook off one line — the station running hot before dispatch, and your rating, slips.
Delivery economics
- Brand P&L — Which virtual brand actually makes money after commission, packaging and ads.
- Item margin — Contribution per order once ~25% take comes off — an item can bleed on delivery.
- Take-home calculator — What a ₹400 order really banks after commission, GST on it, gateway, food and packaging — plus the price floor.
- Payout recovery — Statement vs bank, reconciled — the aggregator's silent short-pays, drafted as a dispute.
- Reconcile payouts — Log each settlement's expected vs received — short-pays total into the recoverable figure. Persists live.
What you enter to go live
| Brands | Brand, Cuisine, Commission (%) Powers: Per-brand P&L · ad ROAS |
| Orders | Brand, Order value (₹), Food cost (₹) Powers: Brand P&L · item margin |
| Payouts | Platform, Expected (₹), Received (₹) Powers: Payout recovery |
For bars & pubs
Bar / Pub
CoreLiquor plus food, tracked to the peg — Coal & Coin catches the over-pour and keeps the excise register clean through the late rush.
Lives at /desk/bar
Command
- Overview — Bar revenue, over-pour leak, dead-stock capital and excise-linked SKUs today.
- Bar fleet — Pour variance, cocktail margin, dead stock, par-reorder, distributor pricing, comps and licence — watched.
Pour & margin
- Pour variance — Opening vs billed vs measured close — over-pour and pilferage priced in ₹.
- Cocktail costing — Every pour + mixer costed to the glass, so menu prices hold their margin.
- Menu engineering — Stars, Plowhorses, Puzzles & Dogs — every cocktail placed by margin × volume.
Stock & compliance
- Inventory & par — Capital on the shelf, days of cover and the reorder list — the stockroom a POS never shows.
- Excise register — Purchase/sale volumes in your state's format, a printable return, plus the licence renewal clock.
- Dry-day calendar — India's mandated no-serve days — plan the closure ahead instead of getting caught serving.
- Wastage & comps — Spills, comps and breakage logged by shift and valued — the leak that isn't over-pour.
Floor & events
- Covers by hour — Where the night is quiet — the window a timed happy-hour offer should fill.
- Running tabs — Open a tab, add rounds, close it — a real running-tab register that persists the night's takings.
- Private bookings — Reserve the big nights — party size, occasion and advance held, with a dry-day clash warning.
- Events & DJ ROI — Cover + bar spend vs the act's fee — which nights actually pay for themselves.
- Bartender scorecard — Sales, pour variance and comps by bartender — the pattern behind the leaks, named.
What you enter to go live
| Bottles | Bottle, Category, Cost / bottle (₹), Price / peg (₹), Peg size (ml), Opening (ml), Pegs sold, Closing (ml), Sealed backups, Par level (bottles) Powers: Pour variance · pour-cost % · inventory & par · dead-stock |
| Cocktails | Cocktail, Price (₹), Recipe cost (₹), Sold today Powers: Cocktail costing · margin · menu engineering |
| Wastage entries | Item, Amount (ml), Reason, Shift Powers: Comp/spill watchdog |
| Tabs | Tab, Rounds, Amount (₹) Powers: Running-tab register · night's takings |
| Bookings | Guest, Phone, Date, Party size, Occasion, Advance (₹) Powers: Private-party & table bookings |
For cafés & coffee shops
Café
GrowthEspresso to all-day bites — Coal & Coin balances counter speed with the regulars who camp for three hours, and rewards them for it.
Lives at /desk/cafe
Command
- Overview — Revenue, covers turned away at peak, Brew Pass MRR and perishables at risk.
- Café fleet — Peak-seat overflow, freshness, loyalty, win-backs and per-cup margin — each with its facts.
Floor & demand
- Covers & dwell — Where the rush is and how long people stay — the daypart rhythm of the room.
- Seats vs demand — Seat capacity sized from dwell, and the covers you turn away at the peak.
Regulars & margin
- Regulars & Brew Pass — Turn daily regulars into a prepaid coffee subscription an aggregator never touches.
- Brew Pass signup — Sign a regular up to the prepaid pass — persists live and books the recurring MRR.
- Bean & milk freshness — Over-ordered milk and day-old pastry, flagged before they become wastage.
- Per-cup margin — Costed to the cup — alt-milk and syrups are where the margin quietly goes.
