The Best Restaurant POS Systems for 2022

Our research has shown that Square POS is the best POS system for restaurants. It offers dedicated solutions for table service, coffee shops, bakeries, food trucks, bars and larger businesses, combining powerful restaurant-specific features to track inventory, sales and produce reports — all with slick hardware at a remarkably low price point.

In comparison to other restaurant POS providers, Square performed well in nearly all of our testing categories — outperforming most brands in price, features, customer score, help and support and its overall score for the restaurant industry. Still, we recognize that there are many POS systems out there, so there might be one that's better suited to your needs. Our goal at Tech.co is to help you find it.

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. We've compared the best restaurant POS systems head-to-head below, but if you're in a hurry you can skip straight to our free restaurant POS comparison tool to get custom matches and quotes. Otherwise, let's get into it.

In This Guide:

• Best POS System for Restaurants: Table
• 9 Best Restaurant POS Systems: Reviews
• Restaurant POS Systems: Pricing
• Restaurant POS: Complete Buyer's Guide
• Our Research and Methodology 
• Frequently Asked Questions

Comparison Table: What's the Best POS System for Restaurants?

Best Restaurant POS Systems for 2022 – Reviews

The best restaurant POS is Square, but there are plenty of good options that could cater to your business' needs. On this page we review the best POS systems, designed specifically with restaurants in mind. We also tested POS systems with a dedicated restaurant edition to their main POS offering, to see if they'd be a better fit for smaller businesses with multiple needs. 

Here are Tech.co’s top picks for the best POS system restaurants:

1. Square POS – Best restaurant POS system overall
2. Clover POS – Best value POS system for restaurants
3. Paypal Zettle– Best POS system for food trucks
4. TouchBistro – Best POS system for scaling restaurants
5. Epos Now – Best POS system for restaurant chains
6. Talech – Most user-friendly restaurant POS system
7. Lightspeed Restaurant – Best restaurant POS system for delivery
8. Toast – Best restaurant POS system for onboarding
9. Shopify – Most adaptable restaurant POS system

Our Research and Methodology

When ranking the best POS systems for restaurants our research team investigated POS systems specifically equipped to cater to the restaurant industry. Based on our independent research, industry-specific framework and analysis, we know that Square is the best POS system for restaurants overall because it scored the highest overall rating in our restaurant-specific POS testing categories, including the best restaurant-specific POS features (4.8/5), customer score (4.3/5), help and support (4/5) and the best overall price (5/5).

We know that building a successful business in any industry is no easy feat, which is why we take the time to test every product we review, to help you find the best tools for your business. Not every product we review will be the right product for you, but we do our best to ensure that we test all the right criteria, so that you have the best options available. If a product you're interested in hasn't made our list, you can use our free comparison tool to compare the top POS brands. Read more about our research process here.

1. Square POS – Best Restaurant POS System Overall

Tech.co rating: 4.7/5

Price: Free

Square POS is a common name in the world of quick-service restaurants due to its strong industry standing and reasonable price tag. With dedicated solutions for table service, counter service, bars & lounges, coffee shops, bakeries, and food trucks, it's the best all-round POS system we tested, scoring a 94% rating across all of testing categories.

In comparison to other providers like Epos and Lightspeed, Square POS systems offer the most restaurant-specific features (4.8/5), best customer service (4/5), is great value for price (5/5) and scored the highest customer score rating of all popular providers (4.3/5), making Square the best restaurant POS system overall.  It also performed well in our wider research too, which also found it to be the best POS system for small businesses and the best mobile POS system.

Highlights:

• No monthly fees
• Per-item sales tracking
• 24/7 support

Square POS restaurant features

Layout, inventory and menu management are included in the basic restaurant software package, though add-ons are also available. In our testing, Square stood out most for its ease of use, feature rich software, and a good support team – which our research team found to be especially helpful. What we liked most about Square POS is that it offers a great range of restaurant-specific features (4.8/5). In comparison to other providers, Square offers a really strong menu management feature, equipped with customizable layouts and item grouping, which ultimately helps make top sellers available faster.

Square POS for restaurants best features:

• Strong table management features
• Customizable layouts and Item grouping
• Bulk menu additions
• Customizable menus
• Strong kitchen management: prep time tracking, customer ticket timers and more
• Strong third-party integrations for pickup and delivery, employee time tracking and customer reservations
• Self-serve QR code order functionality
• Flexible payments: all major credit cards, Apple and Google Pay
• Build loyalty programmes, exclusive offers and custom profiles for regulars
• Square's mobile-compatible card reader will allow you to take payments anywhere, at any time

Square POS pricing plans

While Square’s service has no monthly charge, you will have to pay the following transaction fees:

• 2.6% + 10 cents of each card-based sale
• 3.5% + 15 cents for each keyed-in transaction
• 2.9% + 30 cents for online sales

All the features we've mentioned above are included in Square's transaction fee-only plan. However, Square does also offer a Restaurant Plus plan which gives you extra features for $60 per month, per location.

Transaction fees will be reduced to 2.5% plus 10 cents for in-person sales and 2.9% plus 30 cents for online sales. You'll also get advanced discounting tools, cash management features, and open check features. You'll find that your kitchen display becomes more useful with ticket routing and real-time order updates.

See our full guide to Square POS pricing for more.

Overall, Square POS performed exceptionally well across all of our testing categories. It proved to be a high-quality restaurant POS with a strong support team and low price — which makes it one of the most dominant POS systems on the market today. While Square sells plenty of hardware options, restaurant owners can also opt for the software-only version to turn their existing iPads into quick-service devices at little cost.

2. Clover POS – Best Value POS for Restaurants

Tech.co rating: 4.5/5

Price: $99 per month

If your restaurant relies on online orders or is looking to expand into this area in the future, Clover might be a very good fit – providing you already have a functioning website. It's a great all-in-one POS system with good restaurant features (4/8/5), is reasonably priced (5/5) and provides great value for money, especially for small restaurant businesses.

Highlights:

• Online order and delivery
• Built-in customer loyalty app
• Good third-party integrations

Clover POS restaurant features

Clover's restaurant features aren't as strong as other contenders on this list. However, thanks to its affordable monthly plans, our research positions Clover's POS system eye to eye with Square's when it comes to value for money. The Clover app wasn't the best on this list, but does allows you to build contact lists, with options for sharing promos and rewards, or collecting private feedback, allowing businesses to forge more meaningful relationships with their clientele. The app itself makes it simple to create offers and automate personalized perks for customers to use in person or online, which is a great way to improve the customer experience.

Bluetooth-detection can also remind mobile app customers of relevant promos, when they're nearby, which was a feature our team especially like. Loyalty features can encourage 60% more spend per transaction, and customers making purchases 90% more often, according to Clover — so if you're looking to improve your sales substantially, POS systems with good loyalty features may be the way to go. You can use our free comparison tool to compare the top POS brands

Clover POS for restaurants best features:

• Strong online ordering and delivery features
• Table service restaurant planning
• Swipe or dip payments from all major credit cards
• App options for sharing promos, awards and collecting feedback
• Powerful third-party customer retention integrations: Mailchimp and bLoyal
• Fraud protection for payments of up to $100,000

Clover POS pricing plans

In comparison to POS systems like Square, Clover's POS pricing can be appear pretty complex. While its start from $4.95 per month, not every plan will best suited to your business. Register Lite is best for restaurants making sales of less than $50,000 per year. It costs $9.95 per month, but requires the Clover Go, Flex, or Mini hardware devices, so isn't great for businesses looking to cut back on costs. The Register plan will set you back $39.95 per month, but you'll also need Clover Station or Station Pro hardware devices.

