Why POS is crucial for restaurants? Top 4 POS & their unique features you should be aware of

Did you know that 60% of the new restaurants are forced to close down within their 1st year of operations? And operational inefficiency is the primary reason for the same.

Point of Sale or POS can be that trigger, which can help restaurants to manage their operations in a better way, and enable them to overcome the operational challenges in an innovative way.

In this blog, we will share why a good, feature-rich POS is crucial for any business and will discuss the top 4 POS that you can consider for your food business.

Without much ado, let’s dive straight into the world of POS for restaurants.

Why POS Is Crucial For Restaurant Business

Traditionally, POS was the location where any retail transaction got completed. It was the space where the customer is provided with the invoice for the services rendered or products purchased, and the option to make the payment is given.

Slowly, over the years, POS started to have card swiping machines, and QR codes to accept payments.

But today, retail establishments, especially restaurants have much more options related to POS. Besides accepting orders and accepting payments, modern POS systems have the capability to check real-time inventory positions, communicate with other employees, allocate resources, monitor orders from other outlets, track complete financial data in real-time, and much more.

As a restaurant app development company, we realize that POS is getting evolved into mini ERPs for restaurants, wherein access-based data sharing is enabled for more security. In short, a good, and feature-rich POS can assist you to not only manage current orders but also enable business growth and continuity.

Top 4 POS & Their Unique Features

Based on the popularity among restaurants, and the features incubated, here are the top 4 POS systems for restaurants that you can deploy right away:

#1 LightSpeed POS

Designed and deployed exclusively for iPads, Lightspeed POS is one of the most popular and widely used POS for restaurants today.

Key Features:

• Real-time ingredient tracking and alerts when any ingredient is running low
• Servers and even customers can directly place orders which are passed on to the kitchen
• Schedule timed events to push sales of certain orders, at certain time intervals
• Incentives calculation for hard-working, smart employees

Payment Mode: Payments can be accepted. Integration with external payments system also supported at extra fees.

Cost: Starting at $65/month, billed annually

#2 TouchBistro

TouchBistro is another iPad-specific POS, that has some unique features for restaurants and food businesses.

Key Features:

• Can be used even if the Internet is not available
• Local Mac server can be used to configure two or more than two iPads to create a local network
• Access real-time data on the entire restaurant via Cloud technology
• Features related to inventory management are not that robust, but sufficient for small restaurants

Payment Mode: Payments are accepted from several sources, including credit card payments.

Cost: Starting at $69/month.

#3 Toast POS

Toast POS doesn’t run on iPad, but has been designed exclusively to be run on Samsung Android tablets.

Key Features:

• Exclusively Cloud-based tablet POS for small and large restaurants
• Servers can accept payments right on the tablets, at the table itself
• Orders accepted via this POS can be passed on to the kitchen via Cloud
• 24*7 customer support vi US support team at the backend
• Contract basis and there exists termination fees if you quit their contract

Payment Mode: Payments accepted, but only via Toast’s in-house payment processor, which can be a bit expensive: From 3.5% to 3.89% + $0.15 fees.

Cost: All in one package of $165/month (includes online ordering & takeaway orders).

#4 Revel Systems

Revel, an iPad-based POS was not designed exclusively for restaurants but was a general POS for retailers. But lately, they have developed a restaurant focussed POS that is quite a revolution.

Key Features:

• Can be of great help for both quick-service restaurants and full-service restaurants
• Very visual-focussed POS with visual menus and features
• Automated prompts for the servers to push more sales of specific items
• Highly advanced inventory tracking with real-time raw ingredient monitoring
• Advanced restaurant employee management system
• Table reservation feature

Payment Mode: Payments accepted via their in-house payment processing system at flat rate.

Cost: $99/month with three-year contract (billed annually).

Need more help and assistance in selecting the right POS for your restaurant business? As a global leader in digital transformation and product innovation, TechAhead provides mobile app consulting that is helping hundreds of clients with mobile and web technologies.

Book a no-obligation assessment with us right away!