9 Best Restaurant POS Systems For 2023

We love Lightspeed Restaurant’s sleek user interface, comprehensive inventory management, and third-party integrations. The back end takes an initial effort to set up. Once you do, inventory tracking is automated, purchase ordering is simple, you can create an unlimited number of modifiers, and servers can use quick-serve mode to take orders quickly.

Lightspeed also has several hotel management integrations that allow you to centralize your room reservations, charge restaurant bills to a room number, monitor room cleanings, and more. There are restaurant reservation integrations for full-service hotel restaurants and liquid inventory management capabilities that will help hotel bars cost down on liquid wastage.

Plus, Lightspeed’s multi-location features are relatively affordable and offer great location-based inventory management, sales reporting, and discounts/promotions for all or individual locations.

The Core plan includes core restaurant service features, such as iPad-based ordering and tipping, takeout and delivery features, and extensive menu management. The new and improved Lightspeed Starter plan also includes floor planning, card pre-authorizations, and a basic loyalty program builder.

The Essentials plan includes online ordering, tableside ordering, QR code ordering, and advanced inventory management. The Plus plan also includes multi-location management, making this plan much more suited for larger restaurants.

The Premium plan includes hotel revenue management, API access to build your own custom integrations, and custom payment processing rates to help you lower credit card processing fees.

Features such as third-party ordering platform integrations cost extra and require a custom quote.

You’ll pay extra monthly subscriptions to third-party providers for integrations, such as hotel property management and waitlist/reservations software, should you choose to use them.

Fast casual restaurants that feature build-able items such as burritos or grain bowls will appreciate how easy it is to create forced and optional modifiers and add-ons. Predefined order items are a composite of ingredients that can be added or removed.

Lightspeed has great ingredient tracking and automatically removes an ingredient when you run out of it, so no customer can be disappointed if they order something online that you don’t have in-store.

You can also create rules in Lightspeed’s inventory management dashboard that alert you when an item is low in stock and allows you to generate a purchase order email or connect the alert to a supplier’s website if you order from there.

Lightspeed Restaurant’s unique hotel management features include:

• Hotel Management Integrations: Lightspeed hotel integrations (StayNTouch, Mews, WebRezPro) allow you to bill food and drinks to customers’ rooms, integrate room management into your POS, monitor guest check-in/check-out, make online reservations, and more.
• Bar Management: Hotel bars can monitor liquid inventory, take card pre-authorizations, create composite drink items, and sell food.
• Order Anywhere: Guests can order from their room or table with a special QR ordering code or order online.
• Menu Management: Create different menus for dine-in, room service, and poolside service.
• Multiple Revenue Support: Generate a single report with information from all your revenue-generating locations, such as different ordering touchpoints and room charges.

Lightspeed Restaurant hotel management integration.

Lightspeed Restaurant countertop POS with customer display

Lightspeed Restaurant hardware is all iPad-based. Similar to Revel, hardware options may include a countertop POS with a customer display, standalone iPads for tableside ordering, and/or iPad kiosks for self-ordering. Lightspeed’s KDS is also iPad-based.

You may purchase your own iPads or through Lightspeed at $329 per device. The iPad stand costs $199, the kitchen bump bar costs $199, the cash drawer costs $129, and the kitchen printer costs $299.

It’s important to purchase your card reader (Lightspeed supports Verifone products) from Lightspeed to make sure your Lightspeed Payments account is configured correctly with the hardware.

We advise contacting Lightspeed to get a custom quote on a hardware bundle.

Lightspeed has its own processing program, Lightspeed Payments. Its fees are 2.6% + $0.10 for card-present transactions or 2.9% + $0.30 for card-not-present transactions for business owners on the Essentials and Plus plans.

Those on the Premium plan can get a custom payment processing rate, which should be lower than the rate offered on lower-level plans.

Lightspeed lists monthly costs but will have you fill out a custom order form, which will dictate your payment period. You could be charged monthly or annually for a predefined amount of time.

However, Lightspeed does charge an early termination fee if you decide to cancel your subscription early, and hardware return windows are short, so start with a monthly plan until you’re sure Lightspeed is the POS for your restaurant.

