Costs & returns
What does good hospitality automation bring your venue?
Small improvements in spend, time, table turnover and errors add up every day. Use your own figures to calculate what that can mean per month and per year.
Calculation using your own figures. No data is stored without your consent.
Example
Net result per month
€ 1.566
after Guestit costs · €18,798 per year
Higher spend
€ 1.310
Extra guests at busy times
€ 430
Staff savings
€ 286
Guestit costs
− € 460
Example venue: 120 guests per day, €32 spend, 26 open days, 60 seats, 70% margin on extra revenue. A cautious estimate, using the lowest net result within the per-table price range. Your result depends on your own figures.
Not one big overhaul. Dozens of small improvements.
Returns in hospitality rarely come from a single decision. They come from seven things that each seem too small to tackle, and that come up again every open day.
Slightly more spend per guest
Guests who have the menu in front of them and add to their order themselves are more likely to order a second round or a dessert.
Fewer steps per shift
No retyping tickets, no walking back and forth to the POS, no double entry.
Fewer errors and corrections
One product database means the kitchen sees what the guest ordered, not what someone remembered.
Fewer no-shows
A confirmation and a timely reminder mean fewer empty tables on your busiest evening.
Getting paid faster
Paying at the table removes the queue at the POS and closes the table sooner.
Better flow when it’s full
A table that frees up ten minutes earlier only counts at the moments when someone is waiting.
Less admin time
Update prices and menus in one place instead of four.
Each of these seven is small enough to ignore. But they add up, every open day. Below, you can use your own figures to work out what that means for your venue.
Guestit Returns Calculator
What can Guestit bring your venue?
Small improvements in spend, floor service and flow can deliver results again every day. Enter your current situation and see the effect per day, month and year.
What can Guestit bring in for your venue?
Answer a few short questions, or fill everything in yourself right away.
Where does the difference come from?
Every lever in the calculation is tied to something that makes the venue work differently. Below, for each lever, you can see which parts of the Guestit Operating System can contribute to it.
More spend per guest
A guest who has the menu in front of them and adds to their order themselves doesn’t have to wait for someone to walk by. That can contribute to a higher spend per guest, without anyone extra on the floor.
Fewer routine tasks
Orders that go into the POS at the table don’t need to be retyped, and paying at the table saves the walk to the POS. The time this frees up is capacity — it only becomes a saving once you adjust the schedule.
Fewer errors and rework
One central product database means the kitchen sees what the guest ordered, with the right modifiers, instead of what someone remembered or deciphered. Fewer corrections means less food thrown away.
Better table flow
An order that lands at the right prep station straight away, and a bill that is settled at the table, shorten the turnaround. That only brings in money when a next guest is waiting.
Fewer no-shows
A reservation that is confirmed and followed by a reminder is more likely to show up. A no-show won back on a full evening is a table that would otherwise have stayed empty.
How we calculate your potential
A calculation is only useful if you can see where it comes from. This is the whole model, in plain language. There is not a single percentage in it that we made up — except one, and that is shown below as well.
01
Everything comes from your input
You fill in guests, spend, open days, margin, shifts, hourly wage and tables yourself. We don’t bring a single figure about your venue. Anything you leave blank doesn’t count anywhere.
02
Revenue is not profit
Extra revenue is kept separate from what is left of that revenue. Only your contribution margin counts toward the headline figure — the part of every euro that remains after purchasing and direct costs.
03
Time saved is not a saving
Ten fewer minutes of handling per shift is capacity. It only turns into money when you actually adjust the schedule. You indicate how much of it that is; by default it is set to zero.
04
Capacity only pays off when there is demand
A table that frees up earlier is worth nothing on a quiet Tuesday. That is why we ask about busy shifts and guests you miss out on, not about minutes of table turnover.
05
Conservative means calculating low
In the default setting we count 60% of the improvement you enter yourself. That is the only number that comes from us, it is clearly shown alongside, and it never calculates upward.
06
Four kinds of money, kept apart
Extra revenue, margin improvement, cost savings and freed-up capacity are kept separate from each other. No amount sits in two categories, and capacity never counts as profit or in the payback period.
07
An indication, not a promise
The result shows what is possible if the improvements you entered yourself are achieved. What it actually turns out to be depends on usage, execution and demand.
08
Your input stays yours
The calculation runs in your own browser. Nothing is stored and nothing is sent unless you choose to.
What hospitality automation costs, and what it can deliver
What does a POS system for hospitality cost?
A price per POS says little, because a POS rarely stands alone. What you actually pay depends on your setup: the number of tables, whether handhelds are part of it, whether the kitchen has displays, and how many payment points there are.