Clover Table Service Restaurant is the best bet for most restaurants interested in a fully-operational POS system. It costs $69.95 per month, and will you you access to floor planning apps and a specific restaurant orders app. The Clover Counter Service Restaurant plan is also a good bet – It costs $39.95 per month, and is designed for vendors that don't offer table service. However, you'll have to pay increased payment processing fees compared to the Table Service Restaurant plan.

Check out our Square vs Clover guide for a simple breakdown of Clover's pricing, or use our free POS price comparison tool to see how Clover compares to other POS systems.

3. Zettle by PayPal – Best POS for Food Trucks

Tech.co rating: 4.4/5

Price: Free (transaction fees apply)

Entering the POS market in 2010, Zettle by Paypal hasn't been around as long as some of our other competitors, but that hasn't stopped it from making an impact. In our testing, our researchers found it to be extremely an user-friendly POS system for restaurants, and they really liked its variety of food and drink-based features .PayPal Zettle is also free to set up, making it one of the most wallet-friendly POS options out there.

Highlights:

• VAT-friendly order features
• Great employee management tools
• Powerful data analytics

PayPal Zettle POS restaurant features

What we like most about Paypal Zettle's restaurant POS features is that it's really designed to make taking orders and processing payments simple and fuss-free. Zettle's range of food and drink-focused features are perfect for a variety of restaurants, regardless of size, whether you're running a café or multi-venue restaurant.

If you're looking for help handling VAT payments, Zettle's' Sit in' or ‘Take out' feature lets members of staff label items depending on how they're being served. The system then automatically assigns the correct amount of tax to items, eliminating the need for workers to do this manually — which is a huge help when your restaurant staff are rushed off their feet. While Zettle's customer support isn't available round the clock, its Help Center is renowned for going the extra mile. In fact, our research ranks Zettle 4/5 for Restaurant support, tying with both Square and TouchBistro.

PayPal Zettle POS for restaurants best features:

• Free POS software subscription
• Easy Shopify integrations
• Flexible payments: all major debit, credit card, Appl, Android  and Google Pay
• Venmo and PayPal QR code payments 
• Accepts remote payments through unique payment links
• Strong inventory management
• Bulk menu additions
• Customized reports and tracking
• Streamlined checkout process
• Custom gift cards

Think Zettle POS sounds right for your business? Our quick POS comparison tool will find you the best deal

PayPal Zettle pricing plans

Zettle’s point of sale app is currently free to set up. However, the system remains profitable by charging per transaction.

Below we break down Zettle by PayPal's transaction fees:

• 2.29% + 9 cents for each card-based sale
• 3.49% + 9 cents for each manual card entry transaction
• 1.9% + 10 cents for every QR code transaction $10.01 and above
• 2.4% + 5 cents for every QR code transaction $10.00 and below

Zettle also offers card readers at $29, with the price increasing to $79 for each additional reader.

4. TouchBistro POS – Best POS for Scaling Restaurants

Tech.co rating: 4.2/5

Price: $69 per month

As its name hints, TouchBistro was envisioned for restaurants from the very start, so it came as no surprise that it scored so highly in our restaurant POS features category (4.8/5). In comparison to the other POS systems we tested, TouchBistro had the most promising reporting and stock control features, and is also a system that lends itself to a range of other hospitality businesses – specifically those handling extensive or complicated inventories.

Unfortunately, TouchBistro's limited till and business development features prevent it from beating our industry heroes like Square and Clover.

Highlights:

• Real-time stock level reports
• 24/7 support
• VIP Community Network

TouchBistro restaurant POS features

When we tested TouchBistro against other restaurant POS providers we found that TouchBistro offered a range of apps to suit the specific needs of different restaurant businesses (4.8/5). For example, its Full-Service app is designed for traditional restaurants, but it also offers Quick Service, Bars and Clubs, Food Truck, and Brewery apps. For restaurants interested in understanding how well their business is performing, TouchBistro also delivers daily reports to senior staff members using the data collected by the platform, which is especially helpful for restaurants looking to scale.

