Restaurant margins in the UAE are thin and the costs that kill them are invisible: food waste nobody measured, overtime nobody planned, and a stock count that never matches the till.
Software will not fix a bad menu, but it will show you where the money is actually going.
The till and daily takings
Zoho POS
Modern point of sale connected to your inventory and accounting.
Best for: Retail shops wanting POS, stock and accounts in one ecosystem. Pricing: Paid per terminal; trial available
Full Zoho POS breakdown or try it free.
Zoho Checkout
Beautiful hosted payment pages — no website or code required.
Best for: Collecting payments without an online store. Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans for more pages (free plan available)
Full Zoho Checkout breakdown or try it free.
Stock, suppliers and wastage
Zoho Inventory
Stock, orders and shipping across all your sales channels.
Best for: Traders and e-commerce sellers managing physical stock. Pricing: Free plan available; paid by order volume (free plan available)
Full Zoho Inventory breakdown or try it free.
Zoho Procurement
Purchase requests, approvals, POs and vendors — procurement without email chains.
Best for: Companies where purchasing approval happens over WhatsApp today. Pricing: Paid plans; free trial available
Full Zoho Procurement breakdown or try it free.
Zoho Books
FTA-accredited accounting — VAT returns, e-invoicing and corporate tax ready.
Best for: UAE SMEs that need compliant accounting without an expensive ERP. Pricing: Free plan for small businesses; paid plans per organization (free plan available)
Full Zoho Books breakdown or try it free.
Rotas, shifts and payroll
Zoho Shifts
Rota scheduling for hourly teams — build, share, swap, done.
Best for: Restaurants, retail, clinics and any rota-based team. Pricing: Free plan available; paid per employee (free plan available)
Full Zoho Shifts breakdown or try it free.
Zoho People
Core HR done right — attendance, leave, appraisals and self-service.
Best for: Companies formalizing HR beyond Excel and WhatsApp requests. Pricing: Very low per-employee pricing; free trial
Full Zoho People breakdown or try it free.
Zoho Payroll
UAE payroll with WPS SIF files, gratuity and payslips — automated.
Best for: UAE companies running payroll manually or paying a PRO to do it. Pricing: Paid per employee; free trial available
Full Zoho Payroll breakdown or try it free.
Bringing customers back
Zoho Thrive
Loyalty programs, referrals and affiliate management for your own brand.
Best for: E-commerce and D2C brands building repeat purchase behavior. Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans by program size (free plan available)
Full Zoho Thrive breakdown or try it free.
Zoho Campaigns
Email marketing with automation journeys — priced for real businesses.
Best for: Businesses doing (or starting) email marketing on a budget. Pricing: Free plan available; paid by contacts or emails (free plan available)
Full Zoho Campaigns breakdown or try it free.
Zoho Social
Schedule, monitor and report on every social channel from one dashboard.
Best for: Marketing teams and agencies managing multiple social accounts. Pricing: Free edition available; paid plans per brand (free plan available)
Full Zoho Social breakdown or try it free.
Zoho Bookings
Let clients book you online — no back-and-forth emails.
Best for: Consultants, clinics, salons and anyone selling time slots. Pricing: Free plan available; paid per staff member (free plan available)
Full Zoho Bookings breakdown or try it free.
What to set up first
- Start with POS that posts sales into accounting automatically, so takings and books stop disagreeing.
- Add stock control next. Wastage and theft only become visible once you measure.
- Fix rota scheduling before payroll. Uncontrolled overtime is usually the bigger cost.
- Loyalty and marketing last, once operations are stable.
Compare everything side by side in our full Zoho directory for UAE business, or read our guide to FTA-accredited accounting software.
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