6 Best Restaurant POS Systems 2024: Which POS Is Best?

Looking for the best restaurant POS system? We’d recommend using Toast – especially if you manage a full-service restaurant with complex operations. Toast offers the best customer engagement and stock management features we’ve tested, and its intuitive back end makes it a breeze for new users to get to grips with.

There are a lot of other options out there too, though. In fact, our research and user-testing found that Square is the best POS for small businesses thanks to its comprehensive free plan and its scalable packages that are perfectly suited to growing operations. 

From dealing with rising costs and overcoming staffing challenges, restauranteurs have a lot on their plate in 2024. By streamlining processes like stock tracking, customer loyalty, and employee management, POS systems can play a vital role in overcoming these obstacles. However, the truth is some will be much more capable of meeting your needs than others. 

We cover some of the top restaurant POS systems available today, covering their features, pricing, and unique selling points to help you make the right decision for your restaurant.

While it may cost you to fork out on new technology, investing in a sector-specific POS system can be one of the most financially worthwhile decisions a restaurant can make. As inflation rates continue to hike up the price of suppliers, our goal at Tech.co is to make your dollar stretch as far as possible by matching you to a POS that suits your needs.

We compare the best restaurant POS systems head-to-head below.

In This Guide:

• Best POS System for Restaurants: Table
• 6 Best Restaurant POS Systems: Reviews
• Buyer’s Guide: How to Choose a Restaurant POS System
• POS vs Cash Register: What’s The Difference?
• How Much Do Restaurant POS Systems Cost? 
• How We Researched The Best Restaurant POS Systems
• Verdict: What Is the Best Restaurant POS System?
• Restaurant POS FAQs

As all of our research is completely independent, we wanted to make sure we tested every factor that could impact the success of your food business, especially with rising living costs. To learn more about how we rank and review software, jump to our research section.

1. Toast

• Best restaurant POS system overall
• Price from: $69 per month
• Free plan: Yes

Toast is an Android-POS system designed specifically for food and beverage businesses. Its shallow learning curve and feature-rich software make it a great option for most food businesses. However, our research found it’s especially suited to large, full-service restaurants with complex operations, due to its enterprise-grade hardware and profit-focused features aimed at encouraging long-term growth.

Toast’s restaurant POS features

Toast offers just about every trick in the book, but when we tested out the platform ourselves, we were especially impressed with its inventory management system – which includes several standout tools, including real-time sales and inventory updates and low stock alerts. The software also lets you re-order goods when inventory is low, meaning you don’t have to handle this process through a third-party app like you would need to with most other POS providers..

In addition to Toast’s impressive inventory controls, the POS offers lots of unique features for businesses serious about protecting their profitability. For example, the system gives users access to granular, mobile-friendly reports and a profit margin calculator that helps you consistently track your incomings and improve your restaurant’s margins.

Toast Takeout & Delivery features let me manage online orders and edit my menu in real time. Source: Tech.co user testing

Unlike leading systems such as Square, Toast also offers a dedicated cost management feature that lets you easily study the costs of labor and dishes, factoring in fixed overhead costs for a simple, unified view of total revenue. This means you can get an in-depth understanding of where your restaurant is making and losing money – a capability that’s becoming more important than ever as supplier prices continue to rise.

Toast’s customer loyalty program, Toast Loyalty, is a cut above the competition too. The system offers point-based rewards to encourage repeat buying, and gives businesses access to a range of customer-focused perks like accrual and redemption rates, sign-up bonuses, and birthday rewards. However, while Toast will be a great choice for businesses looking to retain loyal customers, Lightspeed goes a step further by offering segmented marketing insights and automated email marketing.

Aside from streamlining operations, Toast is also one of the most server-friendly POSs on this list. With a sleek, modern interface and shallow learning curve, we found it was the easiest POS to use, with one tester praising the system for its “lovely user journey” and streamlined and simple “overall experience”. Our users particularly liked Toast’s initial tutorial, which offers a clear step-by-step guide for new users – a beginner-friendly feature that other major systems like Square and Clover lack.

While Toast’s Android exclusivity may put off businesses with existing Apple hardware, its stylish POS terminals are perfect for those that haven’t invested in any yet. Source: Tech.co testing

Toast is also the only provider we tested that offers automated tip sharing. This handy capability makes it easy for servers to split hard-earned tips at the end of their shift. According to Toast, streamlining this process can save waiting staff up to eight hours a week, which will be especially useful for businesses looking for ways to maximize worker productivity.

Despite Toast’s accolades, of which there are many, it won’t cut the mustard for every food and drinks-based business. For one, the app is only compatible with Android hardware, ruling it out from being used by businesses that rely on other technology. For vendors needing advanced hospitality features that aren’t Android-friendly, TouchBistro will be your best port-of-call, as the system is compatible with iOS devices, offers a similarly great user experience, and provides tons of industry-leading sector-specific capability.

Toast POS shouldn’t be the first choice for small businesses that want a simple POS setup, either. For vendors with basic needs, Toast’s feature-rich software will likely be overwhelming, and the system lacks a knowledge center too, making it harder for POS beginners to resolve queries quickly. For small businesses who don’t need bells and whistles, we’d recommend Square as the software is less overwhelming. Alternatively, Clover meets Toast’s features eye-to-eye, while also providing a shallow learning curve and a knowledge center packed with useful resources.

Learn more about how the providers compare in our comparison of Toast vs Square.

Who should use Toast?

• Full-service restaurants with complex operations
• Businesses that onboard regularly
• Restaurants or bars with large inventories
• Food businesses serious about increasing profits

Who shouldn’t use Toast?

• Small businesses with simple inventories
• Users who rely heavily on customer support
• Users with iOS hardware

Toast’s pricing plans

Toast POS offers three pricing plans: Starter Kit, Point of Sale, and Build Your Own.

Remote or in-person installations are an additional cost, and they start at $499. Learn more about Toast’s pricing structure and features in our Toast POS review, or see how its pricing plans compare below.

Is Toast a good value?

Toast’s free tier, affordable monthly packages, and low transaction rates make it a great value for small businesses. However, if you’re looking for slightly more bang for your buck, we’d recommend using SpotOn instead, as it offers the most feature-rich free plan of any other provider on this list.

If you like Toast, you might also like…

• TouchBistro, if you’re after a feature-rich iPad-based restaurant POS system
• Square, if you run a smaller cafe or food business and don’t require tons of advanced features

2. Square POS

• Best POS for single location food businesses
• Price from: Free (transaction fees apply)
  
• Free plan: Yes

If you run a small food business and are looking for a dependable, affordable point-of-sale system, Square POS is a great option. Square is the cheapest POS we reviewed, and its feature-rich plans and versatile hardware options make the POS a great fit for most hospitality vendors. However, its generous free tier and app-based approach make it especially useful for small food vendors with single locations, such as cafes, food trucks, and kiosks.

Learn more about the popular POS provider in our Square POS review.

Square’s restaurant POS features

Square was previously our top choice for restaurant POS systems, but during our latest round of testing, it just lost out to Toast’s superior ease of use. That said, Square is still one of the best restaurant POS systems on the market. It offers an excellent array of hardware options, from fully-fledged POS registers to payment terminals, and even gives a complimentary chip and PIN card reader to users of its free forever plan – providing a lifeline for new businesses looking to sell with minimal outlays. 

Despite Square’s suitability for single-location businesses, its robust feature package also lends itself well to growing businesses and those with multiple venues. For example, Square offers a really strong menu management feature in comparison to other providers, equipped with customizable layouts and item grouping, which helps servers sell faster.

Square also lets you create automatic discounts for specific items, categories, and daily specials, which is especially useful for bars and restaurants running promotional deals like happy hours.

Square’s payment and pricing features are only getting more expansive over time, too. Businesses using Square can now accurately identify customers by using their iOS or Android camera to scan a ‘reference ID’ via QR code or barcode. This benefits businesses that have members’ clubs or those that apply group discounts to certain customers, like a ski resort that issues discounts for Season Pass holders, for example.

Square’s software offers a number of great capabilities for sit-down restaurants, including table management, seat management, and table-side ordering. However, unlike Lightspeed and SpotOn, Square doesn’t let you customize the colors and labels of tables when creating or editing a floor plan. So, if you have a complex layout, or change your floor plan regularly, you’ll probably be better off opting for one of these alternatives instead.

We were able to easily create a new floor plan using the Square app, but the system doesn’t let you customize their colors or labels. Source: Tech.co testing

Compared to systems like Toast, Square’s system is stripped-back and simple. However, some testers didn’t have a great experience with the POS, with one claiming the software actually felt quite “clunky” because they had to “manually add everything to an order, one thing at a time”. Another tester found its payment features a bit hard to use, especially when they tried splitting the bill by specific items. However, if you’re a smaller food vendor that handles simple operations, the POS should be straightforward to use.

If your business is new to POS technology or requires regular support, you can contact Square through live chat, phone, and social media channels 24/7, making it the best provider on this list to depend on when you’re in a pinch. It also performed well in our wider research, which also found it to be the best POS system for small businesses and the best mobile POS system.

Despite Square’s impressive versatility, it lacks some profit-focused features that may prove useful to bigger chain restaurants, such as ingredient tracking and cost management. If lacking these features is a deal-breaker, we’d recommend using Toast instead, as it gives you a clear overview of where you’re investing your money.

Who should use Square?

• Vendors that want to start selling without upfront costs
• Single-location businesses like food trucks, cafes, or kiosks
• Businesses that want to integrate their online store

Who shouldn’t use Square?

• Restaurants that frequently change their floor plan
• Managers who track ingredient usage
• Managers that need cost management tools

Square’s pricing plans

If, like most food businesses, inflation and rising food costs are currently your top concerns, you’ll be pleased to know that Square is available for free. See how its free and paid plans compare below or check out our full guide to Square POS pricing for more.

Is Square a good value?

Yes, Square is an extremely affordable POS for food vendors to get started on. It doesn’t require you to pay any upfront costs, making it a great option for new food businesses, or mobile sellers like food trucks. However, its processing fees are a bit steeper than alternatives like Clover, so will provide less value to restaurants with high turnovers.

If you like Square, you might also like…

• Epos Now, if you frequently update the floor plan of your cafe or restaurant
• Clover, if you’re after slightly more advanced features like ingredient-level stock tracking

3. Clover POS

• Best for professional restaurant hardware
• Price from: $59.95 per month  
• Free plan: No

Clover is another highly competitive POS system that offers some of the best hardware options on the market. Its hardware boasts an ultra-sleek design, and we found it to be super responsive and fast. It also offers advanced features like fingerprint logins, making it ideal for larger restaurants with big teams. However, with no free plan in sight and restaurant packages starting from $59.95 a month, Clover may exceed the budgets of smaller establishments.

Clover’s restaurant POS features

Clover offers just about any restaurant-focused feature you can think of, including menu editing, table and floor plan management, bill splitting, and advanced inventory management. In fact, Clover offers even more features than Toast, making it an excellent choice for full-service or multi-venue restaurants.

Clover reporting tools helped us track everything from sales to average ticket size. Source: Tech.co testing

Clover’s stock management features are continually improving too. On top of offering impressive capabilities such as stock alerts, bespoke inventory systems, and real-time stock analytics, the system also integrates with Shopventory – a friendly app with advanced features like discount reporting and ingredient-level tracking. This makes Clover even better at handling large and complex inventories than our frontrunner Toast. 

Check out our POS data analysis guide for more information on utilizing POS data

Clover’s hardware is sleek and modern, from the POS terminals to the card machines. Source: Tech.co testing

With the average customer retention rate for US restaurants currently sitting at 30%, attracting loyal customers is one of the biggest hurdles facing food vendors. Fortunately, Clover’s unique CRM app, Clover Rewards, allows you to build contact lists, share promos and rewards, and collect private feedback, helping restaurants forge meaningful relationships with their clientele. The app also makes it simple to create offers and automate personalized perks for customers, which is a great way to improve the customer experience.