TouchBistro best restaurant POS features:

• Choice of 50+ daily customizable reports
• Strong tableside order management feature
• Delivery management
• Employee management
• Customer management
• Popular third-party integrations
• Tips and reservation management
• Loyalty programs
• Inventory management

TouchBistro runs on all iPads after the first four generations, which can be used by servers or as the central hub of your operation. However, when it comes to hardware items such as receipt printers, you'll have to find those yourself as TouchBistro doesn't sell any hardware, which is a major drawback.

TouchBistro POS pricing plans

TouchBistro operates its pricing slightly differently to most other POS providers. Instead of using a per user, per month system, TouchBistro offers a cap on the number of monthly users with each of its plans.

The Solo plan, naturally, gives you one user license for $69 per month. The Dual plan costs $129 per month and gives you two licenses, the Team plan costs $249 per month and gives you five licenses. It also offers the Unlimited plan, which gives your business an unlimited number of licenses for $399 per month.

TouchBistro doesn't include all its features in the main plans, however. For example, you'll need to pay $229 per month for its Reservations add-on, or $50 per month for its Online Ordering add-on.

This can make TouchBistro slightly more expensive than some rivals, so it's worth seeing how it compare to other restaurant POS providers. You can use our online POS comparison too to get a free personalized quote for your business.

5. Epos Now – Best POS for Restaurant Chains

Tech.co rating: 4.2/5

Price: $39 per month

Epos Now isn't quite as well-rounded as Square's offering, but it's still a very compelling option for restaurant businesses. In our testing it performed well in our POS restaurant-specific features category (4.6/5) and we found it to offer the most versatile hardware options, making it a great POS system for restaurants that haven't yet invested in devices. Pricing, features and comprehensive training also make Epos a suitable restaurant POS for restaurant chains.

Highlights:

• Simple set up process
• Individual staff permissions
• Strong hardware options

Epos Now restaurant POS features

Epos Now's POS system is feature-rich, but thankfully, the in comparison to other POS providers, Epos likes to keep things simple. What we like most about Epos Now is that its start-up process is straightforward and fuss-free, meaning restaurants using the POS can have the system up and running within minutes. This is especially useful for busy businesses or those investing in this type of software for the first time. Our product research also suggests that Epos could make a great fit for larger restaurants or chains, thanks to its till features and till-based products. However, it's no one-trick pony and can easily match Square punch-for-punch when it comes to a range of other features.

Epos Now POS for restaurants best features:

• Extensive employee management toolkit
• Full staff clock-in and out functionality
• Comprehensive training sessions
• Strong inventory and stock management
• 80+ third-party integrations including Xero, Nettl and Mailchimp

Epos Now POS pricing plans

Epos Now offers three pricing plans, but prefers to keep the specifics of those plans close to its chest — you'll need to speak to a sales rep to get details for your company. However, we do know that a free plan is not currently available. Epos Now's pricing starts from $39 per month. It also sells a lot of hardware bundles that you can buy directly from its website.

The full Epos Now Restaurant POS System, for example, costs $999 or $72 per month and gives you:

• Epos Now's proprietary Pro-C15W terminal, including water-resistant touchscreen and a solid-state drive (SSD) for speedy loading
• Epos Now hospitality software
• 90mm Epos Now Pro receipt printer
• Cash drawer
• Installation, configuration, and training

In comparison to other POS pricing plans, Epos Now's lack of transparency didn't sit well with our team. Still, there are plenty of restaurant POS options to choose from. If you're interested in comparing providers, you can use our free POS comparison tool to find the best POS system for your business.

6. Talech – Most User-Friendly Restaurant POS

Tech.co rating: 4.1/5

Price: $4.95

Talech is a great, all-around POS solution for restaurants, that can be used in hospitality, service, and retail businesses alike. In our testing, our researchers found Talech to be affordable and offer a good range of restaurant-specific features designed to help restaurants grow.

Talech POS also proved to be the most user-friendly point-of-sale solution as its tablet-based functionality made it more accessible. In comparison to  other restaurant POS systems, like our frontrunners – Square and Clover, Talech will provide you with slightly less bang for your buck.