What you enter to go live
| Cover logs | Daypart, Covers, Avg dwell (min) Powers: Covers & dwell · seat overflow |
| Regulars | Name, Visits / week, Brew Pass? Powers: Brew Pass · loyalty · win-backs |
| Perishables | Item, On hand, Unit, Shelf-life left (days) Powers: Freshness sentinel |
For fine-dining restaurants
Fine dining
GrowthReservations, coursed KOTs and a reputation that lives or dies on the last review. Coal & Coin holds the pass and watches every plate's cost.
Lives at /desk/finedining
Command
- Overview — Covers booked tonight, deposits held, average spend per cover and the VIPs expected.
- Fine-dining fleet — No-show risk, VIP & allergy alerts, course margin, cover pacing and uncollected deposits — watched.
Reservations
- Reservations — Book covers with seating and a deposit — no-show risk and cover pacing flagged. Persists live.
- Guest book — The VIP & allergy book — brief the kitchen on who's in tonight and what they can't eat.
Menu & wine
- Tasting-menu costing — Every course costed to the plate — so the tasting menu holds its margin.
- Wine by the glass — By-the-glass margin — glass price vs pour cost, the program's quiet profit.
What you enter to go live
| Reservations | Guest, Date & time, Party size, Seating, Occasion, Deposit (₹) Powers: Cover pacing · deposits · no-show risk |
| Guests | Name, Tier, Allergies, Notes Powers: VIP & allergy book |
| Courses | Course, Menu price (₹), Food cost (₹) Powers: Tasting-menu costing · margin |
For quick-service restaurants
QSR / Fast food
CoreTokens flying and a short, fast-moving menu — Coal & Coin keeps throughput up and cost down at the counter and on delivery.
Lives at /desk/qsr
Command
- Overview — Orders today, the peak hour, average ticket and combo attach at a glance.
- QSR fleet — Peak understaffing, slow service, combo attach, prep-ahead and slow-movers — each with its facts.
Throughput
- Hourly log — Log orders, revenue and staff by hour — throughput and peak staffing go live.
- Speed of service — Orders per hour vs staff on shift — where the queue forms and service slows.
Menu
- Combo attach & margin — Meal-deal attach rate and margin — the upsell that lifts the ticket.
- Item velocity — Fast and slow movers by the count — what to prep ahead and what to cut.
What you enter to go live
| Hourly logs | Hour, Orders, Revenue (₹), Staff on Powers: Throughput · peak staffing · avg ticket |
| Combos | Combo, Price (₹), Cost (₹), Attach rate (%) Powers: Combo attach · margin |
| Items | Item, Sold today, Prep time (min) Powers: Item velocity · slow-movers |
For sweet shops & namkeen
Mithai shop
CoreSold by the kilo and spiking every festival — Coal & Coin handles ₹/kg billing, box packing and the Diwali surge without the guesswork.
Lives at /desk/mithai
Command
- Overview — Counter revenue, perishable stock at risk, bulk pipeline and the festival countdown.
- Mithai fleet — Festival surge, perishable freshness, ingredient procurement and the bulk pipeline.
Counter
- Weigh & bill — Price by the gram — or the piece for Bengali sweets — with GST and box charge.
- Freshness & margin — Made vs sold, shelf-life and margin — khoya lines are the perishable risk.
- FSSAI tray labels — One-tap date-of-mfg + best-before tray cards — the loose-sweet rule almost no shop follows.
- Festival pre-orders — Take advance pickup orders so the counter isn't mobbed on Diwali day — slot held, advance booked.
- Box & gifting — Gift-box SKUs plus last season's corporate buyers to re-pitch before the festival.
Production
- Batch planner — Tomorrow's make-list — sell-through × festival pressure, net of counter stock, as kadhai batches.
- Batch recipes — What one kadhai consumes and yields — true plate cost, plus milk→khoya intake.
Supply
- Ingredients & mandi — Ghee, khoya and dry-fruit by par, with the weekly mandi move.
- Bulk orders — Weddings and corporate gifting — lead time, advance and balance tracked.
What you enter to go live
| Sweets | Sweet, Price / kg (₹), On hand (kg), Shelf-life (days) Powers: Weigh & bill · freshness & margin |
| Sales | Sweet, Grams (g), Amount (₹) Powers: Weigh-bill revenue · fast-movers |
| Bulk orders | Customer, Quantity (kg), Due in (days), Advance (₹) Powers: Bulk pipeline |
| Pre-orders | Customer, Phone, Order, Pickup date, Advance (₹) Powers: Festival pre-booking · pickup slots |
For caterers & banquets
Catering
CoreQuote by the plate, prep by the batch, settle by the event — Coal & Coin runs the kitchen that has no live floor and every rupee on a spreadsheet.
Lives at /desk/catering
Command
- Build a quote — Guests × per-plate package → total, service, GST and advance in seconds.