If you offer food-to-go options, Clover’s Online Ordering platform lets you manage online ordering and delivery processes in-house, and even integrates the service with its in-house CRM system Stream, unlike systems like Square which lacks this type of integration. Clover’s integration with Stream removes the need to enter data manually as well, making it easier than ever for restaurants to manage orders with delivery partners like GrubHub and Uber Eats.

Clover offers a great array of hardware options, from handheld payment terminals like Clover Flex to all-in-one POS solutions like Clover Station Pro. When we tested out Clover’s interface, we were really impressed by its straightforward, intuitive nature and speedy response times. We were able to log orders in a breeze, with one tester describing the process as “so easy” and “so simple”. This suggests the POS will be perfectly suited for fast-paced restaurants with high turnarounds, especially compared to less responsive systems like Epos Now.

Clover isn’t perfect though. It lacks certain capabilities that more affordable solutions like Square offer, such as automated tip sharing and advanced menu customization. Clover hardware and software bundles aren’t cheap either, making it unsuitable for small food vendors or pop-ups with slimmer profit margins.

See how Clover compares to the wallet-friendly solution at length in our Square vs Clover comparison guide.

Who should use Clover?

• Medium to large establishments
• Businesses serious about retaining customers
• Businesses that want industry-leading hardware

Who shouldn’t use Clover?

• Small businesses or pop-up vendors
• Businesses that want to avoid expensive upfront costs
• Businesses that require tip-sharing tools

Clover’s pricing plans

Unlike other providers, such as Square and Toast, Clover offers software and hardware bundles instead of retailing these options separately. So, while the software starts at $59.95 per month, you’ll have to pay extra to get access to the hardware.

Clover offers three plans for quick-service restaurants and three for full-service restaurants. We break them down below.

Is Clover a good value?

Clover’s upfront costs are more expensive than most of the other providers on this list because all of its packages include software and hardware. Businesses won’t have to buy pricey hardware elsewhere though, and the average price of Clover’s processing fees are lower than alternatives like Toast and Square, somewhat justifying the provider’s steeper price tag.

Clover also offers a free 30-day trial, which allows you to trial the system before you sign any contracts.

Learn more about how much the provider might cost you in our Clover POS pricing guide.

If you like Clover, you might also like…

• Square, if you’re a smaller food business that wants to avoid hefty start-up fees
• Toast, if you’re in need of advanced employee management capabilities like automated tip-sharing tools

4. SpotOn

• Best for managing employees
• Price from: $99 per month
• Free plan: Yes

SponOn is a specialized POS system designed with the needs of food and beverage businesses in mind. With hospitality features that match our front-runner Toast’s, and a generous free version available to small vendors, the POS has improved by leaps and bounds since our last round of testing.

It’s SpotOn’s labor management and staff scheduling software that really sets it apart from the competition though, making it a top pick for busy managers with large teams. However, the POSs limited hardware options and lackluster customer support prevented it from appearing any higher on this list.

SpotOn’s restaurant POS features

SpotOn may not be as well known as other providers on this list, but it offers just about every capability small to medium restaurant businesses might desire, including flexible stock management tools, stand-out ordering tools like QR ordering and payment features like bill and tip management.

SpotOn even offers reservation features that let customers add themselves to a waitlist from your website or Google profile page, enabling you to simply text them when their table is ready. This makes it more ideal for full-service restaurants that rely heavily on bookings than Square and Clover, which offer fairly basic reservation features in comparison.

We found the SpotOn interface quite customizable with thorough modifiers for each item, even in dark mode. Source: Tech.co testing

On top of its basic package, which has more than enough capabilities for small or single-location businesses like food trucks and cafes, SpotOn offers a host of integrations to stretch its potential even further. For example, SpotOn integrates with FreshKDS for businesses that want to use a kitchen display system (KDS) to connect their front of house to their kitchen, this gives the POS a leg up over cheaper systems like Zettle, which lack this integration.

SpotOn also offers a custom integration called Teamwork, which streamlines a range of employee processes including staff onboarding, shift management, cost projections, payroll administration, and more. The app takes a lot of the grunt work out of coordinating staff, which will be a lifesaver for managers who are juggling a busy schedule.