Highlights:

• Strong employee management tools
• Customer loyalty features
• Powerful data analytics

Talech restaurant POS features

When testing restaurant POS features, Talech's real-time reporting stood out to our team. We especially liked how its software is equipped to help managers keep tabs on every area of their restaurant, including top-selling dishes, number of returns, and the most requested table, as it allows restauranteurs to implement positive data-informed decisions to help grow their business.

Talech POS for restaurants best features

• Strong table management features
• Specialist loyalty features
• Integrated gift cards
• Contactless dining with printable QR codes
• Automatic gratuity
• Automatic discounts
• Customer order types (eg. door dash)
• Guest and offline mode
  Multiple payment options including chip, contactless, Apple and Android Pay

Talech POS pricing plans

Talech's point of service system is available at four different price points.

Talech's Starter plan costs $29 per month for the first device, and a further $29 per month for each extra device. This plan has no cap on employees or access to additional devices. However, users aren't able to upload more than 500 products. Talech's starter package includes basic features including order management, inventory tracking, and CRM tools.

Costing slightly more, Talech's Standard plan is ideal for casual dining establishments and quick service restaurants. Clocking in at $69 per month, with an additional $29 for each additional device, the plan includes everything in the Starter package with additional store credit, kitchen printing, and bundle features.

If you're looking for a slightly more comprehensive package, Talech Premium is available for $99 per month for the first device, with additional devices costing an extra $29 per month. This pricing tier gives users access to slightly more advanced table management features, making the plan a no-brainer for business owners running full-service restaurants or multi-location franchises.

If you run a large restaurant or have complex POS needs, Talech's Enterprise plan might suit you the best. Prices are available on request so you need to call Talech's sales team to find out more.

7. Lightspeed – Best Restaurant POS for Delivery

Tech.co rating: 4.1/5

Price: $69 per month

Lightspeed is a huge name in the world of POS providers but, due to its focus on barcoded products, it isn't the very best solution for restaurant businesses. Still, it performed exceptionally well in our testing for restaurant features (4.9) proving to have better functionality than Shopify. With a low cost for adding terminals and omnichannel loyalty tools, Lightspeed could be a strong asset to a large restaurant or group of franchises, it also performed best for delivery too.

Highlights:

• Strong business development features
• Integrated customer rewards system
• Omnichannel selling options

Lightspeed restaurant POS features

If your restaurant handles a large or complex inventory, chances are you'll benefit from Lightspeed's advanced stock control tools,. This feature specifically allows businesses to track inventory across multiple locations, helping to maintain consistency across their brand, especially if its a chain.  Data backup and software updates are also available for free, and live onboarding and 24/7 support options are packaged with all plans. All told, though, Lightspeed performs better for businesses with large barcoded items, so it might suit cafes better than restaurants.

Lightspeed POS best features for restaurants:

• Strong floor management
• Customer management: profiles, promos and discount codes
• Seamless kitchen to floor integration
• Customer tracking
• Inventory tracking
• Delivery and contactless online ordering
• Contactless QR code orders
• Credit, debit and mobile payments
• Offline mode
• 24/7 customer support

Lightspeed POS wasn't our top pick for restaurants, but it might be one that's better suited to your business' needs. To learn more, use our time-saving POS comparison tool to see how Lightspeed POS compares to other popular providers.

Lightspeed POS pricing plans

Lightspeed's pricing plans start from $69 per month with the Basic plan. You won't get access to ecommerce, accounting, loyalty, or sales analysis features, but you will get access to the core of the Lightspeed POS system and its payment processing service.

The $99 per month Starter plan lets you sell online with Lightspeed ecommerce. The Standard plan costs $199 per month, and lets you connect a third-party accounting provider such as QuickBooks or Xero.