We love that TouchBistro has designed software specifically to meet the needs of servers and kitchen staff. The POS system, kitchen display screen, and back office menu management are user-friendly, which helps speed up service and minimize mistakes.

TouchBistro is a largely self-contained restaurant management solution and requires few third-party integrations. However, the system does integrate with several payment processors, so restaurants can find the best payment processing rates.

Unlike most restaurant POS providers on this list, TouchBistro offers a built-in waitlist and reservation system, which is sophisticated yet intuitive.

TouchBistro also has a great online catering order portal for customers to order on-site catering and special large orders for takeout/delivery. The system has an excellent offline mode, making it easier for you to sell on-site at events, catering gigs, or at your own food kiosk or food truck.

TouchBistro requires every business owner to get a custom quote, so your pricing may be different.

The company also charges a nonrefundable setup fee that starts at $200 and includes your hardware setup plus software walkthrough.

TouchBistro pricing is mostly for the POS core feature set. TouchBistro add-ons include:

• Online Ordering: $50/month
• Reservations: $229/month
• Gift Cards: $25/month
• Loyalty: $99/month
• Marketing: $99/month

Note: While TouchBistro’s reservation system may seem pricey, you only have to pay one flat monthly fee to take reservations. Other reservation software providers charge a monthly and a per-transaction fee, so you’d likely spend at least the same amount, if not more, for a poorer-quality reservation system.

TouchBistro makes upselling a focus since upselling increases revenue significantly no matter what type of restaurant you own. Menu items such as dinner entrees and wine are intelligently paired to show on-screen as customers order, whether on the server’s POS screen or an online ordering screen.

TouchBistro’s online ordering feature is not just a link to an ordering page like most providers on this list offer. You get to build out your own custom-branded web app, which can include the menu (which can be different from in-person menus), your loyalty program, gift card purchases, reservations, location information, and guest feedback.

Full-service restaurants will appreciate these special TouchBistro features:

• Reservation System: Customers can make reservations from your web app, your Google Business Profile, and by calling. Send reminder emails/phone messages about upcoming reservations. Create floor plans specifically for managing reservations.
• Waitlist: Allow customers to add themselves to the waitlist online when your restaurant is currently full. Send customers SMS notifications about their waitlist status and enforce waitlist cutoff times.
• Liquid Inventory Management: Track liquid sales and wastage at your in-house bar or events featuring alcohol with TouchBistro’s Bevchek or Freepour integration.
• Customer Accounts: Allow billing to customers’ house accounts with saved payment types and partial or full balance payoffs. Allow customers to preload credits to an account.
• Customer Dining Preferences: You can ask for dining preferences/allergies when taking reservations. VIP diners can be flagged in customer reports, and their preferences can be saved for future orders to create a personalized dining experience.

TouchBistro’s restaurant POS waitlist/reservation settings.

Catering companies will appreciate the ability to create a quote for a future order, require a deposit for future orders, and choose how far in advance someone can order. Caterers can also set delivery parameters, add service/delivery fees, make notes about catering events, set up event start/end times, and use offline mode.

TouchBistro’s offline mode is made possible by TouchBistro’s unique blend of cloud-based and locally-installed POS software, which is not common among restaurant POS software.

TouchBistro countertop iPad POS, iPad stand, handheld iPad POS, cash drawer, card reader, and receipt printer.

TouchBistro offers a wide variety of Apple products through its website, including custom bundles and individual pieces of equipment. Hardware prices are not listed, and the company encourages you to call for a quote.

TouchBistro integrates with an impressive number of payment processors, including Square and Worldpay, allowing you to pick the best and most cost-effective option for your restaurant.

Like most other POS systems, TouchBistro gives you options to sign up month to month but offers its best rates if you pay for its services a year in advance. However, TouchBistro does charge an early termination fee if you cancel your plan early and the fee is dependent on how long you had between your cancellation date and the end of your contract.

Consider starting with a monthly plan until you’re sure TouchBistro is right for your business.

If you do end up cancelling your plan, you must send written notice to TouchBistro at least 30 days before the end of your subscription term, or you’ll be automatically charged for another term.