Accepting payments was easy for cash, cards, gift cards, and even a house account. Source: Tech.co testing

SpotOn is an extremely intuitive platform, boasting a particularly user-friendly back-end for managers – we found it easy to handle business processes and track analytics. Its front-end is simple for servers to get grips with as well, but when we tested it out, we did find that it took a couple of extra steps to make orders and take payments, compared to alternatives like Toast and Clover.

If you manage a sit-down restaurant, you’ll be able to create a detailed table layout with SpotOn’s software. However, it’s slightly harder to create and edit custom floor plans with SpotOn, which isn’t helpful for food businesses that regularly change their layout. By comparison, Epos Now enables users to handle the process much more simply with a drag-and-drop tool.

“Frustration came with little things like when creating the floor plan, you had to click an add or minus button… and I was just like, why can’t it just be drag and drop?” – A member of Tech.co’s testing team

Despite offering a free plan, SpotOn isn’t compatible with tablet-based systems, unlike other software such as Square and Epos Now. Unfortunately, this will be a deal breaker for lots of small food businesses that want to save money by integrating the technology with their existing tablets.

Who should use SpotOn?

• Vendors looking to get selling without upfront costs
• Busy establishments with big teams
• Managers looking to streamline employee processes

Who shouldn’t use SpotOn?

• Micro businesses after a tablet-based system
• Restaurants that regularly change their floor plan
• Owners who want to purchase additional POS accessories

SpotOn’s pricing

SpotOn has a custom pricing model, so the price you’ll end up paying will depend on the size and needs of your food and beverage business. Like Clover, SpotOn offers software and hardware bundles. Here’s an overview of the starting price of SpotOn’s plans:

Is SpotOn a good value?

Yes, SpotOn’s rock-bottom starting price and affordable processing fees will make it a great value for most food and beverage businesses. In fact, due to its free tier and paid packages that offer great bang for your buck, SpotOn is the best value POS system we researched, overtaking our previous frontrunner in terms of value, Square.

All of SpotOn’s plans run on its cloud-based restaurant POS software. Find out more about the provider’s potential and price points in our SpotOn review.

If you like SpotOn, you might also like…

• Square, if you run a smaller food business that is able to get by with a slightly more limited free plan
• TouchBistro, if your restaurant would benefit from a portable tableside ordering POS

POS expert Judy KreisMarel spoke to us about one time-saving POS hack:

“One time-saving POS feature is automated inventory syncing. By leveraging this feature, businesses can streamline inventory management processes and eliminate the need for manual data entry.” – Judy KreisMarel, Marketing Manager at Hellovein

5. Lightspeed Restaurant

• Best for retaining loyal customers
• Price from: $69 per month
• Free plan: No

Lightspeed Restaurant is an industry-specific POS system perfectly suited to food and beverage businesses looking to grow their customer base. The POS has the best customer loyalty toolkit we researched, offering a raft of unique features such as SMS marketing and custom loyalty programs. Yet, since Lightspeed Restaurant is app-based, the system is not suitable for businesses looking for an all-in-one POS terminal – preventing it from edging out contenders like SpotOn and Clover.

Lightspeed Restaurant’s POS features

If your restaurant handles a large or complex inventory, chances are you’ll benefit from Lightspeed’s advanced inventory management tools. The system allows you to track inventory across multiple locations, helping maintain consistency across your chain of restaurants. Lightspeed’s inventory tools aren’t able to integrate with weighing scales though, making the POS unsuitable for self-service food businesses.

Lightspeed lets food businesses keep an eye on their margins by viewing a cost vs profit breakdown of their goods. While the capability’s reporting features aren’t as detailed as Toast’s, SpotOn’s profit margin calculator is still a valuable tool to have in your arsenal in 2024 as the US hospitality industry continues to contend with rising wholesale costs.

Lightspeed POS lets you add notes to orders in a couple of taps. Source: Tech.co user testing

Even though Lightspeed is an app-based system, it offers all the advanced customer loyalty tools that you get with rivals like Clover and Toast, and then some. Its in-house loyalty system, Lightspeed Loyalty, lets businesses issue highly targeted rewards to encourage repeat buying, and also gives granular insights into your customer base with market segmentation features.