The Advanced plan costs $169 per month, and gives you access to Lightspeed's customer loyalty tools. Finally, the Pro plan costs $229 per month, and gives you access to advanced store analytics which let you track sales, employee performance, and marketing campaign effectiveness.

8. Toast – Best Restaurant POS for Onboarding

Tech.co rating: 4/5

Price from: $69 per month

Toast is a POS system “designed from the ground up for the restaurant industry.” While most POS systems prioritize running on iPads, Toast has opted for Android-based software, which can be run on your existing Android tablets or, for the best experience, on Toast's own POS hardware.

In our testing, Toast performed especially well in our restaurant-specific POS category (4.9) and our research team were especially impressed with its training and onboarding capabilities. For this reason, Toast POS is particularly suited to small-to-medium restaurants with Android-compatible hardware, and restaurants who are interested in training and upskilling their team.

Highlights:

• Android hardware
• Delivery service features
• Deep menu customization

However, while its interface is easy to understand, Toast doesn't have any integrated payment processors, its CRM tools are only available through integrations, and our research positions it low for help and support. Toast isn't perfect but if you have existing Android hardware, or aren't keen on buying iPads, it might save you some money.

Toast POS restaurant features

One feature we liked about Toast POS system is that it lets your servers accept tableside orders from customers and will relay them to your kitchen and bar staff. Servers can also take payments via a card reader with EMV cards and Samsung Pay. A dedicated cost management feature lets managers 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.

• Strongest POS till features in Tech.co testing
• Solid tableside orders, payment and management
• Good analytics and reporting
• Flat-rate delivery
• Commission-free curbside pickup or contactless delivery
• Supports online ordering
• Menus update in real-time
• Virtual POS (Toast Now) supports online ordering, takeout, and contactless delivery.
• Toast Now is completely free for the first three months

Toast POS pricing plans

Toast POS offers three pricing plans: Starter, Essential, and Growth. The Starter plan costs $69 per month. It offers table and order management features, reporting and analytics, menu management, flat-rate credit card processing, and guest feedback features. You can also opt for Toast's proprietary restaurant hardware package, which starts at $799.

The $165 per month Essentials plan offers online ordering and delivery features and adds the Toast TakeOut app, which lets you save payment and account information and automate push notifications, and is available across Android and iOS.

Toast starts its restaurant POS software subscription service at $69 per month per terminal. Remote or in-person installations are an additional cost, and they start at $499. Toast recommends that businesses use their devices (they offer a splash-proof, dust-proof range of handheld, desktop-mountable Toast Go hardware), with their most popular hardware packages starting at around $799. On top of all that, Toast charges a flat fee for its payment processing (while the fee is flat across all of a specific business's payments, the initial fee is determined based on that business's industry, and can vary depending on what that industry is).

The virtual “Toast Now” service offers digital ordering abilities for a cost of $50 per month (plus payment processing fees on top of that), with gift card support costing an additional $25 per month.

9. Shopify – Most Adaptable Restaurant POS

Tech.co rating: 3.9/5

Price: $29 per month

While Shopify is predominantly known for its brilliant website builder, its point-of-service software can also be used by brick-and-motor restaurants and cafes. It offers plenty of useful integrations and scored well in our help and support testing category (4/5) but, unfortunately, its shortage of hospitality features prevents it from appearing any higher up on our list.

Highlights:

• Online ordering
• e-commerce tools
• Great inventory tracking

Shopify restaurant POS features

Shopify isn't the best restaurant POS system, but it is a great option for businesses looking to sell food, or goods online as well as in store. When it comes to omnichannel selling, Shopify is undefeated, and all of our wider research and in-house testing supports that.

With Shopify POS, restaurants can use the software to sell dishes and products online, and in-store simultaneously. Shopify also allows customers to pick up orders on-site and offers tools that help service workers to manage, fulfil and send off local deliveries. These functions can be indispensable to restaurants handling a lot of online orders.

But omnichannel selling isn't Shopify's only strength. When testing the best restaurant POS systems, our research team really liked Shopify's inventory tracker, which makes it super easy for employees to measure stock levels, and its demand forecasting display, which offers managers useful insights into which products are doing well.

