points in one system
The chain grows — adding a point takes 10 minutes: one row in the catalogue plus access grants.
← Back to all cases
HoReCa · restaurant chain
Accounting for a restaurant chain on AppSheet + Google Sheets — no in-house developer
A 15+ point restaurant chain used to live in notebooks, Excel files and group chats. We built a single accounting system on AppSheet + Google Sheets + Apps Script: every location runs its shift from a phone, all data flows into one sheet, the daily report self-arrives in the owner's Telegram. No in-house backend developer — maintained by a single data engineer.
screen
— what it looks like
Open your shift in your pocket — see the whole day
At the location, a staff member opens the AppSheet app on a regular smartphone and lands on the active-shift dashboard. From there — big icons for every action: statistics, paid expenses, staff on shift, payroll accrual and payout, write-offs, inter-point transfers, invoice uploads, Z-report attachment. What needs to be done today sits on one screen. And the key part: AppSheet is cross-platform. The same app runs on iOS, Android and in the browser from a single schema. No separate iPhone / Android build, no App Store / Google Play publishing.
screen
screen
screen
The owner's admin — in a browser
The same data the location enters, the owner reads from anywhere through AppSheet web. On the left — the per-shift card (day, point, opening time, status). In the centre — the expanded view with operational actions and expense/income tables. On the right — the «Today» table with active shifts across the chain: one row per open location.
What hurt
- Every location ran its own Excel or paper notebook — by month-end the numbers across locations didn't match.
- To pull a daily report, the owner had to call each point, ask for cash-register photos and invoices, and stitch it together manually.
- Payroll was calculated on a pocket calculator from shifts — constant mistakes and disputes with staff.
- Z-reports got lost. Invoices arrived in one chat, receipts in another, nothing was tied to a specific shift.
- Everyone had the same level of access. A line employee could see the entire chain's payroll, an accountant could accidentally edit the product catalogue.
- Any catalogue change (a new product, a new supplier) had to be DM'd to whoever owned the main file.
- Commissioning a full-blown CRM from scratch — too expensive and too slow for a chain that's still growing.
What we did
- One cross-platform AppSheet app for the entire chain — runs on iOS, Android and in the browser from a single schema. No separate per-platform development and no App Store / Google Play publishing.
- Every point's processes live in the app: open shift → attach the Z-report → record expenses and income → pay out salaries → close shift.
- Under the hood — one Google Sheet with 20+ tabs: shifts, points, employees, expenses, income, suppliers, items, invoices, transfers, accruals, payouts, action log.
- Apps Script aggregates the daily report per location and sends it to the owner in Telegram — no human in the loop.
- 5 access levels: the owner sees everything, the chain director — all locations, a point manager — only their own location, a cashier — only the current shift, an accountant — only accruals and payouts. Implemented through AppSheet security filters.
- Payroll is computed automatically: shift × hours worked × rate → monthly statement in one click.
- All catalogues (items, suppliers, points, roles) are edited in the same Google Sheet — no app release.
- A Z-report is a photo in Google Drive linked to the shift row. Same for invoices. No separate storage.
- Inter-point transfers are paired rows: one location writes off, the other receives. The chain's balance reconciles itself.
- No in-house developer. One data engineer checks the logs once a week, fixes formulas and ships new modules on demand.
—
What it delivered
on the daily report
At end of day, Apps Script computes the digest and pushes it to the owner's Telegram.
access levels
Owner, chain director, point manager, cashier, accountant — each sees only what's theirs.
data engineer instead of a team
No in-house backend developer: maintenance and growth — a few hours a week.
—
What we built
- 01
Shift accounting
Opening, closing, status, linkage to a point and to employees, Z-report attachment (photo).
- 02
Expense accounting
Paid expenses with item & supplier catalogues, units (pcs / kg / l), receipt photos.
- 03
Income accounting
Cash, terminal, cash-on-delivery — per shift, automatically rolled into the daily stats.
- 04
Payroll: accrual & payout
Hours × rate from the shift → statement; payouts logged as a separate operation linked to the employee.
- 05
Write-offs
A dedicated module with reason (spoilage, breakage, shortage) and the employee on shift.
- 06
Inter-point transfers
Paired rows: one point gives, the other receives. Chain balance reconciles without manual entry.
- 07
Invoice uploads
Attach the invoice photo to the income row — search later by supplier and date.