Lightspeed also makes it easier for businesses to expand their reach, with promotional SMS features available, alongside a built-in drag-and-drop email builder. The system also syncs with major third-party delivery channels like Doordash and User Eats, and lets you send out push menu updates to multiple delivery channels at once to encourage online purchases.

The Lightspeed customer data page is simple and easy to fill out. Image: Tech.co testing

When it came to Lightspeed’s usability, it was a mixed bag. Our testing team praised the system for its streamlined ordering setup – thanks to its table interface. However, they also faced challenges when it came to adding custom notes to orders and using reports to analyze performance, with one tester explaining that the reports were “almost designed to look like receipts”.

Who should use Lightspeed?

• Food and beverage businesses looking to expand
• Businesses with large or complex inventories
• Vendors serious about protecting profit margins

Who shouldn’t use Lightspeed?

• Businesses that want to get started for free
• Vendors after an all-in-one POS terminal
• Businesses owners that want low transaction fees

Lightspeed Restaurant’s pricing plans

Lightspeed Restaurant is available at three main price points. Take a look at how its paid plans compare below.

Is Lightspeed Restaurant a good value?

Lightspeed’s upfront costs aren’t too dissimilar to Clover’s, but its comparatively high card processing fees make using the POS less affordable in the long term. Due to this slightly worse value, if you aren’t looking for expansive stock handling and customer loyalty tools, we’d recommend using cheaper solutions like Toast or Square instead.

Find out more about Lightspeed’s pricing in our Lightspeed POS review.

If you like Lightspeed Restaurant, you might also like…

• Clover, if you manage a full-scale restaurant and need a sophisticated hardware set-up to match
• Toast, if you require automated tip management tools for your staff

6. Epos Now

• Best for restaurants with large or complex inventories 
• Price from: $39 per month
• Tech.co rating: 4.4/5

Epos Now is a versatile POS system that combines feature-rich software with professional hardware. Whether getting started with its tablet-based app or a multi-device POS terminal, Epos Now lets businesses skirt monthly fees by paying upfront, and offers inventory management features sophisticated enough to meet the needs of most large, full-scale restaurants.

Learn the ins and outs of the solution in our Epos Now POS review.

Epos Now’s restaurant POS features

Epos Now comes into its own when it comes to inventory management. It offers just about any feature a large restaurant would need, including low-stock alerts, bulk uploads, and cost vs profit management tools. For businesses with large, fast-moving inventories, this gives Epos Now an edge over our frontrunner Toast, which doesn’t currently alert businesses when stocks are low.

Epos Now also lets you customize your menu directly through its front-end, making it easier for servers to make amendments quickly. However, unlike rivals Square and Lightspeed Restaurant, Epos Now doesn’t let you create multiple menu types for different services like lunch and dinner, making it less suitable for restaurants that offer more than one dining experience throughout the day.

Epos Now’s app store gives businesses a chance to integrate with a wide range of third-party software providers. Source: Tech.co user testing

Our product research also suggests that Epos Now could make a great fit for larger restaurants or chains because it offers solid till features and excellent till-based products. It lets you create custom floor plans easily with a drag-and-drop tool, and you can customize tables by size, shape, and label.

However, compared to the other restaurant POS systems on this list, Epos Now isn’t the easiest to use. While testing it, we didn’t find its interface very intuitive, and the software wouldn’t respond when we tried to handle some basic processes. If usability is a high priority for you, we would recommend using Toast instead, as it’s the simplest POS to use that we tested.

EPOS Now’s POS terminal has a 15.6″ HD capacitive touchscreen and a built-in thermal receipt printer. Source: Tech.co testing

Who should use Epos Now?

• Food businesses with large or complex inventories
• Businesses looking for low monthly overheads
• Restaurants opening up a second branch

Who shouldn’t use Epos Now?

• Small businesses looking to avoid upfront costs
• Restaurants that would benefit from email marketing
• Businesses owners who are new to POS systems

Epos Now’s pricing plans

Epos Now lets you get started for $39 per month for its software-only package. If you’re looking for an all-singing-dancing POS system, however, you’ll have to shell out $299 up-front too.

Is Epos Now a good value?

