Live: The Complete Food, Beverage, and Retail Management Software Suite

CiMSO’s Live Software Suite is redefining how hospitality and retail businesses manage their daily operations. In an industry where speed, accuracy, and control are non-negotiable, restaurants, bars, shops, lodges, resorts, and event venues all face the same pressure: delivering exceptional guest experiences while managing increasingly complex back-office processes. Stock must be monitored with precision, procurement needs strict oversight, transactions must remain fast and accurate, and financial reporting has to be both transparent and reliable.

This is where the Live Suite steps in — a seamlessly integrated ecosystem built to manage food, beverage, and retail environments with full procurement, inventory, operational, and financial control. Designed with next-generation technology, Live connects every touchpoint of your business, synchronizing your operations for real-time performance, efficiency, and service excellence.

The suite includes three powerhouse applications:

• RESTaurateur – Fast POS for restaurants, bars, and dining operations
• EVENTmanager – Event and conference management with venue booking
• SHOPkeeper – Efficient retail POS for stores, boutiques, and outlets

Together, they form a single operational backbone that unifies front-of-house, back-office, inventory, and financial processes. Here’s a deep dive into how each module works, and why the Live Suite is transforming service environments across Africa and beyond.

RESTaurateur: Fast, Intelligent POS for Food & Beverage

Restaurants and bars move fast — and RESTaurateur moves faster. This fully integrated touch-screen POS system delivers seamless ordering, billing, preparation, and paymetnt processing designed specifically for hospitality teams.

A User-Friendly System Built for Speed

RESTaurateur’s interface is simple, responsive, and fully configurable. Colour-coded buttons, stock images, and user-defined workflows help teams process orders quickly with minimal training required. Orders can be captured on stationary terminals or on the go using hand phones and tablets via a browser application.

Smarter Ordering and Table Management

With RESTaurateur, teams can:

• Process orders per seat for fine dining
• Capture counter, bar, and fast-food orders per TAB
• Apply custom preparations, exclusions, and customer instructions instantly
• Automatically or manually fire orders to the kitchen with routing and printing
• Combine, split, or move tables during seating cycles
• Track head counts and yield per seat, table, or TAB

Whether your operation is casual, fine dining, or a mix, the system adapts to your service style.

Billing and Payment Made Effortless

Billing is often where delays occur — but RESTaurateur eliminates the bottleneck:

• Validate customers via photo and stored signature
• Capture signatures directly on a mobile device
• Split bills by seat, group, or percentage
• Accept split payments across unlimited payment types and currencies
• Redeem loyalty points in real time
• Integrate directly with credit card terminals for fast, secure transactions

Complete Cash and Revenue Control

Transparency and accuracy are core strengths of RESTaurateur. Managers benefit from:

• Multi-level cash-up reconciliation
• Live TAB tracking
• Audit trails of all user activities
• Cross-department TAB movement with accurate revenue allocation

Integrated Inventory and Procurement

Every item sold is linked to stock through recipes and Bills of Material (BOM). This ensures:

• Accurate stock depletion
• Real-time food costing
• Effective procurement workflows
• Multi-warehouse control and costing allocation

With RESTaurateur, food and beverage operations run at peak efficiency — from the moment an order is placed to the moment revenue hits the ledger.

EVENTmanager: End-to-End Conference and Event Management

Managing events requires precision, coordination, and excellent communication. EVENTmanager centralizes all event bookings, planning, quoting, and billing to ensure event teams work smarter — not harder.

Dynamic Event Booking and Planning

EVENTmanager allows users to configure event types, tasks, seating arrangements, and guest lists. The colour-coded booking grid provides a fast, visual display of venue availability, supporting both provisional and confirmed bookings.

Smart Event Quotes and Banqueting Packages

Event planning is made simple with:

• Profiles containing guest lists, staff, resources, and required tasks
• Integrated banqueting packages and resource bundles
• Customizable quotations
• Direct emailing or faxing of quote documents

Quotes are professional, detailed, and fully aligned with customer expectations.