Shopify POS prices

Shopify offers two POS plans: Shopify POS Lite and Shopify POS Pro.

Shopify Lite is included with all Shopify plans, and comes equipped with order and product management features, customer profiles, mobile POS and an in-person credit card rate starting at 2.4% + 0¢ USD.

Shopify POS Pro is included with Shopify Plus, but can be added to other Shopify plans for an additional $89 per month, per location. Shopify POS Pro includes unlimited store staff, smart inventory management, omnichannel selling features, unlimited registers, in-store analytics, staff roles and permissions.

Restaurant POS System Prices

Typical POS prices start between $69 – $99 per month for a single terminal.

However, the restaurant POS system industry charges per-month costs that vary depending on the number of terminals and locations, and whether you’re only using software or need hardware as well. You'll also have to consider payment processing – some companies, such as Square, have this built-in. But if your provider doesn't, it'll have to be an extra cost.

Your hardware costs can quickly rack up if you're not careful. iPads aren't cheap, and neither are cash drawers and receipt printers. Some companies will sell you the hardware you need as you go, while others will sell it on a monthly instalment basis.

Given that costs can vary so much, how do you know which POS is right for your restaurant? First, consider how your business relates to the following variables:

• Quick service venue, mid-size business, or large layout?
• Number of POS terminals needed?
• Number of locations?
• Unique features needed?

Next, you’ll need to reach out to the right POS vendors for a customized quote so you can compare the prices.

Restaurant POS Buyer's Guide

There are a lot of questions that come up when it comes to buying POS systems for your restaurant. We'll do our best to answer some of the more pressing options below, so you can get started today.

Why do I need a restaurant POS system?

A good restaurant POS system will help any business thrive and grow, providing accurate and important data to base decisions on. But 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 track which orders were placed from which table. 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 system can:

• Help the kitchen interact with the servers quickly and easily
• Help a manager track employees’ work hours and plan their future schedules
• Log data from past weeks or months in order 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 on what’s working and fix what’s not. 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.

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 in order to attract repeat customers
• Customer Engagement — collects and securely manages approved contact lists, such as email addresses or phone numbers, for customer marketing
• Reservations — allows workers to track meal reservations weeks or months in advance
• Online ordering — allows quick-service restaurants to let customers place orders online

Some of these features haven't always been essential. For example, the coronavirus pandemic has made online ordering all but essential for even the largest and fanciest restaurants. In the past, you might have been able to get away without online ordering but nowadays, you simply can't.

While the features above are important to consider when picking out a POS for your restaurant, you should think about other factors, too. The best restaurant POS systems are also cost-effective, well-reviewed, easy to use, and come with a professional customer support team.

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 any more. 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.

How to choose a POS system for your restaurant

Not every point of service system is equal, and even a feature rich POS might not be right for your specific business. Here are a few factors to consider, some of which you won’t find on most POS websites but which remain relevant to your decision.

• Your customers — The demographic of your audience determines what type of POS system they will embrace.
  • Their age — Older customers might not understand or care about options like contactless payment or QR-code coupons.
  • Their social expectations — A quick-service location might have a self-checkout option, but higher end restaurants would never give their servers iPads.
  • Their digital adoption — Silicon Valley is packed with early adopters who want all the options, but restaurants on the Rust Belt can stick to a more compact POS with fewer features.
• Customers with disabilities — A self-serve station might seem easier than an in-person order system, but might not be an accessible option for those with poor eyesight or limited mobility.
• Your budget — Don’t overextend your business, especially if you plan to pay up front.
• Your size — A single food truck and a sprawling restaurant have differing needs: the larger your restaurant, the more important your POS communication features become.
• Future growth — As your total orders, order stations, or restaurant locations grow, the cost for your POS system will grow, even though the features it offers likely won’t. Choose a system that will be ready for your future needs.

Frequently Asked Questions