Practical writing on running an Indian business well
GST compliance, billing workflows, restaurant operations and software buying — written by the team that builds BillMantra and RestroMantra.
Restaurant GST: when you charge 5% and when you charge 18%
The composite rate versus the AC-premises rate confuses more restaurant owners than any other compliance question. Here is how to configure it once and stop thinking about it.
5 Aug 2026 · 5 min read
Why your food cost looks fine on paper and terrible in the bank
Theoretical usage and actual usage drift apart quietly. Recipe-level stock deduction is how you see the gap while it is still small.
28 Jul 2026 · 7 min read
Choosing billing software in India: a buyer's checklist
Feature lists all look the same. These are the questions that actually separate software you will still be using in three years from software you will migrate off.
20 Jul 2026 · 8 min read
E-way bills: when you need one, and how to stop generating them by hand
Threshold, validity, and the document flow — plus why generating the e-way bill from the invoice you already raised removes an entire category of error.
14 Jul 2026 · 5 min read
What Swiggy and Zomato actually cost you per order
Commission is the number everyone quotes. It is rarely the number that decides whether the order made money. Here is the full arithmetic.
8 Jul 2026 · 6 min read
QR ordering that guests actually use
Most QR menus are a PDF behind a barcode. Real QR ordering removes a step for the guest and a walk for the captain.
2 Jul 2026 · 6 min read
How to run a physical stock count without closing the shop
A full count sounds like a Sunday you will never get back. Done in cycles, with a scanner and a plan, it becomes a routine that takes an hour a week.
30 Jun 2026 · 7 min read
Opening a second branch without losing control of the first
Branch expansion breaks the informal systems that worked when the owner was on the floor. Here is what to formalise before you sign the lease.
24 Jun 2026 · 7 min read
Moving off spreadsheets: a migration that does not lose your history
Excel got you here. Here is a sequence for moving to real billing software without a gap in your books or a week of downtime.
16 Jun 2026 · 6 min read
Looking for product-specific writing?
Each product runs its own blog with deeper, hands-on guides for its users.
The BillMantra blog
Hands-on guides for retail, wholesale and distribution teams running BillMantra day to day — written against the actual screens, not the brochure.
- GST invoicing, e-invoice and e-way bill walkthroughs
- Inventory, batches and barcode labelling
- Purchase, GRN and supplier reconciliation
- Reading your P&L, stock and receivables reports
The RestroMantra blog
Hands-on guides for restaurant, café and cloud-kitchen teams running RestroMantra day to day — from the first KOT to the day-end close.
- POS, KOT routing and kitchen display setup
- QR ordering, takeaway and aggregator channels
- Recipe costing, food cost and menu engineering
- Multi-outlet operations and day-end closing