Each Year, More and More Restaurant Technology Is Released. Here’s Our Review of the Best Point of Sale Software of 2024 for Restaurants
Selecting the perfect Point of Sale (POS) system is more than just a business decision; it’s the backbone of your restaurant’s daily operations.
Every restaurateur knows the right POS can make or break the dining experience, influencing everything from order efficiency to customer satisfaction.
But with so many options, figuring out the best fit for your restaurant can be tricky.
In this article, you will learn:
- The standout features and benefits of leading POS giants: Toast, Square, and Touch Bistro.
- A sneak peek into three rising stars in the POS arena: SpotOn, Cake, and Lavu.
- Pinpointing the POS system that will help you meet your restaurant’s needs this year.
Let’s dive in.
Industry Leaders In POS Technology
Even though there are an estimated 749,000 restaurants in the United States, our industry operates locally, meaning our circles are small, and within our community, we talk.
There’s a reason Toast, Square, and Touch Bistro have been at the top of the list for years—so let’s see why these brands have become the crowd favorites.
Toast
With nearly 100,000 restaurants using their product, Toast goes beyond being just a POS, hitting nearly every management software feature a restaurant needs.
Their products and solutions, besides POS, include:
- Handheld POS
- Mobile Order & Pay
- Kitchen Display System
- Self Ordering Kiosk
- Takeout
- Delivery
- Third-Party Integrations
- Email Marketing
- Gift cards
- Loyalty Programs
- Payroll & Team Management
- Scheduling
- Tip Management
Toast recently added a few new features to its roster of products and solutions:
Catering & Events: Use an event calendar to collect relevant customer information, download and print orders, send invoices, communicate with team leaders on executing the event, and help keep catering and regular orders separate.
Restaurant Retail: Toast boasts a “first of its kind” unified food service and retail POS. Now you can track and sell retail items like swag (hats and t-shirts), bottles of wine, hot sauce, etc.
Mobile Management App: You can’t be in your restaurant 24/7, but you can manage your business while away with the mobile app. For example, 86 menu items, keep tabs on the team, control delivery, and toggle between locations.
I’ve asked many people in the industry which POS they like best, and the answer is almost always Toast.
If you’re looking for an “all-in-one” cloud-based point-of-sale solution, then Toast would be an excellent fit for your business.
Pricing starts at only $0.00 a month (plus processing fees), but the best tools are behind a paywall of $60-$165 a month. If you have multiple locations, Toast will put together a custom price.
Square
Square is known for being extremely simple to use. When I first trained on Square, I could take orders within a couple of minutes without someone holding my hand.
It’s incredibly intuitive, and navigating refunds or customer history was a similar experience.
While Square is a great POS, it’s not exclusively designed for the restaurant industry, meaning most small to medium-sized businesses can use Square as a POS.
Square is a cloud-based POS offering features like:
- Handheld POS (tableside payments)
- Table Management
- Kitchen Display Systems (KDS)
- Third-Party Integration
- Loyalty Programs
- Live Reporting
- Staff Management (scheduling)
- Run Payroll
- Manage Tips
If you want to stay mobile, Square offers hardware like handheld payment devices, card readers, or iPads.
I liked using the iPad when working in bars because the screen made placing orders super fast and easy, and since it’s mobile, I could take the iPad to the customer when taking payments.
Pricing starts at $0.00 a month, but like Toast, the best features are behind a paywall starting at $60 a month plus the cost of processing fees and hardware.
TouchBistro
Used by 29,000 customers worldwide, TouchBistro is an all-in-one POS and management system to make running a restaurant easier.
TouchBistro’s features include:
- Payment Processing
- Staff Management
- Table Management
- Tableside Ordering
- KDS
- Loyalty Programs
- Gift Cards
- Online Ordering
- Reservations
- Marketing
TouchBistro offers a unique “customer-facing display” for QSRs, which allows guests to view their order before it’s sent to the kitchen—this eliminates errors and keeps the line of guests moving.
New to TouchBistro is expanded BOH functionalities. By partnering with MarginEdge and Fresh, BOH will have greater control over inventory, food waste, supplier cost and invoices, menu planning, accounting, and FOH to BOH communication.
Pricing starts at $69 a month for a POS but adds features like KDS, reservations, marketing, loyalty, etc., each with its own price point, which can add up quickly.
Up And Coming POS Companies
SpotOn, Cake, and Lavu aren’t the mega giants of our first three POS companies, but their underdog status keeps their offerings fresh. Let’s see what makes them different.
SpotOn
SpotOn is a fast-rising star in the POS arena. Their product focuses primarily on the restaurant industry, but they do offer services to other small businesses, like automotive, retail, and health & beauty.
SpotOn is a cloud-based POS offering:
- Handheld POS
- Online Ordering
- Reservations & Waitlist
- KDS
- Hardware
- Staff & Labor Scheduling
- Payroll & Tip Management
- Marketing & Loyalty
- Finance Management
Last year, SpotOn rolled out “Seat & Send.” After joining a waitlist, guests can browse the menu, place their order, and the kitchen will fire it when they’re seated.
Operators flip tables more quickly, and guests have a significantly reduced wait for their food, making everyone happy.
Pricing starts at $0.00 monthly and tops out at $135 a month before hitting the custom pricing tier. There are additional costs, though, like $3 per month per employee on the paid tiers, plus the hardware costs.
Cake
Cake by Mad Mobile is an “all-in-one” POS used by over 7,500 customers and has excellent reviews. Operators especially like its tableside ordering features to help turn tables and increase sales.
Cake offers POS features like:
- Online Ordering
- Self-service kiosk
- QR Code Payments
- Menu Management
- Reservation and Waitlist Management
New features include:
- KDS
- Loyalty Program
Cake will soon have integrated delivery and marketing tools available as well. Customers rave about its reporting capabilities and 24/7/365 customer support—a valuable ally if the system errors persist on a busy weekend.
Pricing starts at $69 a month and tops at $295 a month, but enterprise plans exist for multi-location operators.
Lavu
Lavu specializes in a cloud-based iPad POS solution for every type of food service business and has several unique features.
Lavu is incredibly accessible because, as an iPad-based POS, you can download the app to your smart device straight from the App Store—allowing you to take orders within a few hours.
Lavu also offers “Dual Pricing” to offset credit card processing fees.
At the time of payment, guests can get a discount if they pay with cash—if they choose to pay with credit, it’s a higher price, which covers roughly 99% of the credit card translation fee.
Lavu features include:
- Online Ordering
- KDS
- Payment Processing
- POS Integration
- Invoice Management
Lavu isn’t as feature-rich as some of the POS we’ve covered– but what it does do, it does well.
With 24/7 support, a 99.99% uptime, and the dual pricing feature, customers who use Lavu love it.
Pinpointing The Best POS for your Business
Before upgrading your POS, consider your business needs and long-term goals.
Remember:
- Don’t hesitate to contact a company you like and speak with a sales rep.
- Take advantage of free pricing tiers to demo the product and see if you like the functionality.
- Ask other restaurant operators what they like and dislike about their current POS.
- Speak with your team to determine what they need in a POS.