Restaurant · IoT
BistroFlow — Real-Time Restaurant POS
A real-time restaurant operating system with table-side ordering, kitchen display, and live status synchronization across all devices.
- Real-time Order updates
- Mobile-first Waiter interface
The Project
BistroFlow (codename: Ristorala) is a modern restaurant POS and orchestration platform that replaces clunky legacy systems. Waiters take orders on their phones, the kitchen sees live tickets on tablets, and managers track everything from a dashboard — all updating in real-time without a single page refresh.
Key Features
- Real-time Turbo Stream updates — kitchen tickets, table status, and order progress update instantly across all devices
- State machine workflow — orders flow through Pending → Cooking → Ready → Served with visual feedback
- Mobile-first waiter interface — designed for one-handed use during service
- Kitchen Display System with audible alerts and priority-based ticket ordering
- Split billing — divide checks by item, by person, or by custom amounts
- Optimistic locking — prevents race conditions when multiple staff interact with the same table
Technical Highlights
Built on Rails 8 with Solid Cable for WebSocket communication. The entire real-time layer uses Turbo Streams — no custom JavaScript required for live updates. Background jobs (Solid Queue) handle receipt generation and push notifications. The frontend is Tailwind CSS 4 with Stimulus controllers for interactive elements like drag-to-reorder and swipe gestures.