We have always been a fan of Square’s highly affordable software and hardware packages, plus its transparency about pricing and payment processing fees. Square is the most transparent, upfront, and reasonable provider on our list in terms of contract requirements.

Square is one of the best free restaurant POS systems due to its free POS, free online ordering site for takeout and delivery, free QR code tableside ordering, unlimited number of POS  devices allowed (single-location businesses only), and free digital gift card function.

The paid plan is also highly affordable and includes an unlimited number of kitchen display screens, advanced employee management, and advanced team management.

While we wouldn’t recommend it for large restaurants with complex needs, smaller establishments will find exactly what they need with Square.

Newer business owners should stick to the free plan until they have more complex menu and inventory management requirements, require full-service restaurant features like course management and floor planning, need more business reports, and/or want to use the Square mobile ordering kit.

Square offers the following add-ons:

• Square Payroll: $35/month + $5/employee
• Square Loyalty: $45/month
• Restaurant Website: Free-$72/month
• Email Marketing: $15/month

If you pay for a website rather than use the free Square ordering page, you can customize the page to match your brand and remove Square advertising.

Also, Square now offers an excellent mobile POS device that rivals Toast’s handheld POS device: the Toast Go 2. It costs $50/location/month for locations to use the mobile POS.

Many of Square’s best features are free for all users. On the free plan, you get to equip an unlimited number of devices with Square POS software. You can take orders with conversational modifiers, create combos and discounts, sell eGift cards, and take payments on any device you have lying around.

One of Square’s best free features is its online ordering page builder, which allows you to build out a homepage and menu, set ordering hours, schedule pickup and delivery, and create custom in-person and online ordering menus. You can sell retail items, such as merch, tickets to in-house events, and prepackaged ready-to-eat items.

Square for Restaurants online ordering site.

You can connect your ordering page to your Google Business and social media profiles. On paid plans, you can offer tableside QR code ordering, with each code corresponding to a specific table number.

While Square’s inventory management is not as extensive as other POS systems, one of Square’s more special features is that inventory syncs between in-person and online orders so that when you run out of an item, the system will auto-86 it from the menu entirely until it’s restocked.

Square kitchen display screen, online ordering platform, mobile ordering app, Square Register, and Square Terminal.

You can use the Square POS app on most phones and iPads. Kitchen displays will require an iPad.

To take payments, you’ll need at least a Square Card Reader, which costs $49. This will allow you to take chip and tap card payments, mobile wallet payments, and digital payment apps, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Countertop POS options include the all-in-one Square Register with customer-facing display ($799) and Square Stand for iPad ($149, not including iPad).

As for mobile options, which are great for taking tableside orders, the handheld Square Terminal costs $299. Square also offers the Square Restaurant Mobile Kit for $249 plus $50/month for the mobile kit software. The mobile kit includes a smartphone and case with a built-in slot for the Square card reader (also included in the kit).

It’s sleek, elegant, and fits right in a server’s pocket. It also rivals the Toast Go 2 in pricing and function. The Toast Go 2 is Toast’s proprietary mobile POS system that’s at the forefront of handheld restaurant POS systems.

Square is known for its simple credit card processing. With Square for Restaurants, its rate for in-person transactions is 2.6% plus $0.10, while online orders are charged at 2.9% plus $0.30.

Square has incredibly transparent monthly subscriptions with no early termination fees. The company also has a great hardware warranty. It will cover Square hardware from the company website and third-party companies.

We like that Clover has made it easy for restaurant owners to add all the features they need and want to their POS software/hardware setup. The system is generally easy to use, as it was designed to work the same way smartphones do.

The Clover app market has hundreds of popular and lesser-known but very useful restaurant-centric apps for restaurants of all sizes to build the perfect custom POS without the help of customer representatives or software developers.

Clover has a line of sleek POS hardware for you to mix and match. Depending on where you get your POS hardware, you can also get a great deal on merchant services, such as payment processing (but you can also fall victim to Clover POS scams when buying a used system, so be careful).

Listed pricing is available if you purchase your Clover hardware upfront.

