Best Restaurant POS Software

Consumers certainly want to dine out in a restaurant that serves quality food and offers exceptional customer service. Happy customers visit again and bring new customers to the restaurants. To attain this, restaurants have to continuously perform well in all areas. They need to ensure that customers are served on time; at the same time, they need to see that there is no error in generating the bill. But, the fact is that most of the time, restaurant owners find themselves juggling between customer service and managing business processes. To gather efficiency, restaurant owners must have a centralized mechanism that allows them to efficiently handle their business processes and deliver a smooth customer experience.  Restaurant POS software can be the right investment for restaurant business owners. 

This buyer guide on restaurant POS software is created for restaurant owners, managers, and professionals working in the restaurant industry to get a comprehensive view of the software.  It discusses important topics of the software such as cost, benefits, latest trends, features, etc., which could assist them in making a decision on buying the best restaurant POS software.

• Poor customer experience:  Customer experience is at the center of a successful business, and restaurants, big or small, can define their rise and fall based on how efficient they are in delivering customer experience. There are a few factors that can impact the customer experience such as booking reservations, taking orders, food delivery time, table service, the fast billing process, food safety, cleanliness, etc. If restaurants are not efficient in these areas, then the business can turn into a nightmare.
• High operating costs:  Managing a restaurant business is quite overwhelming.  They have to maintain equipment, manage inventories, store food safely, pay utility bills and rentals, employee salaries, etc. Restaurant owners often struggle to estimate accurate business expenses and due to which they cannot make the profit as per their expectations.
• Unable to track performance:  Another biggest issue for restaurant owners is to analyze their business performance. They check their profit and loss statements to see the business performance, but they are least concerned about tracking metrics like sales in a particular month, average waiting time for customers, or most popular dishes.  These metrics can be very vital in optimizing the restaurant business.
• High error rates: Restaurant businesses generally have a busy environment, and manual errors are pretty evident at such places.  Employees can commit mistakes such as ordering excess inventories, taking wrong orders, billing errors, etc.  All these errors can impact business profit, and if it is not noticed by restaurant owners in time, it can result in the restaurant’s permanent closure.

A restaurant POS or a restaurant point of sale system is a set of tools that allows restaurant owners to manage orders, delivery, inventory, staff, payments, etc., efficiently right from a single dashboard.  Besides keeping the record of all transactions and payments made by the customers, the modern restaurant POS system is versatile in its functions. It can be used for managing customer relationships, tracking employees’ hours, managing accounts, etc.

The restaurant POS software market has been segmented into terminal POS, tablet POS, online POS, mobile POS, self-service kiosk POS system, etc.

Restaurant culture has been part of human civilization for quite a long time.  The business is focused on serving the best dining services to their customers, and in return, they are rewarded with huge profits. However, the restaurant business is pretty volatile, and staying consistent in the business demands a lot of things. It requires fast customer service, quality food, minimum operating costs, employee engagement, customer relationship, etc.  Restaurant owners usually lack in one or other area to inscribe the perfect restaurant model. Fortunately, their concern of developing a competent restaurant business model is answered through robust restaurant POS software. As per one of the leading market surveys, the restaurant POS software market is estimated to reach $ 1620 million by 2024. 

Top restaurant POS software provides a platform to unify all the business processes and set the stage for unlimited growth. The restaurant POS software has transformed the traditional cashier box into a full-fledged restaurant managing system.  It facilitates various processes of the restaurant business, from tracking employees’ hours to accepting customer payments and managing accounts. Besides that, its ability to connect with diverse communication channels reduces a lot of marketing efforts.  Instead of chasing down the customers, the customers find the restaurant and share their experience with others. It also provides flexibility to pay bills through payment apps and credit cards. Some restaurant POS software also has a pre-authorization system that stores and verifies the customer’s credit card details. It helps the restaurant to offer a discount to their loyal customers and even minimize payment fraud. There is also cloud-based restaurant POS software available in the market that turns out to be cost-effective and allows users to access it from anywhere.  Restaurant POS software is helpful in automating manual tasks and optimizing resource efficiency.

Restaurant POS software can help to regulate the restaurant operations in a more organized way, but to achieve this, users need to go through the benefits of restaurant POS software.  