Function Sheets with DOCmanager

Function sheets are essential for seamless event execution. EVENTmanager provides:

• Customizable function sheets created through the integrated LibreOffice suite
• Extensive merge fields from CRM and event data
• An e-filing archive for version control and retrieval

Event Execution and Account Management

During an event, teams can process POS transactions from mobile devices, manage guest lists, and complete tasks using the built-in Task and Activity Manager.

On the financial side, EVENTmanager includes:

• Integrated debtors (AR) with credit limits
• Tax invoices and statements
• Payment processing with multiple methods and currencies
• Loyalty points redemption
• Integration with INNkeeper for direct billing to guest folios
• Multi-level cash-up and reconciliation
• Full audit logs of changes and activities

Integrated Stock and Costing

For banquets and conferences, stock accuracy is everything. EVENTmanager:

• Controls stock, recipes, and BOM items
• Ensures accurate banquet costing
• Uses integrated recipes linked to event packages

Whether it’s a small corporate meeting or a 300-guest banquet, every detail is accounted for.

SHOPkeeper: High-Speed Retail POS for Stores and Outlets

Retail environments demand speed, accuracy, and dependable controls — and SHOPkeeper ticks every box.

Fast Checkout with Full Device Support

SHOPkeeper supports barcode scanning with multiple scanners, cash drawers, client displays, and slip printers. For non-barcode items, touch-screen buttons with images allow fast, intuitive selection.

Flexible Transaction Management

Retail staff can:

• Combine identical items on print slips
• Reverse line items instantly
• Apply line or bill-level discounts
• Capture customer nationality and demographic data for marketing

Payment and Debtor Processing

Customers can pay using:

• Multiple payment types
• Multiple currencies
• Split payments
• Loyalty points

Debtor management includes photo validation, signature panel display, credit limit checks, and integration with INNkeeper for direct posting to guest folios.

Powerful Cash and Inventory Control

SHOPkeeper also includes:

• Multi-level, multi-currency cash-up
• User activity audit logs
• Full procurement and inventory integration
• The ability to buy stock in one unit of measure and sell in another
• Unlimited warehouses and stores

It’s retail simplification with powerful financial discipline.

Why Choose CiMSO Live? The Value Proposition

Across RESTaurateur, EVENTmanager, and SHOPkeeper, the +Live Suite is built on core principles that maximize operational excellence:

Next-Generation Technology

Always evolving, always improving — designed to integrate seamlessly with modern hospitality and retail environments.

Customer-Centric Design

Workflows, interfaces, and reports are structured to deliver:

• Better guest service
• Faster turnaround times
• Improved staff performance

Real-Time Integration

All modules communicate with each other, producing:

• Immediate financial reporting
• Live operational visibility
• Fewer data inconsistencies

Complete Financial Control

Peer review, audit trails, and built-in controls ensure transparency, accountability, and accuracy across all departments.

Centralised Management

Data synchronisation allows organizations with multiple locations to run operations in real time while maintaining central oversight.

24/7 Global Support

With SLA-backed assistance, clients receive reliable support anytime, anywhere.

Lower Cost of Ownership

Efficient systems, reduced dependency on third-party tools, and streamlined operations lead to better ROI and increased profitability.

The Future of Hospitality and Retail Starts with CiMSO Live

From restaurants and bars to events and retail outlets, the +Live Suite provides a unified, intelligent, and powerful platform for managing every step of the customer journey. With real-time financial integration, advanced inventory control, and user-friendly operational tools, businesses gain both efficiency and insight — leading to better decisions, better service, and stronger profits.

CiMSO Live is more than software. It’s the backbone of modern, data-driven hospitality and retail operations.

Contact Us

CiMSO supports clients transitioning from fragmented legacy software systems to fully integrated ERP solutions. We also manage the successful deployment of new systems in compliance with our ISO90003 Quality Management Systems and PRINCEII project management methodologies.

Don’t hesitate to contact your local CiMSO office or Value Added Reseller for more information on CiMSO’s Integrated ERP Software Suites for Hotels, Lodges, Resorts, Clubs, Timeshare, and Leasing management.