If you decide to pay for your Clover hardware over time, you’ll be charged one monthly fee for your Clover hardware/software package. Monthly pricing for both your software and hardware is the following:

• Counter Service Restaurant: $90/month-$175/month
• Table Service Restaurant: $150/month-$290/month

Clover’s built-in features do not usually provide everything a successful restaurant needs to function. You can get features such as kitchen display screens, perishable inventory management, and reservations with an app from the Clover app market, with pricing for a single app ranging from $0 to $400/month.

Besides your base subscription, pricing for Clover POS software can and will vary greatly depending on your restaurant’s needs.

Clover offers both quick-serve and full-service software plans. The biggest difference between the two is that full-service plans include floor planning, table mapping, card pre-authorizations, bill splitting, and tipping.

Clover’s most unique built-in feature is its loyalty program, which is included for free on all subscriptions.

Clover restaurant POS loyalty program.

Like Square, Clover offers an online ordering page on all subscription plans. You can connect your ordering page to your Google Business profile and allow customers to order from there as well as your own custom ordering page. You can also integrate Clover with third-party ordering platforms such as DoorDash and Grubhub for free on all plans. Plus, you can create custom menus for all ordering touchpoints, which is great if you want to reduce your menu for online orders.

Clover users have access to the Clover app market, which includes hundreds of retail, restaurant, and general business apps made by Clover and third-party providers to help your restaurant succeed. You can add an app to help you with anything from liquor inventory management to customer house accounts to digital menu board creation.

Clover’s restaurant hardware options include the following (pricing is for merchants who purchase their hardware upfront and in full through Clover.com):

• Clover Go: $49; Bluetooth card reader to accept swipe, chip, tap, and mobile wallet payments
• Clover Flex: $499; handheld POS terminal for servers to take orders, accept payments, and print receipts
• Clover Mini: $799; compact countertop POS device for restaurants with little space to take orders, payments, and print receipts
• Clover Station: $1,699 (Clover Station Solo) or $1,799 (Clover Station Duo); full-size countertop POS system and optional customer-facing display to take orders, payments, print receipts, fire orders, and more

Clover also offers a variety of hardware accessories, such as kitchen printers, barcode scanners, and cash drawers. Pricing for additional hardware may vary depending on your current Clover hardware setup.

If you purchase your Clover hardware, software, and merchant services from a Clover reseller, your hardware costs may vary dramatically from the pricing listed above.

If you use Clover’s parent company, Fiserv, for payment processing, you’ll get the following flat-rate payment processing:

• Card-Present Transactions: 2.3% + $0.10 per transaction
• Card-Not-Present Transactions: 3.5% + $0.10 per transaction

Card-not-present transactions include any phone order, third-party ordering platform order (e.g., Grubhub and Order With Google), invoice payment, online order on a Clover-hosted website, manually-keyed-in card payment, and any form of payment that is not a swipe/chip/tap card payment, cash, or check.

If a large amount of your revenue comes from online or phone orders, choose a different payment processor or POS provider for your restaurant.

Clover offers 36-month and 48-month contracts, with early termination fees if you cancel your Clover subscription early.

Also, you can’t use your Clover hardware with any other POS software, sell your Clover hardware, or transfer ownership of your hardware in any way, making your Clover devices useless if you want to stop using Clover POS software.

We recommend you really consider whether Clover is the right POS system for you before committing to getting any hardware and that you get a better merchant contract with one of these top Clover resellers if you decide that Clover is the best fit for your restaurant.

We love that Toast is a self-contained restaurant-focused software that offers products to meet the growing restaurant owner/managers’ needs, including Toast Payroll, Toast Scheduling, and Toast Delivery Services.

Mid-size restaurants looking to get customers in and out of the door faster will appreciate the vast number of ways for customers to order. In fact, customers can now scan a QR code to see the menu, order, and pay at their table, no server required.

Toast has one of the best restaurant loyalty programs we’ve ever seen. Customers can collect and redeem points wherever they order without needing a loyalty card or account. It’s attached to their payment method, so no signups or logins are necessary.

We also like that Toast hardware, built exclusively on the Android platform, uniquely positions itself as the most durable hardware in the restaurant industry today. Mid-size restaurants with multiple sections can take orders on long-lasting countertop POS systems, mobile POS systems, and self-ordering kiosks. Restaurant owners can rest easy knowing that spills and drops will not cost them hundreds of dollars because they need to replace hardware.