At Guestit, the monthly price depends on the number of tables: €11 to €23 per table per month, depending on the size of your venue. Hardware, support and all future updates are included. On top of that, there is a one-off setup fee. What hospitality automation costs in your case therefore depends on how you work — not on a package name.
How do you calculate the payback period of hospitality automation?
The payback period is the one-off investment divided by what the system earns you net per month. Net means: the return minus the monthly fee. The pitfall lies in what you add to that return.
Only count money that actually reaches your account: the margin on extra revenue, and costs you demonstrably no longer incur. Hours that are freed up only become a saving when you actually take those hours out of the schedule. If you don’t, you simply have more breathing room in your shift — valuable, but not a euro.
Revenue growth is not the same as profit growth
An extra euro of spend per guest sounds like a euro of profit, but it isn’t. Purchasing costs come off every euro of revenue, and often direct costs as well. What remains is your contribution margin.
With a 70% margin, €1,000 of extra revenue brings in €700. That difference is exactly why a return calculation that only shows revenue is misleading. Revenue shows the scale; margin shows what you get out of it.
How do you put a financial value on time saved?
You value freed-up time at the full hourly wage, so including employer costs — not at the gross wage. That is what an hour really costs you.
But that valuation says nothing yet about savings. As long as the same people work the same hours, nothing has been saved on staff costs in hospitality. Capacity has been created: room to absorb busy periods, to train new staff, or to give guests attention. Whoever does cut those hours or pays out less overtime does save.
When does faster table turnover really bring in money?
Only when someone is waiting. A table that frees up ten minutes earlier on a half-full Wednesday brings in nothing; the same ten minutes on a fully booked Saturday can mean an extra cover.
That is why the question is not how many minutes you save, but how many guests you currently miss out on during your busiest shifts and what share of them you would catch with better flow. That is a question you can answer yourself; an average from a calculation model cannot.
Why integrated systems mean less rework
Every interface between two separate systems is a place where something can go out of step. A price that was updated in one place and not in the other, a modifier that doesn’t reach the kitchen, an order that has to be typed in again.
When products, prices and rules come from one structure, that category of errors largely disappears. That saves corrections, wasted food and conversations at the table that nobody wants to have.
How the POS, handheld, kitchen displays, reservations and ordering work together
The value isn’t in the individual parts but in what they do together. A reservation fills the table; the guest orders via the tablet menu at the table or from a staff member with a handheld; the order goes straight to the right kitchen display; the bill is settled at the table; and what happened is in your insights afterwards.
Every link you take out, you replace with a human action. Software is not a return. Better-executed processes are.
Frequently asked questions
What does Guestit cost per month?
The monthly price depends on the number of tables: €11 to €23 per table per month, depending on the size of your venue. Hardware, support and all future updates are included. On top of that, there is a one-off setup fee, which we determine case by case.
Why doesn’t the calculator show a payback period?
Because the one-off setup fee differs per situation and we don’t want to fill it in with an assumption. Once you have it from us, the payback period is simple: the setup fee divided by what the system earns you net per month. Request a calculation including the investment and you’ll get both.
Is time saved the same as a staff saving?
No, and the calculator makes that distinction explicit. Ten fewer minutes of handling per shift is capacity: room in your shift. It only becomes a saving when you actually take those hours out of the schedule or pay out less overtime. You indicate yourself how much of it that is; by default it is set to zero.
Does faster ordering always bring in more revenue?
No. A table that frees up earlier only brings in money when a next guest is waiting. That is why the calculator doesn’t ask about minutes of table turnover, but about how many guests you miss out on during your busiest shifts. If you never turn anyone away, that lever is set to zero.
How does Guestit calculate the improvement potential?
From six levers that you switch on or off yourself: more spend per guest, fewer routine tasks, extra guests at busy times, fewer errors and less waste, fewer no-shows and less admin time. The result is split into extra revenue, direct margin improvement, possible cost savings and freed-up capacity. Only the last two kinds of real money count toward the headline figure. In the default setting we calculate with 60% of the improvement you enter.
Which figures do I need for the calculator?
Guests per day, average spend per guest, open days per month and your contribution margin. For the full calculation also shifts per day, staff per shift, your full hourly wage including employer costs, and your number of tables. An estimate is enough to get started.
Is my data stored?
No. The calculation runs in your own browser. Nothing is stored and nothing is sent unless you choose to by getting in touch.
Can I receive a personal cost-benefit calculation?
Yes. We go through your setup and your figures together and work out the investment and the payback period for your situation. That can be done through an introduction or by requesting a calculation.
Don’t just calculate what Guestit costs. Calculate what doing nothing costs.
The calculator above works with your own assumptions. Want to hold it up against your actual setup, including investment and payback period? Leave your number and we’ll call you.
We always call within 24 hours — evenings and weekends included.
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