Settings

🏪 Restaurant Information

The Restaurant Information section is the most foundational configuration in Unavakam. These details appear on every invoice and receipt generated by the system, in every report summary, and at the top of your digital menu if you share a QR-code menu link. Getting these right from the start ensures your business documentation is professional and compliant.

Restaurant Name

The full legal or trading name of your restaurant as it should appear on tax invoices. For example: "Spice Garden Restaurant" or "The Chai Corner". This is printed prominently at the top of every receipt. If your registered business name differs from your trading name, use the trading name here (the one customers recognise) and ensure your GSTIN matches your legal entity.

Address

Your full restaurant address including street, area, city, and pincode. This appears on tax invoices and is required for GST compliance — invoices must show the supplier's address. Enter the complete address exactly as it appears in your GST registration.

Phone Number

The contact phone number printed on receipts and used for order confirmations. Typically your front-of-house or reservation number. This is not the same as staff accounts' phone numbers — it's the public-facing contact for your restaurant.

GSTIN (GST Identification Number)

Your 15-character GST registration number (e.g. 27AABCU9603R1ZX). This is mandatory for any restaurant that is GST registered. It appears on every tax invoice issued to customers. If you are not GST registered (turnover below ₹20 lakh threshold, or on composition scheme), leave this blank. Incorrect GSTIN on tax invoices makes those invoices non-compliant — verify this number against your GST registration certificate before saving.

Logo

Upload your restaurant's logo to have it printed on receipts and shown in the digital menu. The logo should be a PNG or JPG file. For best results on thermal printer receipts, use a high-contrast black-and-white version of your logo — the greyscale thermal printing process reduces coloured logos to varied grey tones that may not look good. For on-screen use (digital menus, report headers), a colour logo works well.

🧾 Tax Settings

Default GST Rate

The GST rate applied to new menu items by default. For most restaurants, this is 5%. When you create a new menu item, the GST Rate field on the item form is pre-populated with this default rate — you can override it per item if needed. Setting the default correctly means you don't need to manually enter the rate for every single item during initial menu setup.

Tax Inclusive vs Tax Exclusive Mode

This setting controls how prices are displayed to customers and how tax is calculated on bills. It's one of the most important settings to understand correctly.

Tax Exclusive (default for most restaurants): The price you enter for a menu item is the pre-tax price. When a customer orders that item, the GST is calculated on top and shown separately on the bill. For example, if Butter Chicken is priced at ₹300 and GST is 5%, the bill shows ₹300 + ₹15 GST = ₹315 total. The price on the menu card or digital menu shows ₹300.

Tax Inclusive: The price you enter for a menu item already includes GST. When the customer is billed, the system reverse-calculates the tax component and shows it separately on the bill for transparency — but the total amount is exactly the price shown on the menu. For example, Butter Chicken priced at ₹315 inclusive — the bill shows ₹300 base + ₹15 GST = ₹315. The price on the menu card shows ₹315. Many restaurants prefer this because the customer pays exactly what's on the menu — no "surprise" tax addition at billing.

Neither mode is inherently better — it depends on your pricing strategy and customer expectations. Many casual restaurants use tax inclusive for simplicity. Upscale restaurants and those with diverse tax slabs (some items at 5%, some at 18%) often use tax exclusive for cleaner accounting. Consult your CA if unsure.

🌍 Regional Settings

Timezone

Set your local timezone (e.g. Asia/Kolkata, IST). This affects all timestamps throughout Unavakam: when orders are placed, when shifts begin, when reports are generated, and the timer on KDS cards. If your timezone is set incorrectly — for example, left at UTC instead of IST — all your orders will be timestamped 5.5 hours off, your daily revenue reports will split at the wrong time (a "day" in UTC starts at 5:30am IST), and the KDS timers will be offset. Set this correctly on day one.

Currency

The currency symbol displayed throughout the app. For Indian restaurants, this is ₹ (INR). If you are operating in a different market, change this to the appropriate symbol. Note: changing currency does not convert values — it only changes the display symbol. All stored amounts remain in whatever unit you entered them in.

Language

The display language for the Admin Panel and mobile app interface. Currently, Unavakam supports English and Hindi. Choosing Hindi changes all system UI text (button labels, screen names, prompts) to Hindi. Customer-facing content (menu item names, descriptions) is always shown in whatever language you entered it in when creating menu items — this is independent of the interface language setting.

🖨️ Printer Settings

Unavakam supports thermal receipt printers via Bluetooth (for mobile app printing) and network/USB (for admin panel printing). Configure your printer in the Printer Settings section:

• Receipt Width: Set to 58mm or 80mm depending on your printer's paper roll size. Getting this wrong causes text wrapping issues — words cut off mid-line or very large margins on narrow prints.
• Print Order: Choose whether to print by category order or by the order in which items were added to the cart. For kitchen prep efficiency, category order (all starters together, then mains, then drinks) is usually better than the order items were entered.
• Receipt Footer Text: A custom message that appears at the bottom of every receipt — e.g. "Thank you for dining with us! Follow us on Instagram @SpiceGarden" or "Please visit again soon." This is an opportunity to include a social media handle, feedback QR code mention, or a short promotional message.
• Auto-Print on Order: When enabled, a kitchen order docket is automatically printed whenever a new order is placed (in addition to displaying on KDS). Useful as a backup if you run both KDS and paper order printing.

🔔 Notifications

The Notifications section lets you configure which system events trigger push notifications on staff devices:

• New Order Alerts: Notify kitchen staff when a new order is placed (alternative to the KDS sound alert, for staff who are not at the KDS screen).
• Order Ready Alerts: Notify floor staff when an order is marked Ready on the KDS — telling them food needs to be picked up from the kitchen pass.
• Low Stock Alerts: Notify the manager when a stock item's quantity drops below the reorder level (Pro plan only).
• New Feedback Received: Notify the owner when a new customer review is submitted (Pro plan only).

Each alert can be toggled independently. Enable only the ones that are useful for your workflow — over-notification (too many pings for every event) leads to staff dismissing notifications without reading them, defeating the purpose. Start with Order Ready Alerts and Low Stock Alerts, and enable others only if they address a real communication gap in your operation.

✅ Settings Best Practices

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