Toast offers a $0 down, pay-as-you-go Quick Start Bundle plan. While you pay $0/month in subscription fees, you will pay a lot in payment processing fees. You can also only have a free POS terminal on this plan, which is not ideal for mid-size restaurants.

We recommend starting with at least the Core plan, which does require you to pay for your Android-based hardware upfront but will save you a lot of money in payment processing fees.

Restaurants that are planning to scale fast but have no upfront capital to invest in hardware should consider signing up for the Starter plan, then bumping up to a paid plan (with more POS systems) as quickly as possible. Alternatively, restaurant owners interested in Toast may consider getting one of these best small business loans to get hardware now and pay for it over time.

Toast offers a Restaurant Basics plan for new restaurants, which includes everything in the Standard package plus employee scheduling, payroll, 401(k)s, and business insurance. This plan costs $110/month plus $4/employee/month.

The $165/month Growth plan includes the Toast digital ordering and delivery platform (you can get this as a paid add-on if you’re on the Standard plan).

Most of Toast’s best features come at an additional cost, many of which are custom-quoted.

If you sign up for the Standard plan, you’ll pay $75/month for digital ordering, $50/month for the loyalty program, $50/month to sell gift cards, and $75/month for email marketing. On the Starter plan, you pay for these extras in the form of a (significantly) higher payment processing fee.

On higher-level plans, you’ll often get a discount when you buy multiple add-ons at once.

Toast has an extensive number of proprietary software products that all integrate with the POS system. Each one touches on another aspect of running a mid-size to a large restaurant, such as employee scheduling and payroll, vendor management, and centralized multilocation management.

One of Toast’s most unique and comprehensive features is its loyalty program, which includes:

• Multiple Enrollment Opportunities: Customers can enroll during or after checkout on in-person, self-serve kiosks, tableside, delivery, and takeout orders, plus via a link on your website.
• Custom Account Information: Customers can sign up via text or email and receive a welcome message, plus updates on your loyalty program.
• Earn On Every Purchase: Customers automatically earn points with every purchase made through a card linked to their loyalty account (automatically set to whatever card was used to pay for the order during signup). They may add more linked cards whenever they want and manually enter their loyalty account information on purchases made with cash or check.
• Customer Loyalty Account Link: Customers get their own digital loyalty account link where they can view their points, see ways they can earn, and add their birthday to get a birthday reward.
• Automated Redemption Prompt: Once customers have spent enough to earn a reward, they are automatically asked if they’d like to redeem it. This automated prompt shows up on online, takeout, and in-person orders, so customers will never forget to redeem their points.

Toast restaurant POS loyalty program signup prompt.

Toast also has stellar floor planning, order firing by prep time so that everything comes out at the same time (and temperature), extensive tip pooling and splitting, and large-party service management so that mid-size restaurants with several sections and menu offerings can effectively wait on customers.

Finally, Toast’s restaurant costing tool, xtraCHEF, allows you to create a catalog of vendors and an ordering guide so that anyone ordering stock can easily do so. You can generate one large purchase order from several vendors simultaneously or send one based on a previous invoice. The tool makes purchase ordering feel like a B2C experience, with an easy checkout function that looks like you’re just shopping online.

Toast restaurant POS system purchase ordering.

Toast mobile ordering app on smartphone device, PC user dashboard, kitchen display screen, handheld POS system, and countertop POS system.

Toast’s proprietary Android-based hardware must be purchased from Toast and is usually custom-quoted.

The company offers a Starter Kit, which includes one to two POS terminals and is available only for individuals on the Starter and Standard plans.

On the Starter plan, you’ll pay nothing upfront for your countertop and/or mobile POS system but pay higher payment processing fees.

On the Standard plan, you may purchase a Toast Flex countertop POS for $799 or the mobile Toast Go 2 handheld device for $609. You can add the Toast Go 2 (or a second Toast Go 2) for $409 plus $50/month.

The Toast Go 2 is one of the best mobile POS systems on the market, and we highly recommend it for larger sit-down restaurants and bars.

