“I’ll pay you Friday.” The number’s still there.

The exercise book at the back of the counter

Every food business has one. Names down the side, amounts scribbled next to them, some crossed out, some crossed out twice. Only one person can read it. When a regular says they paid last week, there’s no way to say they didn’t, so you lose the money or you lose the customer.

Credit is how a lot of businesses in Ghana keep their regulars. The problem was never giving it. It’s keeping the number straight.

A book with everyone in it

The customer book is on every plan. Each regular goes in once, with their name and number, and a note if there’s one thing worth remembering about them. From then on their page shows what they owe right now, what they’ve spent and when they were last in.

The book comes first on their page for a reason: what they owe is the thing you open it for.

Put it on their tab

When a regular takes something on credit, add them to the sale and set it aside instead of taking the money. The sale stays open under their name, with every item at the price it was rung at that day. Their page adds up everything they have open: on the screen above, ₵86.00 across two tabs.

It works the same for the office that runs a bill all month, the mechanic across the road who pays on Friday, and the seller who takes bread in the morning and settles in the evening.

When they pay

Pick up the tab and take the money like any other sale: cash with the change worked out, or MoMo as a prompt on their phone. It comes off what they owe straight away, and the receipt is a picture you can send to their WhatsApp, so there’s a record on their side too.

Because every item on the tab was rung up when it was taken, there’s nothing to reconstruct. “It was only three plates” is answered by the tab, not by anybody’s memory.

Rewards for the ones who keep coming

On Pro, you can give something back to regulars. Pick one thing you sell, how many visits earn it, and if you like, how much a visit has to come to. The till works out each regular’s visits from their sales, one visit per trading day, and tells you “3 more for a free one”. When they’ve earned it, it goes on the bill at nothing, so the sale still shows what was handed over. No points and no cards.

Seeing it across the business

The report shows what’s still open at the end of the day, tabs and credit together, so the money you’re owed never quietly drops out of the picture. If you give credit a lot, selling on credit is our guide to doing it without losing money or friends.

What it doesn’t do yet

It doesn’t send reminders by SMS or WhatsApp, and it doesn’t add interest or late fees. It doesn’t take part of a tab now and leave the rest for later. And rewards are one free thing after a number of visits, not points, tiers or cashback.