- 08
Catalogues
Items, suppliers, expense categories, points, roles and rates — all editable in Google Sheets, no release.
- 09
Access levels
5 roles, row filters in AppSheet by USEREMAIL() and point — each user sees only their own.
- 10
Telegram report broadcasts
Morning report: which shifts are open across the chain. Evening: income, expenses, balance per point.
- 11
Summary reporting
Dashboards in Sheets via QUERY() and SUMIFS() — revenue, expenses and payroll across points and periods.
- 12
Action log
Every change is written into a dedicated tab with author, time and old value — disputes resolve in a minute.
screen
screen
screen
Floor staff enter data in a single tap
The on-site staff member opens «Paid expenses», picks an item from the catalogue (sugar, pepper, eggs, milk, mushrooms…), enters the amount and unit (pcs / kg / l), picks a supplier (veggies, lavash, store, delivery, advertising…) and saves. Linking to the open shift and the point — automatic, no manual entry. The same flow — for income, invoices, write-offs and inter-point transfers.
— a similar project for you
Want an accounting system for your chain — with no in-house developer?
We'll build the accounting system for your chain on AppSheet + Google Sheets + Apps Script: a mobile app for the points, Telegram reports, multi-level access. Tell us what you need — we'll come back with architecture and a cost estimate in a couple of days.
← Back to all cases
AppSheet · Google Sheets · Apps Script · Telegram
AppSheet + Sheets-as-DB + Apps Script: a HoReCa chain accounting system without a backend team
An accounting system for a restaurant chain, built without an in-house developer — only a data engineer. Front — AppSheet (mobile + browser), data — one Google Sheet with 20+ tabs as a relational database, logic — Google Apps Script (validation, aggregates, cron-style triggers). Daily and evening reports go straight from Apps Script to Telegram via UrlFetchApp. 5 access roles are implemented through AppSheet security filters on top of USEREMAIL().
screen
— what it looks like
Open your shift in your pocket — see the whole day
At the location, a staff member opens the AppSheet app on a regular smartphone and lands on the active-shift dashboard. From there — big icons for every action: statistics, paid expenses, staff on shift, payroll accrual and payout, write-offs, inter-point transfers, invoice uploads, Z-report attachment. What needs to be done today sits on one screen. And the key part: AppSheet is cross-platform. The same app runs on iOS, Android and in the browser from a single schema. No separate iPhone / Android build, no App Store / Google Play publishing.
screen
screen
screen
The owner's admin — in a browser
The same data the location enters, the owner reads from anywhere through AppSheet web. On the left — the per-shift card (day, point, opening time, status). In the centre — the expanded view with operational actions and expense/income tables. On the right — the «Today» table with active shifts across the chain: one row per open location.
—
Stack
- Front
- AppSheet · auto-generates a mobile (iOS/Android) and web UI from the Sheets schema · views, slices, actions, format-rules · offline cache on the device
- Data
- Google Sheets as a backend · 20+ tabs · catalogues (points, employees, suppliers, items, roles) plus operational tables (shifts, paid_expenses, income, payouts, transfers, invoices, log) · relations via ref columns
- Logic
- Google Apps Script · time-based and onEdit triggers · validation, aggregates, normalisation · scripts are bound to the Sheet, no separate server
- Reports
- Apps Script → Telegram Bot API via UrlFetchApp · morning and evening digest formatting · send-log on a dedicated tab
- Queries
- AppSheet formulas (SELECT, FILTER, LOOKUP) for the UI · Sheets QUERY() + SUMIFS() for the owner's dashboards · no external SQL server
- Access
- AppSheet security filters on a role column + USEREMAIL() · row filters apply before the data ships to the device · 5 roles
- Files
- Google Drive · Z-reports, invoices, receipt photos live in folders, the row stores the Drive URL · no separate storage
- Infra
- 0 servers to maintain · everything inside Google Workspace · one data engineer owns the schema and scripts
—
Architectural decisions
- 01
One schema, three platforms
AppSheet compiles the app for iOS, Android and the web browser from a single declarative schema on top of Google Sheets. No React Native, no Flutter, no separate codebase — behaviour matches across platforms. On-site staff use it on their phone, the owner reads the same app in a browser from anywhere.
- 02
Sheets-as-DB instead of PostgreSQL
For a chain up to 30 points the data volume is tens of thousands of rows per year. Sheets handles that easily, AppSheet caches it, aggregates are computed with QUERY()/SUMIFS(). Paying for managed PostgreSQL and building an admin from scratch isn't economical at this scale.
