POS Reviews For 2018

A restaurant Point of Sale System (POS) is designed specifically with the food industry in mind.

A POS enables you to process payments as well as manage your front and back of house operations.

Over the last several years, POS systems have grown to include pay at the table options as well. With the ability to operate without registers or computer terminals, restaurants can now meet their customers’ needs in multiple ways. (tweet this)

Because of this added functionality, it’s more important than ever to find a POS that is reliable, and one you can depend on. You want it to process payments quickly and easily, especially if your patrons are using it.

According to Michael Oshins, a faculty member at Boston University’s School of Hospitality Administration, “The payment system is the technological heart of the restaurant. This is why it’s so important to your business.

To help you sort through the solutions we look at POS reviews for 2018.

Toast

A well-known POS, Toast offers an option for quick service restaurants like sandwich shops, ice cream parlors, and coffee shops at $79/month/terminal.

They also offer a full-service restaurant POS that has additional features including a tie to the front of house, kitchen and bar processes. For example, you can manage tables and orders to the kitchen and bar. This is $99/month/terminal.

You can also add on online ordering and delivery options starting at $50/month.

Toast simplifies all of your restaurant operations by combining POS, front of house, back of house and all guest-facing technology such as paying their bill and tipping in one platform.

All of this is available to you to monitor in real time and from any location.

What’s more, you can add on an inventory feature for just $79 more per month. You’ll love the advanced features like monitoring sales, labor costs, menu engineering, recipe costing and food cost reports.

In addition, you get free updates and 24/7 customer support.

While Toast is more expensive than most, it is a full-featured, robust POS that justifies its price tag.

Get Toast

TouchBistro

One of the most popular POS systems, TouchBistro has also won many awards.

It bills itself as the hybrid solution because it doesn’t depend on the internet. What does this mean for you? It means the system doesn’t crash if the internet does.

You can, like some of the other systems, access your data and manage your business using any device at any time and from anywhere.

TouchBistro is great for virtually any size restaurant, and its reviews are great.

You can manage tableside orders, help your staff upsell, manage floor plans and tables, take mobile payment and manage staff and scheduling. In addition, it offers inventory management, reporting and analytics.

Finally, with TouchBistro, you can take gift cards and integrate your loyalty program to encourage repeat visits and increase your customers’ lifetime value.

Its pricing is $69/month for one terminal, $129/month for two, $299/month for five and $399/month for unlimited terminals. Depending on your type of restaurant, there’s a solution for you.

Get TouchBistro

Upserve POS, formerly Breadcrumb

Upserve acquired Breadcrumb POS in 2016 and today offers a full Restaurant Management Platform – a single solution to help restaurateurs run their most critical operations in the restaurant. The full Platform includes Upserve POS, Upserve HQ (analytics and reporting), Upserve Live (a mobile app for real-time reporting), transparent rates with Upserve Payments (payment processing), Loyalty program, native online ordering as well as multiple online ordering integrations such as with Grubhub. Users can also shop for additional restaurant-focused integrations in Upserve Marketplace.

The Upserve Platform comes in two editions, Core and Pro, each with a set of different functionalities. Both editions include the first Upserve POS terminal for free. Additional terminals run $50/month each for the POS license. Core is $99/month/location while Pro is $249/month/location.

In addition, you get free updates and free US-based 24/7 customer support.4/7 customer support.

Get Upserve POS

Lavu

Lavu is a budget-friendly restaurant POS system that starts at just $59/month/terminal with pricing available for multiple terminals.

Its bonus feature is that you can use their online ordering and home delivery system as well. While Toast’s package costs extra, Lavu’s does not.

You will be able to track inventory, schedule shifts, and print reports from anywhere.

It also has an offline mode, so you can keep operating even if your internet goes down.

This is a great POS if you’re on a budget, but you will notice a lower level of functionality.

Get Lavu

Lightspeed

With plans starting at $69/month/terminal, Lightspeed is another reliable POS system for restaurants.

It’s cloud-based and helps you with tableside ordering and payment, reporting, integrations, loyalty programs, restaurant management and more. You also have access to 24/7 support.

You’ll find it’s simple to create your menu, and you’ll be up and running in no time.

Lightspeed is adept at helping you with your floorplan and menu with photos, descriptions and prices as well as your end of day reporting.

It’s a nice budget-friendly option with multiple integrations. 

Get Lightspeed

Final Thoughts

Now that you have some POS reviews for 2018 to look through, we leave you with a few thoughts on what makes the best restaurant POS systems.

They consist of:

• Till management that includes a cash manager, tip tracking, tip calculators for customers, multiple ticket-splitting options and payment tracking. As a bonus, it would nice if it had support for gift cards, coupons, online menus, and discount tracking.
• Menu management that allows you to add/change menu descriptions, modify orders, provide kitchen support and orders.
• Food inventory management that helps you with your accounting and monitoring of inventory waste.
• Reporting tools that allow you to access the system remotely, integration with your accounting programs and reports including front and back of house.
• Employee management that includes employing scheduling and staff messaging.
• The most robust systems will include customer management including loyalty program options, order history tracking, social media integration and automated marketing tools.

Finally, consider your budget. How much can you spend on your POS system and how many terminals do you need?

Know this upfront before signing any contracts. Ask about monthly fees, set up charges, contracts and cancellation fees. 

Bottom line – whether you run a full-service restaurant, quick service restaurant, coffee shop or deli, a restaurant POS system can adeptly help you manage your business. (tweet this)

From taking orders to processing payments and managing inventory and running reports, a POS system can take your restaurant to the next level.

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Image: QuickOrder and by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash