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Hi GoTabbers!
Every operator knows the big line items on a P&L. It's the small, easy-to-miss costs — a payment processor quietly raising its margin, a vendor invoice with a price increase buried on line four, a schedule built on guesswork instead of demand — that erode profitability without ever showing up as one alarming number.
In this issue, we're looking at how GoTab and opsi give operators the visibility to catch those costs before they hit the bottom line, including how Chef Curtis Dettman at Pau Hana used opsi to catch a vendor billing error worth roughly $5,000. Plus, a reminder about the pricing commitment we've made so you can plan around what you pay us.
We're also introducing two new integrations with Shopify and Tanda/Workforce.com that are built to save your team time.
Patricia Mejia, GoTab CMO 🍻
Restaurant and hospitality margins are thin enough that a few hidden percentage points can be the difference between a good year and a great one.
Card processing alone typically runs 3.5%–3.6% per transaction. On a $100 check, that's $3.50 to $3.60 gone before anything else is paid for. At 200 orders a day, that's roughly $720 a day in processing fees alone, on top of monthly software costs, hardware markups, and so much more.
GoTab is built to remove that guesswork. No hardware markups (you can repurpose existing equipment) and a pricing model built around a simple idea: we make money when you make money.
opsi by GoTab extends that visibility into the kitchen. Its Automated Invoice Processing digitizes vendor invoices, maps line items to ingredients, and syncs directly with QuickBooks Online and Xero, replacing the hour or more you spend on manual data entry every day, along with the errors that come with it. With real-time ingredient pricing and historical trend data, you can catch a vendor's price creep or a costing discrepancy before it quietly eats into margin, instead of discovering it weeks later in a P&L.
That kind of visibility isn't theoretical. Chef Curtis Dettman was scaling Pau Hana from one restaurant to two, 30 minutes apart, and couldn't be in both places at once to catch every detail.
Using opsi's invoice tracking, he uncovered a vendor billing error that had gone unnoticed for more than a year. The vendor confirmed it and reimbursed roughly $5,000, covering nearly a full year of the platform's cost.
Building out his bar menu in opsi also surfaced about 40 cents per cocktail in previously uncosted garnishes, straws, and ice, sharpening his pricing across the board.
We've said it before, but it's worth repeating: GoTab has held its core software pricing steady since 2023, even as we've continued investing in the platform — including opsi, OpServer offline mode, and Lovey by GoTab, our new AI assistant.
We're also offering many operators an indefinite rate lock — a commitment to hold the processing margin GoTab controls steady for as long as you use the platform. It's the same philosophy behind everything else in this issue: the fewer surprises in your cost structure, the easier it is to plan, grow, and protect your margin.
GoTab's updated Shopify integration makes GoTab the source of truth for inventory, so stock levels stay accurate wherever an order comes from. It also syncs selected GoTab menus into Shopify, so operators manage their catalog in one place instead of two, plus reports every Shopify sale back into GoTab as a sale, so your reporting reflects every channel.
GoTab now connects directly with Workforce.com (Tanda) to bring scheduling, time tracking, tips, and payroll into a single, demand-driven workflow.
Sales data from GoTab feeds Workforce.com's scheduling engine, so managers can build shifts around actual demand instead of guesswork, and tips captured in GoTab flow straight into Workforce.com for distribution or pooling.
Key Features:
GoTab is heading to Richmond, Virginia, as the Business Track Presenting Sponsor of the 2026 Virginia Brewers Conference, running September 21–23 at the Delta Hotels Richmond Downtown.
Adam Howe, GoTab's Director of Product Enablement, will moderate a session on high-performance taproom and beer garden operations alongside Jake Abell, Owner/Brewmaster of Scuffle Hill Brewing Company, and Ambar Sharma, Co-Owner of Route 7 Brewing — covering hybrid ordering models, guest mobility, kitchen efficiency, dynamic service zones, and loyalty programs.
Session: “6 Best Practices for High-Performance Taproom and Beer Garden Operations” — Tuesday, September 22, 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Visit GoTab at Booth 35 for live demos and to schedule a personalized Brewery Operations Review. Complimentary tickets are available upon sign-up.
Whether it's catching a processing rate creeping upward, a vendor invoice that quietly changed, or a schedule that doesn't match demand, the pattern is the same: the sooner you see a cost, the sooner you can control it.
New integrations, transparent pricing, and platform investments are all in service of the same goal — giving operators the visibility and stability to grow with confidence.
Thank you for being part of the GoTab community.