The bar POS system built for India, the GCC, and Europe
Pre-authorize tabs, pour by the peg, automate happy hour, and settle bills on WhatsApp — all from one cloud bar POS software. Built for nightclubs, lounges, pubs, sports bars and breweries from Mumbai to Riyadh to Manchester.
Tab management, pre-auth, and one-tap split bills
A bar tab is not a restaurant check. It opens at 9pm, swells through three rounds, gets joined by friends from another table, and demands a clean split at 1am. Online eMenu's tab management bar POS handles every step without forcing the bartender to leave the pour station.
Open a tab with a single card swipe, NFC tap or QR tab open on the guest's own phone. The POS places a pre-auth hold — ₹3,000 in India, AED 200 in the GCC, £40 in the UK — so the venue is protected even if the guest walks. Every drink rings to the same tab in two taps from any Android handheld or iPad on the floor, and runs to the bar KDS instantly.
When the guest asks for the bill, splitting takes one tap. Split evenly across four cards, split by item so the designated driver only pays for sodas, or move three drinks to a friend's tab next door. The bar POS handheld lets your floor staff close the tab tableside — no walk to the till — and once the guest taps "Settle WA", the link lands in their WhatsApp inbox to settle the tab on WhatsApp in under thirty seconds.
- Pre-authorization holds in INR, AED, SAR, GBP and EUR
- Open-tab grid: see every running tab and its dwell time at a glance
- Split evenly, split by item, split by seat, move or merge tabs
- Runs on any Android phone, iPad or bar handheld your team already owns
Bottle-wise and peg-wise inventory with variance reports
Every bartender pours a little heavy. Multiplied across a Saturday night, that generous hand is your missing 4% margin. Online eMenu is a bar POS with inventory built around the simple truth that liquor leaks money one peg at a time.
Configure your pour sizes — 30ml peg, 45ml shot, 60ml large peg, 1oz, 1.5oz or 2oz — and the POS deducts the exact volume from the bottle the moment the bartender rings the drink. Cocktails follow recipes (60ml gin, 15ml Cointreau, 30ml lime) so a Margarita doesn't just deduct one item — it deducts three. Draught beer counts by the pint or schooner, and brewery recipes track grain, hops and yeast batch-by-batch.
At close-out, the nightly variance report compares expected depletion against the actual bottle weighing or counting and surfaces shrinkage in a single colour-coded chart. Spirits down -4.3% on Friday? That's three free pours per bartender per hour — and now you know which station and which shift. Par-level alerts flip on automatically and create reorder lists for your supplier; in India, state excise registers (Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi formats) update in the same pass. Pair with the full inventory module for kitchen ingredients too, and push pours to the bar KDS in real time.
- Peg / shot / oz / ml / pint pour units — define your own
- Recipe-based deduction for cocktails, draught and bottle service
- Nightly variance reports flag shrinkage by station and shift
- State excise registers maintained automatically (India)
| Spirit | Variance | Shrinkage |
|---|---|---|
| Gin | -30 ml | -4.3% |
| Vodka | -12 ml | -2.1% |
| Whisky | -15 ml | -1.8% |
| Rum | -28 ml | -5.6% |
Happy hour automation and dynamic pricing
The bartender already has three drinks to make. They do not have time to remember that pitchers are buy-one-get-one between 5pm and 7pm. Happy hour POS software means the till knows the calendar — not the staff.
Build time-windowed rules in a visual editor: pick the days, set the start and end minute, choose the discount mechanic — flat percentage off, fixed price, BOGO, 2-for-1, ladies' night, sports-event multipliers — and pick the SKUs or category. The bar billing software applies the rule the instant the clock ticks over and reverts at the cutoff minute. No manager override. No "sorry, I forgot." No discount left on the bar after closing.
Rules stack with loyalty earn-rates so a Gold tier diner still gets their points on a discounted Negroni, and they propagate to QR menus and the KDS so kitchen staff see the right ticket price. For sports bars, conditional rules trigger off the score — "every goal scored by Mumbai City FC: free pitcher refill for the next 90 seconds" — and the bartender doesn't have to keep one eye on the screen. Combine with the loyalty + happy hour combo for the highest-margin night of the week.
- Day-parting, week-parting and event-parting rules
- BOGO, flat %, fixed price, 2-for-1, free side, ladies' night multipliers
- Applies on till, QR menu and KDS — auto-reverts at cutoff
- Stacks safely with loyalty earn and tier perks
Built for every venue: nightclubs, lounges, pubs, sports bars, breweries
A nightclub does not work like a sports bar, and a craft brewery does not work like a shisha lounge. Online eMenu ships with venue-specific templates that flip on the right flows the day you install — no two-week implementation, no consultant invoice.
