50 conversations with restaurant owners about pricing — what I learned

Pakistani restaurants will pay for software. The question is how much, and you're probably guessing wrong.

By Osama Khan

The question that broke my assumptions

I asked 50 restaurant owners: "How much do you currently spend per month on technology?"

Answers ranged from Rs. 0 (paper notebook) to Rs. 60,000+ (full POS + delivery aggregator commissions). The MEDIAN was Rs. 12,000/month.

The gap I was filling — Rs. 0 to Rs. 5,000 — was the easiest win. Customers who paid nothing for software didn't think they should. Customers paying Rs. 12,000+ thought Rs. 5,000 was suspiciously cheap.

The "too cheap" trap

At Rs. 3,499/month I had 3 conversations where owners said "this seems unprofessional, what's the catch?" Bumped to Rs. 4,999 and the trust improved. **People assume cheap software is bad software.**

Anchoring matters

On the pricing page I show Rs. 4,999 next to "saves you Rs. 30,000+/month vs aggregators." That's not marketing fluff — that's the actual math for an established restaurant. Anchored against their current pain, our price feels free.

What restaurants actually want to pay for

In order of declared willingness to pay: 1. **Save time** (no more answering the phone) — Rs. 8,000+/month 2. **Save commission** (vs aggregators) — Rs. 5,000/month easy 3. **Look professional** (custom domain, branded receipts) — Rs. 3,000/month 4. **Get more customers** (we don't actually do this directly) — Rs. 10,000+/month if it worked 5. **Manage staff** (RBAC, branch isolation) — Rs. 4,000/month

We hit #1, #2, #3. We honestly tell people we don't do #4 (they bring their own customers). For #5 we're cheaper than the competition.

The objection that always comes up

"What if you go out of business?" Answer: your data is exportable, your menu items are recoverable, your customers' phone numbers are yours. We've literally never deleted a customer's data, even after they cancelled.

This single sentence converts more skeptics than any feature pitch.

The lesson

Don't guess at pricing. Have 50 conversations. Listen. Then price slightly higher than what they say they'd pay — because customers under-quote and over-pay.