Every hospitality software company wants to be your "all-in-one platform". One login, one price, one vendor for everything.

It sounds appealing. Simplicity. Integration. No compatibility headaches.

But here's what actually happens. You sign up for an all-in-one tool because you need recipe costing. It costs £129/month. The package includes recipe costing, invoice processing, stock counting, supplier ordering, a digital cookbook, and a mobile app. You use the recipe costing and the invoice processing. You never open stock counting. Supplier ordering doesn't match how you actually order. The digital cookbook sits empty.

You're paying £129/month for £50/month of value.

This is the norm in hospitality software, and nobody talks about it because every vendor benefits from it.

How We Got Here

The all-in-one model exists because it's easier to sell. One product, one price point, one sales conversation. The vendor doesn't have to explain different tiers or modules - they just demo the full platform and quote a monthly price.

It also means higher average revenue per customer. If you charge £129/month for everything instead of £39/month for the one feature someone actually needs, your revenue is 4x higher per customer. The business model rewards bundling, not value alignment.

This works well for the vendor. It works well for larger operations that genuinely use most features. It works badly for independent cafés and coffee shops.

The Independent Operator Problem

Here's the profile of a typical independent café or coffee shop owner I've met over 17 years:

Running 1-2 sites
Doing £200-500k turnover
Wearing every hat - barista, baker, manager, bookkeeper, marketer
Has a specific, immediate problem (usually "I don't know my food costs" or "invoices eat my evenings")
Doesn't have 6 weeks to implement a new platform
Needs to see value quickly to justify the cost

This person doesn't need an all-in-one platform. They need a solution to their specific problem, at a price that makes sense for a café or coffee shop, that works from day one.

Asking them to pay £129/month for a bundle of features to solve a £39/month problem isn't just expensive - it's a barrier. Many won't sign up at all. They'll stick with spreadsheets because the jump from "free but painful" to "£129/month for a platform I'll mostly not use" feels too big.

What Modular Software Looks Like

Modular means you choose individual components - we call them Briks - and only subscribe to the ones you need.

CostingBrik handles recipe costing and AI invoice processing. If that's your problem, that's all you pay for.

MenuBrik handles menu engineering and profitability analysis. Connect your POS, see which dishes are stars and which are dragging your margins down.

StaffBrik handles staff cost management. True cost of employment, NMW compliance, labour cost analysis.

PulseBrik ties it all together with financial dashboards and trend analysis.

Some Briks work standalone (CostingBrik, StaffBrik), while others build on top - MenuBrik requires CostingBrik because it needs your recipe and ingredient data to analyse profitability. They're all designed to share data seamlessly when you combine them. Recipe costs from CostingBrik feed into MenuBrik's profitability analysis. Staff costs from StaffBrik appear alongside food costs in PulseBrik.

The difference from the all-in-one model:

You choose your starting point. Start with the problem that's most urgent.
You control your costs. Pay £39/month, not £129/month, until you need more.
You expand on your terms. Add Briks when a new problem becomes urgent, not because they came bundled with something else.
You see value before you commit. One Brik, one problem, one month. If it's not worth it, you've risked £39, not £129.

The "But Integration" Argument

The strongest argument for all-in-one software is integration. Everything talks to everything. One data model, one login, no compatibility issues.

This is a legitimate point - when it's true. In practice, many all-in-one platforms are actually bolted-together acquisitions where the "integration" is a periodic data sync rather than a unified system. The recipe costing module and the stock counting module might share a database, but they feel like separate products wearing the same logo.

Modular software built from scratch can be just as integrated - arguably more so - because the modules are designed to share data by architecture, not by acquisition.

In Brikly's case, CostingBrik, MenuBrik, StaffBrik, and PulseBrik share the same data layer. When an invoice updates an ingredient price in CostingBrik, MenuBrik's profitability analysis updates in real time. When StaffBrik calculates your true labour cost, PulseBrik shows it alongside your food costs. The integration isn't an afterthought - it's the foundation.

The difference is that you don't have to pay for PulseBrik to get the integration between CostingBrik and MenuBrik. You pay for the modules you use, and the data flows between them regardless.

When All-in-One Makes Sense

I'm not going to pretend modular is always better. All-in-one platforms make sense when:

You genuinely use everything. If you're a 5-site group using recipe costing, stock counting, supplier ordering, and the digital cookbook every week, paying one price for all of it is convenient and potentially good value.

You want a single vendor relationship. One support team, one invoice, one contract. For larger operations with procurement processes and IT requirements, vendor consolidation has real value.

You have the budget. If £129/month is noise in your operating costs, the simplicity of all-in-one outweighs the savings of modular.

But most independent cafés and coffee shops don't fit this profile. Most need to watch every line item, solve immediate problems, and see fast ROI.

When Modular Makes Sense

Modular is built for:

Operators starting their software journey. You've been using spreadsheets and you want to upgrade, but you're not ready to commit to a full platform. Start with one module, prove the value, expand later.

Price-sensitive businesses. When your margins are 60-70% and every pound counts, paying £39/month instead of £129/month for the features you actually use is significant over a year.

Businesses with specific, focused problems. You know exactly what's hurting you. Maybe it's invoice processing. Maybe it's menu profitability. You want a targeted solution, not a Swiss Army knife.

Operators who value flexibility. Your needs change. Six months from now you might need staff management but not stock counting. Modular lets you adjust without changing platform.

The Real Question

The real question isn't "should I buy all-in-one or modular software?" It's "am I paying for value or paying for bundling?"

If every feature in your £129/month platform makes your business better, it's worth every penny. Keep using it.

If you're paying £129/month but only opening two of the six features, you're subsidising features you don't use. And there might be a better option.

We built Brikly on the modular principle because it's what I wanted as an operator. I needed recipe costing that updated from my invoices. I didn't need supplier ordering or a digital cookbook. I shouldn't have to pay for them.

Start with one Brik. Solve one problem. Add more when they earn their place.

That's it. No sales pitch. No demo booking pressure. Just tools that fit the way independent hospitality businesses actually work. If you want to test the approach before subscribing to anything, our free tools let you try recipe costing, menu profitability analysis, and more with zero commitment.

See the Briks →

Ed O'Brien has run Hunters Cake Company for 17 years across cafés in Witney, Burford, and a bakery in Carterton, Oxfordshire. He's building Brikly - modular tools that give independent café owners the same data the big chains have, without the big chain price tag.