- Catering fleet — Chase cold enquiries, catch date clashes, collect balances and plan the big event — each with its facts.
Bookings
- Book an event — Lock a banquet with its advance — muhurat clashes and double-bookings flagged. Persists live.
- Event pipeline — Enquiry → advance → confirmed, every banquet tracked to its date.
- Wedding muhurat calendar — The auspicious wedding dates demand clusters on — plan capacity, staff and stock ahead.
What you enter to go live
| Packages | Package, Per plate (₹) Powers: Quote builder · package tiers |
| Events | Client, Date, Guests, Per plate (₹), Advance (₹) Powers: Event pipeline · advance & settlement |
For dhabas & highway kitchens
Dhaba
CoreHighway or local, cash-heavy, Hindi-first — Coal & Coin (and free Saathi) keeps the khata and the stock straight without the complexity of a big POS.
Lives at /desk/dhaba
Command
- Overview — Plates today, cash + UPI collected, the best thali margin and staples below par.
- Dhaba fleet — Rush prep, thali margin, staple reorder against the mandi and cash variance — watched.
Counter
- Cash close — Reconcile counted cash + UPI against expected — the cash-heavy dhaba's day-end. Persists live.
- Thali costing — Every thali costed — the margin on the plate that does the volume.
Rush & supply
- Highway rush — Footfall by hour, trucker vs family — the windows to batch-cook ahead.
- Staples & mandi — Atta, dal, oil and rice by par, with the weekly mandi move — buy before the spike.
What you enter to go live
| Day closes | Date, Plates served, Cash counted (₹), UPI (₹), Expected (₹) Powers: Cash reconciliation · takings |
| Thalis | Thali, Price (₹), Cost (₹) Powers: Thali costing · margin |
| Staples | Staple, On hand (kg), Par (kg), Mandi trend (%) Powers: Staple par · mandi reorder |
For casual & family dining
Casual dining
GrowthTable service, family footfall and a full menu — Coal & Coin keeps the floor, the kitchen and the margins in sync through every rush.
Lives at /desk/casual
Command
- Overview — Covers today, reservations tonight, the top-margin dish and average spend per cover.
- Casual-dining fleet — Peak-seat overflow, menu stars and dogs, big-party prep and slow turns — each with its facts.
Floor
- Reservations — Weekend bookings by area (indoor/outdoor/bar) — big parties flagged to prep for. Persists live.
- Covers & turns — Covers by daypart and the turn count — where a table sits too long.
Menu & guests
- Menu engineering — Every dish placed by margin × volume — Stars to push, Dogs to cut.
- Guest feedback — Food, service and ambience ratings — where the room is slipping.
What you enter to go live
| Reservations | Guest, Date & time, Party size, Area, Occasion, Phone Powers: Weekend bookings · big-party prep |
| Dishes | Dish, Price (₹), Food cost (₹), Sold today Powers: Menu engineering · margin × volume |
| Cover logs | Daypart, Covers, Turns Powers: Table turns · peak-seat overflow |
Coal & Coin Saathi — the free tier
₹0Saathi (साथी, “companion”) is a separate, mobile-first, Hindi-first product for the smallest places every POS ignores — dhabas, thelas and tea stalls. No KOT, no menu engineering; just the three things that actually matter to that owner:
Digital udhaar book
A khata for credit — who owes what, when they last paid — replacing the paper register that gets lost.
Daily takings
Cash and UPI adding up through the day, with a free UPI QR — the value is simply seeing it total.
WhatsApp orders
Incoming orders from motels and regulars land in one place, in Hindi.
Honesty & common questions
Is the data I see real?
On a fresh desk, no — it’s clearly-labelled sample data so you can explore. Once you enter your own numbers it turns live. Coal & Coin never shows an invented testimonial, review or figure as if it were real.
Do I have to type everything in?
No. Start from sample rows and edit them, enter a few by hand, or use your desk’s integration bridge (a scale, a POS export, a settlement file, a booking form) to feed data in automatically. Even a handful of rows lights up the tools.
Will the AI do things without asking?
No. The fleet proposes; you approve. Approved actions are carried out and written to an audit log. The copilot answers questions but never acts on your business on its own — and never invents numbers.
What do I need an account for?
Exploring, quoting and calculating work signed-out. Saving your data so it persists needs a free account — one step at the end of onboarding.
Which desk is mine if I’m a mix?
Type a one-line description in onboarding (“brewpub with a full bar”, “cloud kitchen family meals”) and Coal & Coin picks the most specific fit. You can always switch desks — the grid is the override.