Everything we have written, in one place

Skai Solutions has published more than 70 guides for Australian and New Zealand operators, and every one of them is listed on this page. They cover what phone answering costs in both markets, award rates and wages, compliance obligations, venue benchmarks, POS integration detail and city guides. Every figure is either linked to its source or shown as arithmetic you can check yourself.

What it costs

The published numbers, in local currency, with every source linked.

• How much should I charge for catering?
  The ATO benchmarks catering services separately from restaurants, and the catering cost-of-sales band is wider at every turnover band: 31 to 43 per cent against 32 to 39 per cent for a restaurant. Why a single food cost multiplier underprices any job with weekend hours in it, and the award coverage question that decides the whole labour line.
• What are trade waste charges and what do they cost?
  The 2026-27 schedules side by side. Sydney Water charges a food premises A$2.826 a kilolitre as a low strength quality charge and A$20.061 where pre-treatment is not maintained, seven times the rate. Yarra Valley Water charges a contract fee from A$658.87 a year plus load per kilogram, Logan City steps from A$2.1103 to A$6.7230 a kilolitre by category, and Auckland has no separate trade waste tariff at all.
• What are outgoings on a commercial lease?
  Gross against net against semi gross, and the state by state position on land tax: barred in Victoria since 1 July 2003 and in Queensland, capped on a single holding basis in NSW and WA. Plus the estimate and audited statement your landlord owes you, and why a kitchen rated at 2.5 litres per square metre a day should never accept water apportioned by floor area.
• How much does restaurant cleaning cost in Australia?
  Two dated 2026 guides put contract commercial cleaning at about A$40 to A$65 an hour and a small kitchen deep clean at A$280 to A$560 a visit, and neither publishes a restaurant rate at all. Underneath every quote sits the Cleaning Services Award floor from 1 July 2026: A$33.85 casual on a weekday, A$60.93 casual on a Sunday. A A$40 Sunday clean is below the wage it has to buy.
• How much does food business registration cost in Australia?
  Three published 2026-27 council schedules and three different charging models. Geelong puts a class 2 renewal at A$668 to A$1,729 and adds a performance fee for a C rating. Brisbane prices renewal on the Eat Safe star rating, so an identical venue under 250 m² pays A$503.00 at five stars and A$1,005.90 at two. NSW notification is free and then the council inspection fee arrives.
• How much does it cost to make a cup of coffee?
  The coffee in a cup is 44c to 84c at published Australian wholesale bands of A$22 to A$42 a kilogram, about 15% of the A$4.69 the average cup sold for in June 2026. The world green bean price, how to build the other three lines from your own invoices, and why changing roaster is the weakest margin lever you have.
• How much does a liquor licence cost in Australia?
  A restaurant licence application is A$518.10 in Victoria, A$754.00 in South Australia and A$965.00 in New South Wales, read from the government fee schedules on 8 October 2026. Why Victoria charges by patron capacity, and an honest note on the annual fees nobody can quote.
• Should a cafe lease or buy a coffee machine?
  The median Australian commercial machine measured A$8,414.15 ex GST in August 2026, under the A$20,000 instant asset write off. Buying, finance, rental and a roaster's machine compared.
• What does a commercial dishwasher cost?
  26 Australian listings captured in October 2026 ran A$1,432 to A$39,068, middle at A$6,133. The five year running cost on linked water and power rates is larger than the purchase price.
• How much does fire extinguisher servicing cost?
  A$8 to A$30 a unit on a six monthly cycle and roughly A$310 to A$810 a year for a small venue, against the A$33,000 penalty behind the records New South Wales has required since 13 February 2026.
• How much does an outdoor dining permit cost?
  Councils charge on three different units for the same footpath: A$90 a licensed chair at Yarra, by the square metre at Port Phillip, and exempt development in New South Wales. A 24 seat worked example at about A$3,430 a year.
• Average spend per head How to calculate it, and the only official Australian and New Zealand figures there are to benchmark against.
• How much does it cost to fit out a cafe?
  The advertised per square metre bands for 2026, what the equipment share really is, a worked example on 120 square metres, and the ABS figure showing non-residential construction prices up 7.8% across two years.
• What a restaurant should pay in merchant fees
  Reserve Bank benchmarks for the June quarter 2026 by card, why an overseas-issued card costs three times a domestic one, and how to work out your own cost of acceptance.
• Grease trap cleaning cost for a restaurant
  The per litre pricing model and the 1,000 litre minimum charge, the four pump out intervals Sydney Water will accept, and the rate that is 7.1 times normal when a trap is not maintained.
• Commercial kitchen exhaust cleaning cost
  Sydney rates of A$230 to A$900 a visit, the AIRAH inspection table that puts a chargrill venue on twelve visits a year against one, and the 200 micrometre grease reading that actually triggers a clean.
• Ghost kitchen cost in Australia
  Advertised dark kitchen rent in Melbourne and Brisbane, and why break-even sits near A$450,000 of revenue once a 30% marketplace commission is counted.
• How much electricity costs a restaurant
  The regulated Australian small business rates for 2026-27 divided out to an all in 38.5 to 55.2 cents a unit, the New Zealand survey figures, and why no average gas bill exists.
• Restaurant water bill cost
  The three separate charges a food business pays per kilolitre in Sydney, the Auckland tariff that flips the structure, and the grease trap rate that triples the bill.
• Music licence cost for a restaurant or cafe
  The full OneMusic rate cards for Australia and New Zealand, why streaming costs nearly four times the radio, and the separate licence that covers hold music.
• Commercial kitchen equipment cost
  Planning bands by venue type, and whether to buy new, buy used, lease or rent once the Australian write-off and New Zealand's Investment Boost are counted.
• AI receptionist cost in Australia and New Zealand
  The published plans in both currencies, the four billing models that make headline prices impossible to compare, and what a setup fee should actually buy.
• Phone answering service cost in New Zealand
  Every way a NZ venue can get its phone answered, priced side by side - message taking, virtual receptionist, AI, and rostering a person on it.
• Phone answering service cost in Australia
  The same comparison for Australian operators, at current Fair Work rates.
• Virtual receptionist cost in Australia
  What the per-call and per-minute plans actually work out to once a venue's real call volume goes through them.
• Restaurant phone system cost in Australia
  A$20 to A$35 per user a month, plus setup, handsets and porting. The full inputs table at August 2026 market rates, with a worked example for a two person cafe.