You must use Toast’s payment processor, and you’ll get a custom payment processing rate unless you purchase a Starter Kit, which includes hardware and fixed payment processing fees.

That fixed fee ranges from 2.49% plus $0.15 per transaction (Standard plan) to 2.99% plus $0.15 per transaction (Starter plan.) If you add online ordering to the Starter plan, you’ll pay an extra 0.40% per transaction, whether the order is made online or in person.

You do have to sign up for a contract through Toast, which can be from one to three years, and the cost of breaking one of these contracts can be pretty pricey.

We love how flexible and customizable Revel Systems is and how many third-party integrations are available for both general use and more specific needs, such as headsets and digital signage integrations for drive-through restaurants.

You have the choice to work with several payment processors, allowing larger restaurants to find the best payment processing rate and save money in the long run. Plus, Revel’s open API allows restaurant owners to connect their Revel POS with any other third-party software they want to use.

We also strongly recommend Revel for multi-location businesses and franchises since Revel has the inventory management, business reporting, and labor management capabilities that businesses of this size require to operate with peak efficiency.

Revel’s only advertised plan has a two-terminal minimum and a three-year contract with Revel, making the starting price of this POS $198/month. Keep in mind that Revel is for larger businesses, and larger businesses will always have to pay more than the average monthly bill to get all the front-end and back-office POS features they need.

Larger restaurants and drive-throughs will most likely need more than two terminals and will need to get a custom quote from a Revel representative.

There’s also a one-time implementation fee starting at $674. This fee covers on-site hardware installation and an initial software setup, which you can customize as needed with your Revel account representative.

Revel add-ons, such as online ordering and self-serve kiosks, will cost extra and require you to get a custom quote from your dedicated Revel representative.

Costs for Revel third-party integrations, such as Vines OS, a wine club management software, come from the third-party provider, not Revel. You may find the costs for these integrations on provider websites.

Try to add only what you need to your system to reduce your monthly bill.

Revel offers a combined retail and restaurant POS system so that you may sell retail items, weighted food items, made-to-order food, and more.

Larger restaurants that provide catering services or rent out their location for special events will appreciate Revel’s appointment scheduling, service charging, pre-ordering module, and catering reporting capabilities.

Revel is one of the best drive-through POS systems and an excellent choice for fast food joints because of these unique features:

• Drive-Through Hardware/Software: Integration with Delphi Display Systems, which provides digital signage, drive-through headsets, order confirmation displays, and more.
• Online Ordering: Online ordering from your own website and delivery platforms, such as Grubhub, Uber Eats, and DoorDash.
• Delivery Service: Create your own in-house delivery fulfillment with delivery driver monitoring.
• Self-Serve Kiosks: Self-serve kiosks that can display a custom self-serve kiosk menu.
• Timed Menus: Predefined menu changes, so you can serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner items.
• Efficient Order Management: Revel incorporates kitchen display systems (KDS) that streamline order flow from all ordering touchpoints (at the counter, drive-through, online order, third-party platform order, pre-orders, etc.).

Revel restaurant POS system drive-through ordering.

Whether quick-serve or full-service, multilocation restaurants, and franchises will appreciate Revel’s enterprise-level multi-location inventory, employee, and menu management from one master dashboard.

There’s also a suite of smart reporting tools that help you figure out which menu items perform the best, what’s draining money, and forecast your business’s performance.

Revel iPad POS register, iPad stand, iPad customer-facing display, cash drawer, receipt printer, and card reader.

Revel offers everything you need to get your business up and running, including individual iPads, stands, printers, and card readers. The website doesn’t list prices, but you can contact Revel directly for packages.

All of Revel’s hardware is iPad based. Some choices include a countertop POS with an iPad customer display option, iPads for tableside ordering, and self-service kiosks.

Revel offers its own in-house payment processing system, Revel Advantage. You will have to contact Revel for a custom payment processing quote based on your business’s sales volume, average ticket size, and time in business, among other factors.

You also have the choice to integrate your POS with third-party payment processors, such as Adyen or FreedomPay. You may face an extra monthly fee if you choose a third-party provider over Revel Advantage.

