I Built a $6 Menu Translator Cafes Actually Want (Gemma Local, $0 API Cost)

Description and use

A local-first menu translator that runs offline, uses open-weight Gemma, keeps data on the owner’s laptop, and costs a one‑time ₹499 ($6) for 30 dishes plus QR.

Problem

Restaurant owners lose foreign customers daily because generic translation apps misinterpret dish names, require internet, and send recipes to uncontrolled servers.

Outcome

The solution allows a single-location restaurant to pay a one-time fee of ₹499 ($6) for 30 dishes plus QR, with no monthly SaaS costs, zero marginal cost per translation, and full data privacy.

Workflow

• Install dependencies with pip install -r requirements.txt
• Run offline CLI demo with python demo.py to translate sample dishes
• Run Gradio UI with python app.py to translate user input and view provenance
• Optionally enable Gemma local by setting HF_TOKEN in .env and restarting the app

Evidence

Owners lose foreign customers daily to “what is Chole Bhature?” Generic translate apps mangle dish names, need internet, and send recipes to a server they don’t control.

Source

₹499 / $6 one-time for 30 dishes + QR. No monthly SaaS, your recipes never leave your laptop.

Source

Local demo (2 min, no GPU, zero downloads for phrasebook mode): pip install -r requirements.txt python demo.py # offline CLI — 5 dishes python app.py # Gradio UI on http://localhost:7860

Source