• Track inventory:  The restaurant business is one of those industries that deal with perishable goods, and tracking those goods is essential to control monetary loss. Top restaurant POS systems software comes with an inbuilt inventory tracking feature and helps users to gain complete control over the inventories.
• Employee management: Best restaurant POS software enables users to track employee work hours and manage their shifts. It can be quite productive when a restaurant operates in multiple locations and deals with numerous employees.
• Manage multiple outlets: Restaurants operating on multiple locations find it difficult to manage inventories, employees, documentation, etc. With the best restaurant POS software, it is easy to manage multiple outlets and track the performance of all outlets from a single place.
• Better customer relationship: Restaurant point of sale systems can help to deliver better customer service and strengthen the customer relationship.
• Saves time and cost: POS solutions for restaurants can calculate and process the bill automatically.  It saves a lot of time and money invested after manual work.  Besides that, it helps to bridge the communication gap between the chef and waiters taking orders.
• Enhance business performance: Restaurant point of sale systems provide in-depth information and reports about the business such as sales, labor costs, inventory, etc. It allows them to see the areas that require improvement and alter their strategy accordingly.   

• Billing
• Customer loyalty system
• Employee management
• Credit card processing
• Inventory tracking
• CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
• Online ordering and delivery
• Analytics & reporting
• Menu management
• Employee management
• Floor plan management
• Table reservation
• Third-party tool integration

• Split billing: Top restaurant POS systems software provide smart split billing.  It offers various options to split the bill, such as the split in equal parts, split using selected items, and split by the seat.  It can make it easier for customers to divide the bill, especially when dining in groups. It is recommended that users choose the restaurant point of sale systems that offer split billing.
• Accept all payments: Restaurant service is critical for enhancing customer experience, and multiple payment options certainly help to boost customer experience and sales. 
• Third-party tool integration:  Restaurant POS systems can collect vital information about the customer’s orders, payments, taxable amounts, etc. This information can be used to improve customer relationships, file taxes, marketing, etc.  Therefore it is essential that POS solutions for restaurants integrate with third-party tools such as CRM, marketing, accounting, etc., and utilize this information to boost restaurant business.
• Customer support and training:  Customer support is an essential aspect of top restaurant POS systems software. Restaurant owners sometimes need to customize the software according to their business needs, and customer support could be quite helpful in that respect. Users should also verify whether the software vendor offers free training for the software.
• Customization: Customized POS always helps, especially if it operates in multiple locations.  Top restaurant POS software allows users to design features that could enhance the restaurant performance across all locations.
• Reports and analytics: Restaurant POS system collects all kinds of information such as total sales, frequent customers, inventory ordered, etc. When presented in graphics, the restaurant owners can derive important metrics on business performance and take business decisions based on this.
• User-friendly interface:  A user-friendly interface can decide the flow of a restaurant business. If a restaurant POS system has a complicated user-friendly interface, then the user can make mistakes in taking orders or processing customer payments.   
• Security: Restaurant POS software holds sensitive information about customers, and hackers can misuse this data if they get access to this system.  It is recommended that users choose the best restaurant POS software that has high-security standards.
• Pricing: The restaurant POS software market is massive, and users can find a lot of variation in pricing.  It is recommended that users should analyze the features and offering that the software vendor claims and see whether it adds value to the business. They must verify whether the package includes software plus hardware or just software alone. They should also check whether there is any hidden fee for training the staff or software installation. Choosing the right POS software that matches your budget is critical and demands a lot of research.  The alternate and easy way to find the right POS software is to visit the review and rating platform.

Most businesses make efforts to deliver a unique customer experience to attract customers, and restaurant owners are the front-runners in this area. In fact, customer service determines the success and failure of the restaurant business.   

Restaurant POS software integrated with CRM software can help business owners to track important information about the customers.  It can act as a lead generation system for restaurant owners by analyzing customer preferences, identifying sales opportunities, tapping customer interaction, etc.  The top restaurant POS software helps to overcome some of the core challenges of the marketing and sales department. With all their details in a single system, it is easy to reach prospective customers and send offers around their interests.  It is easy to share offers and even track their response rate.  The best restaurant POS software can assist users in finding their most loyal customers and design marketing campaigns according to their preferences.  It helps businesses to save costs on traditional marketing campaigns that are usually not target-oriented. Through CRM solutions, the users can even know whether their campaign is successful or not. CRM solutions work beyond managing customers’ profiles and help various departments to collaborate effectively.  Various departments can access customer information and update them directly from the dashboard. Modern CRM software are laced with AI technology and chatbots that help users to deliver better customer service and answer their queries.   

Inbuilt CRM in restaurant POS software can increase the scope of business growth by managing and targeting customers from one place. However, restaurant owners should also tap on the latest trends for restaurant POS software to meet customer expectations.