You need to sign up for a three-year deal and agree to use Revel Advantage to get its best rates, but this isn’t a requirement to use Revel’s services.

There is a substantial early termination fee, so consider negotiating a short-term plan over a longer contract until you’re sure Revel is the right POS for your restaurant.

We have always loved Shopify’s online store builder and vast app market that, like Clover, allows restaurant owners to build a custom POS solution that works for their individual needs.

We recommend Shopify primarily for small countertop establishments focused on online ordering for takeout and delivery, as well as establishments that have a strong retail focus in addition to foodservice. Restaurants that also sell specialty foods on a regional, national, or international level will also find Shopify is a great choice. This is because Shopify has great retail inventory management and shipping capabilities, which other restaurant POS systems tend to lack.

Shopify is not recommended for full-service sit-down establishments, as the POS itself is not built for large-scale foodservice. It wouldn’t make financial sense to add several restaurant apps to get Shopify to do everything from floor planning to bar inventory management to menu creation.

Note: Shopify offers a three-day free trial; no credit card is required.

Shopify’s Basic plan gives you access to the eCommerce store builder and basic POS app.

Higher-level plans offer more shipping features, discounts, and international selling tools, which is useful for restaurants that want to sell a shelf-stable staple item (like a special pasta sauce or custom-made brew) on a larger scale.

There’s an $89/location/month Shopify POS Pro add-on that gives you an unlimited number of employees, POS registers, and more inventory management capabilities.

Most other Shopify add-ons will come in the form of third-party apps, which can range in price from $0 to $400/month.

Shopify’s best features lie in its eCommerce capabilities since that is the company’s main offering. Restaurants will appreciate these unique Shopify eCommerce features:

• Store Builder: Shopify’s template-based store builder is the easiest to use and most aesthetically pleasing out of the providers on this list.
• Pickup & Shipping Options: With Shopify, customers can order for immediate or scheduled pickup, local delivery, and (when applicable) regional or international shipping.
• Inventory Management: Shopify makes it easy to manage retail inventory and has apps for perishable inventory tracking. Shopify also syncs inventory between online and offline sales, so you never sell what you don’t have.
• Content Marketing: Shopify provides blogging, social media post scheduling, and email marketing capabilities, so you can get more eyes on your business.
• Digital Loyalty Program: Shopify provides several loyalty program apps, so you can offer one to your customers at a price point you can afford.

Shopify restaurant POS system ordering website.

Shopify’s in-person sales features are pretty run-of-the-mill, but you can get a great inventory tagging system with the right integrations, such as purchase order generators and stock take apps. Plus, the POS can integrate with employee management apps, making it easier to manage a small workforce.

Shopify POS register stand with card reader.

Shopify can use iOS hardware (iPhones and iPads) or Android devices (phones and tablets) for countertop and mobile uses. Shopify offers hardware bundles on its website and individual items, such as printers and scanners. The Shopify card reader costs $49, while iPad stands start at $149.

Shopify integrates with more than 100 payment processors, meaning that virtually any processor you find with rates that fit your business should be an option. It also has its own processor with in-person rates ranging from 2.4%-2.7%, and online payment processing ranging from 2.4%-2.9% + $0.30.

Note: If you want to integrate your own third-party payment processor, you will pay an additional transaction fee between 0.5% and 2%, depending on your Shopify subscription level.

Shopify lets you use its services month-to-month, so there’s no need to worry about breaking a contract. You will get better pricing on annual contracts.

We appreciate how affordable talech has made its POS offering, especially considering the many full-service features available. While this POS is not as well-designed or feature-rich as other full-service POS systems, such as TouchBistro and Toast, talech does offer a formidable set of features at a transparent, affordable price for smaller sit-down restaurants.

To use talech at your restaurant, you’ll need to sign up for at least the Starter plan, although the majority of features that make talech a good full-service POS are available on the Premium plan.

All plans come with one terminal. Additional terminals cost $29/terminal/month.

