Restaurant Management System

Problem

Small restaurants needed a simple, reliable way to manage orders, track inventory and handle daily billing — without investing in an expensive POS system. The challenge was building something functional and maintainable with limited resources.

Approach

Designed a command-line application in C with modular functions for each operation: order entry, menu management, billing, and inventory tracking. Focused on clear data structures, input validation and a logical command flow that staff could learn quickly.

Architecture

C-based CLI with file handling for persistent storage. Modular function design separates concerns: order processing, inventory management, billing calculations and data persistence. Struct-based data models for menu items, orders and transactions.

Technology

Chosen for low-level understanding of data management, efficient memory usage and direct file I/O — demonstrating foundational computer science skills.

Key Features

• Order entry and management with item customization
• Menu and inventory tracking with persistent file storage
• Automated billing with tax and discount calculations
• Daily sales reporting and transaction history
• Input validation and error handling throughout

Challenges

Designing intuitive CLI workflows without a GUI, managing concurrent data operations safely, and implementing reliable file-based persistence that handles corruption gracefully.

Outcome

Demonstrates strong fundamentals in C programming, data structure design and file I/O. Academic project at BUBT showing the ability to build functional business software from scratch.