How the products differ

What actually separates these products, and where Skai Solutions is the wrong buy.

• Cash register vs POS system: which does a restaurant need?
  A register totals a sale, a POS records it. The four categories of till compared on cost and on the record each leaves, with the five year ATO retention rule that applies whichever you buy, and the venues that should keep the register they have.
• AI receptionist for coffee shops
  A missed coffee call is worth 77 cents on ATO margins and a missed catering order A$63. Which cafes should buy one, and which should not.
• After hours answering service for restaurants
  What each type of after hours cover actually does, what a rostered casual costs under a two hour minimum engagement, and who should not buy one.
• The cheapest way to get a restaurant phone answered
  All five categories priced against each other, including what a staff member on the award actually costs and the August 2026 Australian phone system market ranges.
• Does an AI receptionist actually work?
  The four ways it fails, what the peer-reviewed evidence on unanswered calls really says, and five tests to run before you believe a demo.
• AI receptionist for restaurants and cafes
  What the category covers, what each tier costs in Australia and New Zealand, what it handles badly, and who should not buy one.
• AI phone ordering systems for takeaways
  The three levels of phone automation, which ones can write into a POS that exists in this part of the world, and when none of it is worth buying.
• Best AI phone agents for NZ restaurants
  Who actually serves New Zealand hospitality, and who just says they do.
• How AI phone answering actually works
  One call followed from divert to POS ticket in five stages, the four things it handles badly, and the venues that should not buy one.
• How does a virtual receptionist work?
  The divert, who is on the other end, what it costs against a A$33.05 casual hour, and the four venue situations where the model breaks down.
• What is a telephone answering service?
  Three different products share one name. Message taking, virtual reception and software side by side, what each does badly, and who should buy nothing at all.