A one-time $199 “getting started” package is optional for Starter plan users and required for individuals on higher-level plans.

talech offers top-tier inventory management features. You can send and receive purchase orders, create suppliers when you receive an item in the POS, perform stock takes, and get low-stock alerts when automated inventory monitoring is set up.

talech also offers these full-service features at a highly affordable price:

• Customer house accounts
• Table management and floor planning
• Menu coursing
• Ticket splitting and server tipping
• Service charges and automated gratuity

talech restaurant POS system customer account.

The POS system also has great employee management features, including the ability to pay by position, generate timesheets, create user permissions, and even create employee access cards.

talech handheld POS system for restaurant.

talech offers bundles for restaurants and individual hardware items for sale, with both iPad and Android options. Some options include Elo PayPoint countertop POS systems, Poynt handheld ordering and payments devices, and handheld Ingenico MOBY devices. Call a talech rep to get complete pricing.

talech integrates with a number of the top payment processors in the country, allowing you to pick and choose the best option for your business.

talech has a free option, and its paid services are offered month-to-month, so you don’t have to worry about being locked into a contract.

We love that Lavu has created solutions for several niche restaurant types, including cafeterias and delis.

Lavu’s niche feature set includes a sandwich creator, Bluetooth scale integration, so you can sell items such as meats and cheeses by the pound, and ID badge scanning so that customers with registered accounts (such as employees at a work cafeteria) will get orders charged to accounts instead of having to pay every time they pick something up.

Plus, Lavu has a great self-service kiosk, order routing capability, and the ability to manage multiple locations at once.

Pricing for both Lavu hardware and software is transparent, and you can use Lavu’s in-house payment processor or pay an extra fee to use another payment processor.

The listed pricing is with Lavu’s cash discount program.

The Starter plan includes the core POS for one terminal, Lavu’s in-house payment processor, a cash discount program, and team management.

The Growth plan includes online ordering, QR code ordering, DoorDash delivery integration, and API access, so you can integrate Lavu with any other third-party software you want.

The Optimize plan includes tableside ordering, kitchen display system software, invoice management software, and a QuickBooks integration.

Lavu offers fixed plans as well as à la carte options, meaning that you can start with the base plan and add specific things, such as online ordering for a monthly fee. This helps restaurant owners pay for only the things they really need.

Lavu charges $50/terminal/month for adding additional terminals. You can pay an extra $20/terminal/month to use your own third-party payment processor. Kiosks cost $50/month, kitchen display software costs $30/month, and the loyalty program costs $50/month.

Lavu offers several interesting niche features, plus great general features, such as a self-serve kiosk and team management (including creating different user permissions, scheduling, and punch clock functions). The company also offers numerous third-party integrations, such as digital signage boards, liquid inventory management, and even security systems!

Lavu offers an integrated Bluetooth scale that allows delis, frozen yogurt shops, and bulk food sale establishments to sell by weight.

Lavu restaurant POS sale by weight.

Also, you can turn an iPad’s camera into an ID scanner so that students and staff at school/work cafeterias can easily scan their badges and have their meals charged to a dedicated account.

Foodservice establishments with several different food sections, such as food halls, can easily assign individual menus to different POS stations while allowing all of them to take payments. This is also great if you want to offer different menus for, say, a permanent location and a food truck, a temporary location, or a special event.

Establishments with strict menu rules can also display nutritional information and allergen warnings on POS systems as well as online orders.

Lavu iPad, iPad stand, cash drawer, and Epson receipt printer.

Lavu offers numerous hardware options, including iPad POS terminals, iPad kiosk enclosures, and EPSON KDS, which you can purchase on Lavu’s website, as well as card readers for various Lavu-supported payment processors. For example, you can buy a Vault Pro Line Enclosure for iPad Pro ($225), a PayPal Chip & Tap reader ($115), or an EPSON KDS bundle ($650).

If you have to lease, make sure you’ve read the contracts first, as that has been a complaint with some users.

Lavu has its own processing program that you are incentivized to use but not locked into. You’ll need to contact Lavu directly to get your best rate.

You can also pay $20/terminal/month to use a third-party payment processor, which larger businesses may find is worth it for getting a dedicated merchant account and a better payment processing deal.

Lavu offers month-to-month pricing options for its software. However, there have been issues with users complaining about feeling trapped after signing leases for Lavu’s hardware.