Since Epos Now is fairly opaque with its pricing, it’s hard to say definitively whether it will be a good value for your business. However, it’s one of the only providers that lets you evade monthly costs by paying an up-front fee, so if your restaurant is in a position to pay for a system in one lump sum, Epos Now will be a good option for you.

If you like Epos Now, you might also like…

• Square, for a lower start-up fee, and automated tip management tools
• Clover, similarly great hardware options, but with a better user experience

How to Switch Restaurant POS Providers

If you’re unhappy with your current restaurant POS system, you might be here looking for a replacement. After all, how hard can switching POS systems be, right? Well, there are definitely some things you’ll want to consider before you make your decision to avoid any issues.

For starters, be sure to find a new POS system that is compatible with as much of the hardware your restaurant currently uses as possible – such as the portable card machines and tablets your wait staff use to take orders – but be aware that you might need to switch to new terminals if they’re specific to your provider.

You should also make sure your new system can integrate with the third-party software your restaurant currently depends on. Not all POS software is compatible with the same third-party software – for example, if you use QuickBooks for your accounting, you’ll want your new restaurant POS to be able to integrate with QuickBooks.

You’ll need to migrate all key information, like your menu, and sales data, to your new POS to avoid it getting lost. 

Importantly, before you lose access to your old POS, make sure you migrate your menu to the new system, or at least download your menu data for a simple data import down the road. Recreating a menu from scratch on a new POS is a time-consuming process, and it’s easily avoided.

Finally, a bit of training for your team will be vital. New systems can be hard to learn for anyone, but especially for employees who are very familiar with the system your restaurant used to run on. Find out whether your new provider offers training sessions or onboarding guidance that you can share, and ask your team if there’s anything they’re finding particularly difficult, so you can get help from your provider if needed.

To aid with this, we’d also recommend launching your new POS at a quiet time for your restaurant. Busy food service can be hectic enough without a brand-new system to learn simultaneously. For example, if Mondays are typically quiet for your restaurant, ensure that’s the first day your staff team need to use the new system. You could also consider paying your team members to come in before their shifts, or on a day when the restaurant is closed, to spend some uninterrupted time getting familiar with the new POS.

Buyer’s Guide: How to Choose a Restaurant POS System

A good POS system will help any business thrive and grow, providing accurate and important data to base decisions on. A restaurant will especially benefit from an industry-focused POS System.

Every business records its sales, but a restaurant must also be able to accept reservations and link an order to the table is was placed at. Every business tracks inventory, but a restaurant must track the amount and cost of the ingredients used in each dish, in addition to the amount and cost of the orders that are placed.

In addition, a high-quality restaurant system can:

• Help the kitchen interact with the servers quickly and easily
• Help a manager track employees’ work hours and plan future schedules
• Log data from past weeks (or months) to create detailed reports about the restaurant’s long-term growth
• Streamline the order process from start to finish, including accepting online orders and sending email receipts

The bottom line: A good POS centralizes all the processes of a restaurant, bar, or cafe, allowing the manager to improve upon – and fix – its processes. It will pay for itself and then some.

With a few key bits of information from you, our dedicated comparison tool will filter through the available POS systems and obtain a quote specifically designed for your restaurant business.

For those moving to a new system. We asked hospitality expert and CEO of Ingredient Brothers Eran Mizeahi how to switch to a new POS with ease:

“In order to provide a seamless transition to a new POS system, I believe that proper training is very necessary. This will reduce the number of errors, increase efficiency, and improve the overall quality of service provided to customers.” –  Eran Mizrahi, CEO of Ingredient Brothers

What are the top restaurant POS system features to look for?

While the best systems might include a handful of unique traits, they should also provide a selection of the following top features.

• Inventory Management – tracks orders and ingredients used
• Inventory Alerts – sends automatic personalized notifications when specific ingredients need to be restocked
• Employee Tracking – records which employee was operating which station, and at what time
• Table Service – tracks which tables will receive which orders
• Billing – accepts cash, card, and contactless payment
• Loyalty Programs – offers deals and gift cards to attract repeat customers
• Customer Engagement – collects and securely manages approved contact lists for customer marketing, including email addresses and/or phone numbers 
• Reservations – allows workers to track meal reservations weeks or months in advance
• Online ordering – allows quick-service restaurants to let customers place orders online

Learn more about the best industry-specific capabilities in our POS features guide.