Running the venue

Benchmarks you can check your own venue against, from named sources with the year attached.

• Do you have to pay staff for training?
  The award has no general clause about training, which is why operators get it wrong. Clause 11.3 engages and pays a casual for at least 2 consecutive hours on each occasion they are required to attend, so a 90 minute session costs 2 paid hours a head. Plus the apprentice obligations that never show up in a pay table: trade school is time worked, and clause 12.7(c) makes you reimburse the course fees.
• What do you do when an employee does not show up for work?
  The Restaurant Industry Award contains the word "abandon" zero times, so the three day rule everyone repeats has no basis in it. What covering the shift costs at Table 7 overtime rates of 150 to 200 per cent, why clause 23.2 can push that into the next morning, four fixes ordered by what they cost you, and what section 387 of the Fair Work Act requires before you end the job.
• Is there GST on takeaway food in Australia?
  Section 38-3 of the GST Act makes location and temperature decisive, so the same plain bread roll is taxable at your table and GST-free carried out. A cafe item table, the 90 per cent by volume juice threshold that flips a drink either way, and what it costs over four years when dine in sales are coded GST-free. Not tax advice.
• What do you do when an employee is injured at work?
  Three clocks start at once and only one is obvious: SafeWork NSW immediately on 13 10 50 for a serious injury, your insurer within 48 hours of you becoming aware, and the insurer's own seven days to start weekly payments. Why casuals are covered, the four points where hospitality injuries cluster, and what covering the shifts actually costs.
• When does the hospitality award pay overtime?
  The thresholds for full time, part time and casual staff, the Table 7 rates of 150 to 200 per cent, and the four conditions on time off in lieu that informal arrangements usually break. Plus clause 23.2, under which the overtime rate keeps running until the employee has had eight hours off, which is the rule that makes a late closer expensive the next morning.
• How many customers does a cafe get a day?
  Nobody publishes it, so the page builds it: NZ$1.99 billion of restaurant and cafe sales in Q1 2025 from the Restaurant Association of New Zealand, across the 9,858 venues Stats NZ counted, over 90 days, at the NZ$55 average card transaction Stats NZ published in September 2026. About 40 transactions a day, and then the three reasons that is a floor rather than an answer.
• How long do you have to keep food safety records?
  At least 3 months in Australia under Standard 3.2.2A, at least 4 years in New Zealand under a food control plan, a sixteenfold gap for the same kitchen. Which records have to exist, what the template plan demands of them, and the NZ$16,500 a court imposed in January 2025 over four missing samosa temperature entries spread across two years.
• What are the eftpos chargeback rules for a restaurant?
  210 days for a cardholder to dispute an eftpos payment and 120 on Visa or Mastercard, against 30 to 45 days for you to answer, plus a A$25 fee on NAB's published schedule. Why a tap at the terminal is safe and a card number read out over the phone is not: 87.3 percent of Australian card fraud was card not present in 2024-25.
• Why is my commercial oven not heating up?
  Six faults in order and four checks that cost nothing, then the two rules the overseas repair blogs do not carry: FSANZ requires food reheated for hot holding to reach 60C or hotter quickly and not in a bain marie, and on a gas oven only a plumber licensed in the specialised class of Type A appliance servicing may legally open it.
• What are the public holiday trading restrictions for restaurants?
  Restaurants and cafes are exempt shops under section 7(1) of the NSW Retail Trading Act 2008, but section 7(2) lets you staff a restricted day only with people who freely elected to work it, and section 7(3) says a roster does not count. Penalties, the New Zealand ready-to-eat condition and the 8 week lead time on a Victorian Anzac Day licence.
• Why is my commercial ice machine not making ice?
  Five faults in the order they happen and four fixes cheapest first. The NHMRC Australian Drinking Water Guidelines rate 200 to 500 mg/L hardness as increasing scaling and over 500 mg/L as severe, and Australian supplies run from about 5 to 380 mg/L, which is why a generic descaling interval is wrong for most venues.
• How does a commercial glass washer work?
  A single tank machine against a dishwasher against a double sink, and the sanitising temperatures FSANZ actually names. Appendix 6 of Safe Food Australia says there is no prescribed method for sanitation by dishwasher, then lists DIN 10512 at 80C to 85C rinse and NSF 3 at 82C. Also the vinegar test that tells scale from permanent etching.
• How do you work out a restaurant break even point?
  ABS 2024-25 figures put total expenses at 94.4% of sales for Australian food and beverage services. Split into purchases 35.4%, labour 30.4% and a 28.6% remainder, with half the labour held fixed, that is a sector break even at about 89% of actual sales, or 40 covers a day on a A$900,000 venue.
• Is a fire suppression system required in a commercial kitchen?
  NCC 2022 Volume One Part E1, read clause by clause: a Class 6 building needs sprinklers only past a 3,500 square metre fire compartment, the only kitchen item named is a Class F extinguisher, and the phrase wet chemical appears nowhere in it. Your lease and your insurer are what decide.
• Commercial dishwasher not working? Diagnose it by symptom
  Water in, water out, heat or chemical delivery, matched to what the machine is actually doing. Plus the published numbers that let you keep serving with no machine: 77 degrees C for 30 seconds, or 50 ppm chlorine at 5 ml of commercial bleach in 10 L.
• What are the commercial kitchen ventilation requirements in Australia?
  A hood is required once cooking appliances pass 8 kW electrical or 29 MJ/h of gas. The published airflow figure is 380 litres a second per square metre of cooking surface, the filter sits 600 mm, 1,050 mm or 1,350 mm above the heat depending on the source, and AS 1668.2 moved the Type 1 overhang from 150 mm to 300 mm in 2024.
• What can a restaurant do when a customer leaves without paying?
  What a walkout really costs once you run it through a 6.65% margin, the four fixes cheapest first, and the statutory contrast: NSW and Victoria both carry a ten-year maximum whatever the bill, while New Zealand caps a table of NZ$500 or less at three months. Not legal advice.
• EFTPOS machine not working: what to do mid service
  The four causes in the order a floor manager should try them, four fixes cheapest first, and the published limits on point of sale offline mode: 24 hours on reader hardware, a 72 hour upload deadline, and pending payments that expire and in Square's own words cannot be retrieved or reprocessed.
• What percentage of restaurant payments are cash?
  Cash was 19% of in-person payments by number and 16% by value in 2025 on Reserve Bank figures. The benchmark, the four steps to measure your own venue from a month of reports, and what Australia's 1 January 2026 cash acceptance mandate does and does not require of a cafe.
• How many toilets does a cafe need?
  NCC 2022 Table F4D4d in full, the exemption below 21 patrons, and the rule that decides which row you are on: design occupancy is one person per square metre of floor area unless you count the fixed seats instead.
• What do you do when a commercial fridge stops cooling?
  Six causes from cheapest to dearest, what the Food Standards Code says you must discard, and why the gauge on the door is not evidence: FSANZ requires a thermometer accurate to within 1 degree C and says equipment gauges measure the appliance, not the food.
• What is menu engineering, and does it work?
  The original Kasavana and Smith method, properly: contribution margin in dollars rather than food cost percentage, the volume line set at 70% of average units sold rather than at the average, the five steps in order, and the four things the four box grid cannot see.
• Do restaurant security cameras record audio?
  Almost never, and it is a legal choice: NSW surveillance law carries a maximum of 500 penalty units for a corporation that records a private conversation. Where cameras should point, why the Privacy Act probably does not cover your venue, and why phone calls work the other way round.
• What first aid kit does a restaurant need?
  One trained first aider per 25 workers because a kitchen is high risk, the hydro gel and burn sheets a generic kit misses, and why the ratio leaves a three shift venue uncovered.
• Can a restaurant stay open with no hot water?
  60 degrees stored, 50 at the basin and 77 for heat sanitising, three temperatures that do not line up. What the Code actually requires and four fixes ordered cheapest first.
• How many people can a restaurant seat per square metre?
  The National Construction Code deems a restaurant 1 person per square metre and a standing bar 2, what floor area is excluded, and why that figure is not a legal cap on customers.
• Do you have to pay staff for breaks?
  Australia has no statutory break at all and New Zealand has a legislated table. The Restaurant Industry Award clause that charges 50 per cent extra for a break you did not give.
• What should a restaurant do in a power outage?
  What to discard after four hours, the four business days notice your distributor owes, and the guaranteed service level payment most venues never claim.
• How long should a restaurant phone ring?
  An Australian ring cycle is exactly three seconds, so six rings is 18 seconds. What the measured evidence says about when callers give up, and the divert timer to set.
• RSA certificate cost in Australia About A$27 to A$90 a person, the card fee already inside it, the Queensland 30 day deadline and when an interstate RSA works.
• The 2 hour 4 hour rule The three bands, why the clock is cumulative, and the mandatory cooling rule that uses the same two numbers the other way round.
• Minors on licensed premises New South Wales allows minors in many licensed venues, Queensland bans them unless exempt. The exemptions, the fines and the 5pm nightclub cliff.
• Long service leave in hospitality Not in the award. State law, the same 0.8667 weeks a year in NSW, Queensland and Victoria, and what a ten year casual costs.
• Restaurant refund rules in Australia When a diner is owed a refund, when the rejection window has closed, and why a No Refunds sign carries the heavier penalty.
• Can a restaurant refuse service? What you may lawfully refuse, what you may ask about an assistance animal, and the order to ask it in.
• Gift voucher expiry rules in Australia Three year minimum, what must be printed, and why a fee on an unused voucher is void.
• A customer says they got food poisoning. What now?
  Who investigates in New South Wales and why the household count decides it, the 10 business day sample window, the A$880 penalty notice, and why the public register costs more than the fine.
• Do you need a BYO licence in Australia?
  Three states, three answers: no licence at all in New South Wales, a A$345.40 permit and eleven weeks notice in Victoria, and a council matter in Queensland.
• How much does the average restaurant make in Australia?
  ABS Australian Industry 2024-25, released 18 September 2026: A$134.1 billion of sales, A$8.9 billion of operating profit before tax, and 6.65 cents in the dollar.
• What is table turnover in a restaurant?
  Covers divided by seats, how to calculate it per service, the three things the number hides, and the venues that should leave it alone.
• Restaurant pest control requirements
  No pest control certificate exists in the Food Standards Code, what clause 24 actually asks for, and why an A$880 NSW penalty notice is the smaller half of the cost.
• Restaurant insurance cost in Australia
  The only restaurant insurance premium published by law, the NSW workers compensation rate at 2.250% of wages, and why a takeaway pays more than a restaurant.
• Restaurant overhead costs in Australia
  Everything that is not stock or wages, derived from the ATO benchmarks at about a quarter of turnover, and why the non-rent half grows as the venue grows.
• How many staff does a cafe need?
  The answer in paid hours rather than headcount, worked from the ATO coffee shop labour band and the Fair Work award rate, plus what that means on the floor.
• Restaurant prime cost
  Cost of sales plus wages, derived band by band from the ATO small business benchmarks, and why the American 60% target does not transfer.
• How much is my restaurant worth
  Earnings multiple against revenue multiple against asset value, and the under-10% rent test most small venues fail on the ATO's own data.
• How to train restaurant staff
  Hospitality takes in 2.43 new entrants to employment per job changer, the highest of any industry, and the award clause that makes short training sessions cost 2.7 times more.
• Why restaurant staff turnover is so high
  The ABS job mobility data on hospitality churn, what replacing one person costs on award rates, and the four fixes ordered cheapest first.
• What the card surcharge ban means for restaurants
  Card surcharges end in Australia on 1 October 2026. What acceptance really costs, what you can still charge, and why New Zealand went the other way.
• How does tip pooling work in Australia?
  A full text check of both hospitality awards on 7 October 2026 returned zero mentions of tips, gratuities, tronc or service charges, so the policy is yours to write. What cash and card tips do differently, and the six things the policy has to settle.
• Can a restaurant charge a service fee
  The ACCC single price rule, the one day based exemption and how narrow it is, and the accuracy test New Zealand adds that Australia does not.
• Can a restaurant charge a public holiday surcharge?
  The exact menu wording the ACCC requires, the prominence test that catches most venues, what the day really costs in wages, and why the 1 October 2026 card surcharge ban does not touch it.
• Which award covers my restaurant or cafe?
  The coverage test read straight off clause 4 of all three awards, why the fast food award pays more than the restaurant award at entry level, and the two penalty differences that cost real money.
• What is the restaurant failure rate in Australia?
  The ABS survival rates released in August 2026, why hospitality ranks fifth of nineteen industries in year one, and where the 90% failure claim comes from.
• What percentage of turnover should rent be?
  ATO benchmark rent bands for restaurants and cafes, why the percentage falls as you grow while total expenses rise, and what is left after stock and wages.
• Can a restaurant charge a no show fee?
  What the ACCC and the Commerce Commission actually allow, the penalty ceilings on each side of the Tasman, where the fee has to be written to survive, and how to size it off measured lost covers.
• Staff roster rules for Australian restaurants
  How much notice you have to give to change a published roster, the award limits on hours and days off, and why a rostered off employee can lawfully decline your call.
• How much a food handler certificate costs in Australia
  The full price ladder from the free government course to the accredited supervisor skill set, why New South Wales costs more, and what it costs to train a whole team.
• Restaurant receptionist duties and responsibilities
  The full job on both sides of the pass, what the Restaurant Industry Award pays for it in 2026, a description you can copy, and the two points where the role stops coping.
• What a normal restaurant profit margin looks like in Australia
  Worked from ATO small business benchmarks by turnover band: 16% at the small end, 9% above A$2 million, and why cafes beat restaurants until they do not.
• What delivery app commission fees cost you
  30%, 16% and 6% on published September 2026 merchant rates, identical in both markets, with one A$40 order run through the app, your own site and the phone.
• What to do when staff quit without notice
  Table 9 of the Restaurant Industry Award, the one week deduction cap under clause 35.1(d), why it never applies to a casual, and four ways to cover the shift.
• What happens when someone complains about your noise
  The Victorian 55 dB(A) night ceiling, why your day limit is calculated rather than published, and who pays for attenuation when apartments go up next door.
• What to do when staff call in sick
  Sick leave in Australia against New Zealand, who pays for the medical certificate, and four ways to cover the shift ordered cheapest first.
• What restaurant no-shows actually cost
  Australia's recorded no-show rate is 1.41%, measured across 251,804 bookings. Why that costs more than it sounds, and four fixes ordered cheapest first.
• What are the hospitality award pay levels?
  All seven classifications and their rates from 1 July 2026, how the award decides a level by duties rather than job title, and what being one level out costs per year.
• What is the minimum shift length for hospitality staff?
  Two hours for an Australian casual, three for a part timer, and no statutory minimum at all in New Zealand, where cancelling a shift is the expensive part instead.
• What is a good sales per labour hour figure?
  About A$100 to A$125 in Australia and about NZ$70 in New Zealand, derived from ABS industry figures and award rates, with the shift level method.
• What percentage should labour cost be?
  Wage costs run about 40% of revenue in New Zealand hospitality. How to work out your own ratio properly, and what to do when it is worse.
• What is a good beverage cost percentage?
  Australia publishes none. The ATO bundles food, beverage and all stock into one cost of sales line: 31% to 39% for restaurants, 31% to 46% for pubs, taverns and bars, parsed from the source file in October 2026.
• What is a good food cost percentage?
  The tax office puts cost of sales at 32% to 39% of turnover for small Australian restaurants and 34% to 42% for cafes, from lodged returns rather than a rule of thumb.
• Restaurant food waste and the NSW separation rules
  New South Wales venues over 3,060 litres of weekly general waste capacity have had to separate food waste since 1 July 2026, with penalties up to A$500,000. The bin maths, what waste costs you first, and four fixes cheapest first.
• What is the laundry allowance under the Restaurant Award?
  There is no rate. Clause 21.5 requires an agreed amount or reimbursement, the only fixed figures are A$6.00 a week for catering and A$2.40 a uniform for motels, and black and white attire gets nothing from either award or the tax office.
• Hospitality award rates from 1 July 2026
  Every level, the weekend penalties and the late night loadings, plus which award actually covers a standalone restaurant. Award minimums rose 4.75%.
• How annual leave loading works in the hospitality awards
  A flat 17.5% in the restaurant and hospitality awards, including on untaken leave when someone leaves, but the fast food award is a greater-of test instead. About A$5,400 a year on A$400,000 of permanent wages.
• Junior pay rates in hospitality
  50, 60, 70 and 85% of the adult rate from under 17 to 19, then 100% at 20 in a restaurant but not until 21 in a takeaway. The step at 20 is A$3.96 an hour.
• Casual or part time: which should you hire?
  Four ways to cover a shift compared on what each commits you to. The deciding clauses are not the 25% loading: they are guaranteed hours payable whether trade arrives, written consent to change them, and overtime above rostered hours rather than above 38.
• What casual loading costs in hospitality
  The loading is 25%, so a Level 1 casual is A$33.05 an hour from 1 July 2026. Minimum shifts, the two mistakes that cause most underpayments, and when a casual can ask to go permanent.
• Does your venue need a food safety supervisor?
  Required since 8 December 2023, certificate valid five years, and the clause almost nobody reads: in NSW the supervisor has to be reachable by phone while you trade.
• What the allergen rules actually require of a restaurant
  The Food Standards Code names 23 declarable items, nine of them tree nuts one by one, and for unpackaged food the answer has to be available on request. Including on the phone.
• What your answering machine message should say
  A script you can read straight into the handset, why the first hang-up spike lands in the opening seconds, and four ways to stop needing voicemail at all.
• How to answer the phone at a restaurant
  The greeting, the six fields to capture in the order that survives a dropped call, and four fixes ordered cheapest first when the phone beats the floor.
• What agency chefs cost in Australia
  The award and superannuation floor a charge-out rate cannot go below, level by level, and the labour hire licence check that carries a bigger penalty than a year of agency shifts.
• Is there still a staff shortage?
  Accommodation and food services vacancies fell to 34,000 in May 2026 from 40,600. Why a shift still feels short, and four fixes ordered cheapest first.

POS integrations

Eight systems connected today. If yours is not here, we say so.

• All POS integrations
  The full list, plus the systems we are asked about and do not support yet.
• Kounta / Lightspeed
  AI phone orders into Kounta and Lightspeed.
• Square
  AI phone orders into Square.
• Impos
  AI phone orders into Impos.
• H&L POS
  AI phone orders into H&L.
• Tevalis
  AI phone orders into Tevalis.
• Revel Systems
  AI phone orders into Revel.
• TouchBistro
  AI phone orders into TouchBistro.
• Oracle MICROS
  AI phone orders into Oracle MICROS.

New Zealand

Built here, priced in NZD.

• What a food control plan costs in New Zealand
  Registration, verification and the rising food business levy priced from published Auckland Council fees, with a worked first year total of NZ$1,299.84 for one site.
• Hospitality wages in New Zealand, 2026
  The NZ$23.95 minimum wage from 1 April 2026, the NZ$27.84 industry average, and pay by role. Plus why New Zealand has no hospitality award and what that does to your roster.
• Skai Solutions for New Zealand venues
  How it works for a NZ restaurant, cafe or takeaway.
• New Zealand pricing
  Plans in NZD, excluding GST.
• Auckland
  AI phone answering for Auckland restaurants and cafes.
• Wellington
  AI phone answering for Wellington venues.
• Christchurch
  AI phone answering for Christchurch venues.

Australia

Plans in AUD.

• Australian pricing
  Plans in AUD, excluding GST.

About

• About Skai Solutions
  Who builds this, where, and why it is hospitality-only.
• Privacy policy
  What we collect, how call recordings are handled.
• Terms of service
  Billing, notice periods, and what you are agreeing to.

Talk to us about your venue

Thirty minutes, no commitment. We will tell you on the call if your POS is not supported or if your call volume does not justify this yet.

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