The problem
Small food vendors — street food stalls, small restaurants, pop-up events — operate on tight margins. They can't afford expensive point-of-sale systems or the ongoing cost of third-party ordering platforms that take a percentage of every order.
At the same time, their customers are used to the convenience of QR menus and table ordering from larger chains. The tech gap between a large restaurant and a small one is significant — and it's not because the technology is actually expensive.
We built Khao to close that gap.
What we built
Khao is a QR-based menu and table ordering system designed specifically for small vendors. The vendor gets a dashboard. The customer gets a QR code on the table.
When a customer scans the code, they see the full menu in their browser — no app to download, no account to create. They browse, add to cart, and place an order. The vendor sees it in real time on their dashboard and marks it when it's ready.
The core features:
- Digital menu — items with photos, descriptions, and prices, organised by category
- Real-time ordering — customers place orders from their phones, vendors see them instantly
- Menu management — toggle items on/off when something sells out, update prices in seconds
- Table system — QR codes tied to specific tables so orders arrive correctly
Key decisions
Zero app install. This was non-negotiable. Requiring a customer to install an app adds enough friction to kill the product. Khao works in any mobile browser — iOS Safari, Android Chrome, anything.
Affordable pricing model. We designed the pricing from the start to work for a vendor doing 20 covers a day, not 200. The tech is the same — the pricing reflects the reality of a small business.
Fast to set up. A vendor can be live in under 30 minutes. Upload a menu, print a QR code, done.
Status
Khao is in active development and testing with small vendors. Visit khao.app to see it in action.