We asked Shaz, a hospitality expert and co-founder of Tono Pizzeria + Cheesesteaks, for some top features to look out for when buying a POS:

“A full service restaurant and quick service restaurant have different needs. But reliability, ease of use, printers vs KDS, clock-in capabilities, integrations are a small number of general factors to consider, to name a few.” – Shaz co-founder of Tono Pizzeria + Cheesesteaks

Learn more about restaurant-specific capabilities in our POS features guide.

Do I need to buy restaurant POS hardware accessories?

While the software powering a restaurant POS system is the main element of a POS system, hardware is important as well. Here are some of the best physical POS accessories that will make your daily chores more manageable.

• Touchscreen display — Quicker and more portable than a desktop computer for running software. iPads are most common, though other tablets or smartphones can be used as well.
• Card readers for iPad — Cash tills aren’t enough anymore. Tiny card readers the size of a quarter can be plugged into an iPad’s headphone jack. They’re often sold by POS vendors and might be included in a POS package. Larger countertop versions come as “cubes” rather than portable readers.
• iPad stands and docks — A stand, typically designed to swivel so that customers can easily sign their bill, is a must. These are also usually sold by specific vendors. 
• Self-service kiosk — A larger stand, a receipt printer, and a large card reader can all serve as a kiosk for customers to check their orders out by themselves, cutting down on employee busywork.
• Power supply — Don’t expect your iPad battery to outlast your customers: invest in compact portable chargers.

Cash Registers vs POS Systems: What’s The Difference?

Cash registers and POS systems serve similar functions, but while cash registers are only capable of taking payments, recording orders, and managing other basic processes, POS systems offer much more comprehensive functionality. For instance, POS systems let you track inventory, improve customer loyalty, manage employees, and much more. POS systems also allow you to centralize important data, enabling you to keep track of your progress and make smarter business decisions as a result.

Check out our guide to cash registers vs POS systems to learn more about how these tools differ.

Who should use a POS?

• Businesses looking to grow their base
• Businesses with large or complex inventories
• Businesses that depend on card payments
• Businesses with multiple locations
• Mobile vendors

Who should use a cash register?

• Low-tech traditional brick-and-mortar vendors
• Businesses with smaller budgets
• Single-location businesses
• Cash-based businesses

How Much Should I Pay for a Restaurant POS System?

• Restaurant POS subscriptions tends to cost around $15 to $100 a month for a single terminal
• If you require more than one terminal, this can cost anywhere from $29 to over $1000 per terminal, depending on its capabilities
• Card transaction fees cost anywhere between 1.5% and 3.5% per transaction. So, going by the average rate (2.5%), card-based US restaurants earning an average monthly revenue of $40,500 can expect to pay around $1012.50 in transaction fees per month.
• Hardware components cost extra. A basic restaurant set up with a terminal, cash drawer, and card reader could cost anywhere from $200 to $1,500, depending on your needs. Extra components like iPads and kitchen display systems will bump up the starting price even more.

In summary, small food businesses with modest POS needs should only expect to pay $200 upfront to cover the costs of hardware, plus around $15 per month for simple POS software – though quality free options are available too.

Larger restaurants or chains that need multiple terminals may need to invest anywhere from $1,500 to $2,000+ on a comprehensive hardware setup, plus around $150 per month for a decent multi-terminal software package.

Transaction rates will also bump up this amount substantially, but since they come out of your sales, you don’t need to account for these costs upfront. These are only ballpark figures, however. The cost of a POS system will depend on the following variables:

• The size of your premises: for example, whether you have a small quick service venue, mid-size business, or large layout
• The number of POS terminals you need
• The number of locations you have
• Any unique features you’ll need to grow your offering and streamline operations

Looking for specific pricing estimates? Use our free quote-finding tool to reach out to the right POS vendors for customized quotes you can compare.

How We Researched The Best Restaurant POS Systems

Frequently Asked Questions