Restaurant purchasing software, also called restaurant procurement software, is an app where a restaurant, cafe, hotel or catering kitchen orders from all its suppliers in one place. It holds each supplier's catalogue and your agreed prices, sends the order, and keeps a record of every order and what each branch spent.
Most kitchens in Qatar do this on WhatsApp, calls and email. This guide covers how ordering works today, what good software does, and how Wady's Purchase System fits.
Key takeaways
Restaurant purchasing software is one app where you order from all your suppliers, with their catalogues and your agreed prices.
The cost of ordering on WhatsApp, calls and email comes from every order living in a different place.
Good software gives you one supplier list, a clear order, a record of every order and spend per branch.
Wady's Purchase System is free for restaurants, keeps your suppliers and prices, and takes about five minutes to set up.
How do restaurants in Qatar order from suppliers today?
Each supplier has its own channel. Operators of multi-branch groups in Qatar describe the same problems:
Retyping. Outlets send orders on paper, WhatsApp or Excel, and someone rewrites them into one sheet. One operator: "Every night someone sits down and writes all the orders down."
Small typing errors. Millilitres against litres, a comma where a decimal point belongs. One wrong digit and the costing is wrong.
Emailed orders that get missed. Suppliers live on WhatsApp and calls, so an order sent by email gets missed, then duplicated.
Credit surprises. Chefs and procurement cannot see their remaining credit with a supplier, and learn about it at the month-end block.
Your suppliers and WhatsApp work fine. The cost comes from every order living in a different place. WhatsApp's own page for the WhatsApp Business app describes it as a way to talk to customers one-on-one, show products and answer messages while away. See also how to track supplier orders in Qatar. Suppliers can take orders in the paid Order Management System.
What does good restaurant purchasing software do?
Five jobs, each closing a gap where an order can go missing.
One list of suppliers. Every supplier sits in one app, not one chat each.
The catalogue and your prices on screen. You order from the full range at your agreed prices, with minimum order and pack size shown.
A clear order. You pick a delivery date from the supplier's real delivery days, then send.
A record of every order. Items, quantities, prices, status, and who placed it.
Spend you can see. What each branch spent, by supplier, the day it happens.
It should also leave your deals alone. Good purchasing software digitizes the relationships you have, and you keep your suppliers and prices. Qatar's Ministry of Public Health published a Food Safety Practices Guide for Food Services that includes traceability and recall requirements. For reordering, see automated purchase orders.
WhatsApp and phone vs spreadsheet vs purchasing software
WhatsApp and phone | Spreadsheet | Purchasing software | |
|---|---|---|---|
Where orders live | Across chats, calls and voice notes | In a file someone keeps up to date | One app, all suppliers |
Catalogue and prices | From memory, or ask the supplier | Copied in and updated by hand | Supplier catalogue on screen, your prices loaded |
Record of the order | Scroll back through the chat | Only what someone typed | Items, quantities and prices saved |
Spend by branch | Known when the invoices land | Only if someone totals it | Per branch and per supplier, as it happens |
Best at | One urgent item, every supplier has it | Flexible, free, familiar | Regular ordering across suppliers and branches |
WhatsApp wins on speed for one urgent item, a spreadsheet on flexibility, and software once ordering is regular. Groups can read how multi-branch restaurants centralize purchasing.
How Wady helps with restaurant purchasing
How does Wady's Purchase System work?
Wady's Purchase System is free restaurant purchasing software for restaurants, cafes, hotels and catering kitchens in Qatar. All your suppliers, one app. Same suppliers. Same prices. Same relationships. An order goes out in four steps:
Pick the supplier from your connected suppliers.
Fill the basket from the full catalogue, at your prices.
Choose the delivery date. Their delivery days and cut-off times are already in there.
Send it. The supplier gets it straight away, and you both hold the same record.
Connect a supplier on Wady with a code or invite link. A supplier not on Wady yet? Add them yourself with their products and prices, and the purchase order goes out by email with you copied, so you can order from everyone from day one. Stock, recipes and costing sit in the paid Wady Central.
Wady is not a marketplace. It does not sit between you and your suppliers. Nobody sees a supplier's catalogue without their code, and prices are per customer.
The app runs in five languages, on iOS, Android and any browser at order.wady.ai, and setup takes about five minutes. Wady's headline for the typical morning: two hours becomes 10 minutes. It is a typical morning, not a measured study.
Over 100 businesses in Qatar already use Wady, including Crave Holdings and OMC. Wady is rated 5.0 on the App Store.
"Since digitizing our entire ordering process with Wady, we have significantly cut down admin work and saved 30% on operational costs by eliminating manual errors and waste."
Mohsin, Head of Operations, Crave Holding
How does it work for multi-branch groups?
Every brand and branch sits in one account, each with its own address, contact and delivery details. You switch branch in one tap, and one supplier can serve several branches at once. Spend shows per branch and per supplier, so the group sees what each branch spent without waiting for the invoices.
Groups that run a central kitchen can go further with Wady Central, Wady's paid product. Its purchasing side orders every supplier from one place, builds the purchase list from the production plan, and flags price rises and falls on delivery. See Wady Central purchasing.
Try it on your next order
Download Wady on the App Store or Google Play, or open order.wady.ai in your browser. See the Purchase System and more answers in the FAQ. Want to see it first? Message the team, and we will set it up with you on your own suppliers in 15 minutes.
Frequently asked questions
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