• Self-service kiosk, tableside ordering, and mobile ordering:   Restaurants are transforming their food ordering systems and exploring innovative ways such as self-service kiosks, tablets, and mobile apps.  It helps them to reduce order time and allow customers to order food at their comfort.  Customers don’t have to order in a rush and can go through the menu with ease. POS software integrated with self-service kiosks and mobile applications can make more sales with minimum customer interaction.
• Robots, drones, and self-driving cars: Automation is becoming a norm in every industry and restaurants are taking this technology to a new level by introducing robots on their premises.  From serving customers to full-time chefs, the robots can help to automate manual work in many ways.  With just a few clicks, customers can order their meals and enable faster checkouts. Customers who prefer dining at their place can see delivery drones and self-driving cars helping them out. One of the leading fast-food chains has already tested the self-driving car for food delivery, but drones that deliver more food parcels in lesser time have also fetched the attention of many.  These technologies are extremely promising, and their integration with the POS system would be pretty interesting to witness.     
• Voice assistants: Voice assistant technology is rapidly becoming a mainstream technology.  Most electronic gadgets today support voice assistants, and in a customer-centric business such as the restaurant industry, it is pretty beneficial.  Restaurant POS software with voice assistants can help users in many ways, such as ordering food, generating bills, fetching customer details, etc.
• Cloud-based POS software:  Cloud-based POS software helps users to reduce the overhead of installing and maintaining the software on-premise. The ability to access cloud-based POS software from anywhere facilitates users to derive information in a fraction of seconds.  It makes data management easy for restaurants operating in multiple locations.
• Integrated customer loyalty program: The loyalty program is a win-win for both restaurant owners and customers.  Restaurant POS software integrated with a customer loyalty program can add a lot of value to enhance the customer experience. 
• QR code scanning and ordering system:  QR codes are the latest trends in the restaurant POS; they are used for checking the menu, placing orders, and processing payments. The kitchen staff can view food ordered through QR code on their display system, and they can start preparing dishes as soon as the order pops up on the screen.  It reduces the serving time and increases staff productivity. As everything is integrated, the staff can also keep track of the inventory in real-time.

The average cost of restaurant POS software could be $11/month to $150/month or more.  Users can have a range of options for restaurant POS and based on their requirements; they can choose the best restaurant POS software. The price of the restaurant POS software can vary based on features, software deployment, and support for hardware (kiosk, handheld POS system, kitchen ticket printers, etc.).  There is also free restaurant POS software available, and users with limited use can opt for it.

• Best restaurant POS software for startups and small-scale businesses: Generally, startups and small-scale restaurant owners have to manage a single terminal. They can manage it easily with low-range restaurant POS software. Petpooja at a price of $11/month is the best restaurant POS software for small restaurant businesses.  The software supports all essential features such as inventory management, billing, reporting, multiple users and terminals, etc.  Poster POS at $29/month is another restaurant POS system for small-scale restaurant owners.  The software's key attraction is the kitchen kit that replaces ticket printers. The software offers a free trial and can be easily scaled up. There are a few more restaurant POS software solutions that enable users to leverage software features at low cost, including Alexandria POS, SlickPOS, Fodzaps, etc.

• Best restaurant POS software for mid-size and large enterprises: Mid-size and large restaurants have to deal with more customers and require POS software that handles the busiest environments.  Lavu at $69/month is the best restaurant POS software for mid-size and large enterprises. The software supports exclusive services to lift customer experiences, such as tableside ordering and online delivery. Sapaad at a price of $58.99/ month is also a good alternative to Lavu.  The software allows users to select the add-ons as required. It offers a free trial. Other restaurants POS software that falls in the same slot includes Lightspeed POS, Easy InnKeeping, H&L POS, etc.  There are also high-end restaurant POS systems that cover everything from software to hardware. Selbysoft, at a price of $150/month, is a premium range restaurant POS system.  Selby has a full line of software and hardware to streamline restaurant operations.

• Free and open-source restaurant POS software:   Free and open-source restaurant POS software gives users the freedom to code software and enhance the software features without incurring any development costs. This aspect of free and open-source restaurant POS software makes the software an ideal choice for startups and small business owners.   

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A lot of things have changed in the restaurant industry in the last one-decade- digitization, mobile payment, 3rd party online order, review and rating system, etc.  It has definitely impacted the perspective of restaurant owners on carrying out business operations and the way they serve their customers. At the front end, they need to enhance the level of customer service, then at the back end, they need to be efficient in handling accounting, time-clock, customer relationships, and other important components.  It can be quite difficult for business owners to manage all these areas without top restaurant POS software. A restaurant POS system provides a centralized mechanism to address all the core issues of the restaurant industry and helps them to conduct their business in a more organized manner. It aligns all the processes related to business and finds balance for the profitable restaurant business. If you are running a restaurant business then, you should consider investing in restaurant POS software. Do check the list of the best restaurant POS software prepared exclusively by the GoodFirms’ expert team.