Nightclubs get ID scan at the door, drink modifier shortcuts (neat, rocks, double, dirty), bottle service workflows with sparkler animations on the KDS, and capacity dashboards that turn red at the fire-marshal limit. Lounges get tableside ordering through any Android phone, cocktail program management, and the ability to pre-program "the usual" for regulars by face. Pubs get shorthand SKUs ("KF" instead of "Kingfisher Pint"), tab-by-stool, and EPOS UK-compliant takings reports.
Sports bars get tab-by-screen so each TV becomes its own party, score-triggered happy hour rules, and event-night staffing dashboards. Breweries get recipe tracking, batch tax (Maharashtra excise / KSA bilingual / UK alcohol duty), tap-room till and growler refill weighing. Shisha lounges get a hookah charge timer that bills automatically when the coal-change interval passes. The same bar POS license also covers the café side of the venue, your QSR kitchen for late-night bites, and any delivery kitchen running out of the same room.
Local payments and compliance — UPI, GST, ZATCA, Mada, VAT
A bar POS that cannot ring up a UPI scan in Mumbai or print a bilingual Arabic receipt in Riyadh is useless to the operator who actually lives in that market. Online eMenu was built around regional payments and tax compliance from day one — not bolted on after a US launch.
India ships with UPI (PhonePe, GPay, Paytm, BHIM), credit and debit cards via Razorpay, and GST-compliant e-invoicing. State excise registers — Maharashtra Form FL-V, Karnataka Form CL-9, Delhi L-17 — are generated automatically with every shift report and exported in the format your excise inspector actually accepts. UAE adds 5% VAT with bilingual Arabic / English thermal receipts and the full Network International, Tap, PayTabs, Mada and Apple Pay rails. KSA bars get Mada cards and ZATCA Phase 2 e-invoice XML stamped, hashed and submitted to Fatoora in real time — see the ZATCA Phase 2 deep-dive for the technical detail.
In Europe we cover VAT MOSS, Stripe and SEPA, UK EPOS reporting, and France NF525-ready receipt formats. Multi-country chains can run a Dubai-based head office over India, UAE and Saudi Arabia outlets simultaneously without juggling three different POS vendors.
- UPI scan to pay
- GST e-invoice
- Maharashtra / KA / DL excise registers
- Mada · Tap · PayTabs
- Bilingual Arabic receipt
- FTA-compliant tax invoice
- Mada card rails
- ZATCA Phase 2 XML
- Fatoora real-time submit
- UK EPOS reports
- NF525 (France)
- SEPA & Stripe
WhatsApp tab settlement: nobody else does this
Here is a workflow Toast, Square and Posist do not have, and it changes the last fifteen minutes of every night. When the guest asks "can I just get the bill?" the bartender taps Settle WA. A bar tab settlement WhatsApp message lands in the guest's chat with the itemized bill, a UPI / Mada / Apple Pay link, and a one-tap "split with friends" button.
The guest splits in WhatsApp with two friends already on the same chat, each pays via their own UPI app, the till reconciles automatically, loyalty points credit to all three accounts, and the receipt lands in the same chat for tax season. No card swipe. No standing at the till. No "the manager will be with you" moment. The whole transaction takes 28 seconds — and the guest walks out warm on the experience instead of cold on the wait. Pair with the unified WhatsApp inbox for a single thread that covers the booking, the settlement and the next "come back Saturday" message, and see the full WhatsApp ordering guide for technical setup.
Pour smarter. Bill faster. Pay easier.
Twenty minutes is all it takes to see a Saturday night run on Online eMenu. Bring your spirits list, your bar layout and your toughest split-bill story.
How Online eMenu compares to Toast, Square, Posist, Petpooja, Quantic for bars
Toast and Square run beautiful bar POS software — for North America. They cannot ring up UPI in India, file ZATCA Phase 2 XML in Saudi Arabia, or accept Mada in the GCC, and their entry pricing is 8-10× what we charge. Posist and Petpooja cover India but ignore GCC e-invoicing, ship no peg-wise pour ledger, and have never built a WhatsApp tab-settlement flow. Quantic handles UAE bars but leaves India and KSA Phase 2 untouched. Online eMenu is the only cloud bar POS system that does bottle-wise + peg-wise liquor inventory, GST, state excise, ZATCA, Mada and UPI in one ₹199/month license.
The table below is the criteria a bar operator actually buys on — running tabs, peg accuracy, happy hour, local payments, and a settlement experience your guests will tell their friends about. Green checks are full support; red crosses are missing capabilities; amber means partial or via expensive add-on.
| Capability | Online eMenu | Toast | Square | Posist | Petpooja | Quantic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-auth tabs | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✗ | ✗ | ~ |
| Peg-wise pour tracking | ✓ | ~ oz only | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ~ |
| Happy hour automation | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ✓ |
| UPI billing (India) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| GST + state excise | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ~ GST only | ~ GST only | ✗ |
| ZATCA Phase 2 (KSA) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Mada payments (GCC) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| WhatsApp tab settlement | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Starting price / month | ₹199 / AED 75 | $69+ | $60+ + 2.6% | ₹25,000+ | ₹1,200+ | AED 199+ |
| Free hardware | ✓ Android handheld (annual) | ✗ Proprietary buy | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
In short: if you operate bars in India, the GCC, the UK or anywhere outside North America, the question isn't which US bar POS to import — it's whether you want to pay 8-10× more for a product that doesn't speak your local payment, tax or messaging stack. We don't think you do.
Standard bar POS · two regional prices.
One bar POS license. Two regional prices. Zero per-transaction fees.
Bar POS · India
- Unlimited tabs & bar handhelds
- Peg-wise & bottle-wise inventory
- Happy hour rule engine
- UPI + GST + state excise registers
- Swiggy + Zomato + WhatsApp orders
- 24×7 Hindi / English support
Bar POS · GCC + Europe
- Unlimited tabs & bar handhelds
- Bilingual Arabic / English receipts
- ZATCA Phase 2 + Mada + 5% VAT
- Talabat + Deliveroo + Careem orders
- Free Android handheld on annual plan
- 24×7 Arabic / English support
No card. No setup fee. Cancel anytime. Live in 48 hours.
Frequently asked questions
What is a bar POS system? +
A bar POS system is point-of-sale software designed for venues that sell alcohol — bars, pubs, nightclubs, lounges, breweries and resto-bars. Unlike a restaurant POS, it supports running tabs with pre-authorization, peg-wise and bottle-wise liquor inventory, happy hour rules, drink modifiers (neat, rocks, double), ID scanning and excise reporting.
What's the difference between a bar POS and a restaurant POS? +
A restaurant POS centers on table turnover, course-firing and KOTs. A bar POS centers on running tabs, fast re-pours, pour-cost variance, age verification and rapid splits. Online eMenu runs both modes on the same license so resto-bars don't need two systems.
How much does a bar POS system cost? +
Online eMenu starts at ₹199 per month in India and AED 75 per month in the GCC — all-inclusive, no per-transaction fees. Comparable US systems like Toast and SkyTab start at $29.99-$165 per terminal per month plus payment processing. Free Android handheld included with annual GCC plans.
What hardware do you need for a bar POS? +
Any Android tablet or phone, an iPad, or a Windows laptop. Optionally a thermal receipt printer, a cash drawer and a Bluetooth barcode/ID scanner. Existing Android handhelds and bar printers are supported — no rip-and-replace.
Which is the best POS for a small bar or nightclub? +
For sub-50-seat bars Online eMenu wins on price, peg-wise accuracy and WhatsApp settlement. For high-volume US nightclubs Toast and SpotOn are heavier but cost 8-10× more. In India and the GCC, Online eMenu replaces Posist, Petpooja and Quantic at a fraction of the monthly fee.
Can a bar POS track liquor inventory by the ounce or peg? +
Yes. Online eMenu tracks every pour by the peg (30ml / 60ml), the shot (45ml), the ounce or the bottle. Each recipe deducts ingredients at sale time; nightly variance reports flag shrinkage against expected vs actual depletion.
Does a bar POS handle happy hour automatically? +
Yes. Set time-windowed rules — for example "Mon-Thu 5pm-7pm: house pours 30% off, pitchers BOGO" — and the POS applies them automatically at the till, on QR menus and on KDS, then reverts at the cutoff minute. No manager override needed.
Is Online eMenu compliant with GST, ZATCA Phase 2 and UAE VAT for bars? +
Yes. India: GST e-invoicing plus state excise registers (Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi formats). KSA: ZATCA Phase 2 e-invoice XML with QR. UAE: 5% VAT bilingual Arabic/English receipts. UK and EU: VAT MOSS-ready. All built in — no add-ons.
Run your whole bar
from one cloud POS.
14-day free trial. No card. Live in 48 hours. WhatsApp tab settlement on night one. Free Android handheld for GCC annual plans. Hindi · English · Arabic support — always.