- 03
AppSheet RLS via security filters
A security filter is a formula that decides which rows of a table actually ship to a given user. Implementation: AND(USEREMAIL() = [email], OR([role] = 'admin', [point_id] = LOOKUP(USEREMAIL(), employees, email, point_id))). A line worker physically never receives someone else's rows on their device.
- 04
Apps Script triggers instead of cron
ScriptApp.newTrigger('sendMorningReport').timeBased().atHour(9).everyDays(1).create() — Google fires the function on schedule. No dedicated server / k8s / Docker — the script lives inside the document.
- 05
Telegram broadcasts via UrlFetchApp
Apps Script calls the Bot API directly: UrlFetchApp.fetch('https://api.telegram.org/bot.../sendMessage', { method: 'post', payload: {...} }). No separate bot server, no webhooks, no hosting.
- 06
Z-report = photo in Drive with a link in the row
An Image-typed column in AppSheet stores the file in a target Drive folder and keeps the URL in the cell. The shift link goes through a ref to shifts.id. No separate object storage, no S3.
- 07
Inter-point transfers as paired rows
A transfer between points is one row with from_point and to_point. An AppSheet action atomically writes paired rows: -X on the sending location, +X on the receiving one. The chain balance reconciles without manual sheets.
- 08
Denormalisation for speed
In operational tables (shifts, paid_expenses) we keep the point's name and the employee's last name directly, not just an id — so the AppSheet card renders without a LOOKUP chain. Edits are rare; reads happen dozens of times a day.
- 09
onEdit audit-trail
An onEdit trigger writes into a log tab: timestamp, USEREMAIL(), table, column, old and new value. Staff disputes resolve in a minute.
- 10
Catalogues = source of truth
Items, suppliers, points, rates live in separate tabs. Operational tables reference them through ref. Adding a new product = adding a row to a catalogue, no app release.
- 11
One data engineer instead of a team
Maintenance — a few hours a week: read Apps Script logs, fix formulas, ship new modules. The chain gets a full accounting system at a consultant's cost.
—
Project metrics
15+points in the chain
20+tabs in Sheets
12AppSheet modules
5access roles
5+Apps Script triggers
2Telegram report channels
0servers to maintain
1data engineer instead of a team
—
What's inside
Shifts with a Z-report
Open/close, the Z-report photo attaches straight into the shift row through an AppSheet Image column.
Employees-on-shift linkage
An action appends a row to shift_employees(shift_id, employee_id, hours). Those hours flow into payroll.
Expenses with receipt & supplier
Refs to items and suppliers catalogues, an Image column for the receipt, automatic linkage to the point's open shift.
Income: cash + terminal
Separate amounts per payment method, total computed as [cash] + [terminal].
Write-offs
Dedicated module with a reason (spoilage, breakage, shortage), the responsible employee taken from shift_employees.
Inter-point transfers
An action writes paired -X / +X rows — chain balance reconciles without manual aggregation.
Payroll: accrual & payout
Accrual by hours × rate from the employees catalogue, payout — a separate operation with the receiver's signature.
Invoices with photos
An Image column stores the scan in Drive, filter by supplier and period — search in seconds.
Telegram broadcasts
Morning and evening reports across the chain via Apps Script + UrlFetchApp; digest format edited in the script.
Security filters
5 roles via USEREMAIL() + lookup on employees.email → role / point_id. Line staff never receive other rows physically.
Audit-trail
onEdit writes into a log: author, time, old and new value. Disputed shifts resolve in a minute.
Summary reporting
QUERY() + SUMIFS() on a dashboard tab: revenue, expenses, payroll across points and periods — no BI tooling.
screen
screen
screen
Floor staff enter data in a single tap
The on-site staff member opens «Paid expenses», picks an item from the catalogue (sugar, pepper, eggs, milk, mushrooms…), enters the amount and unit (pcs / kg / l), picks a supplier (veggies, lavash, store, delivery, advertising…) and saves. Linking to the open shift and the point — automatic, no manual entry. The same flow — for income, invoices, write-offs and inter-point transfers.
— a similar project for you
Want an accounting system for your chain — with no in-house developer?
We'll build the accounting system for your chain on AppSheet + Google Sheets + Apps Script: a mobile app for the points, Telegram reports, multi-level access. Tell us what you need — we'll come back with architecture and a cost estimate in a couple of days.