If you are running a restaurant business, it is important to stay on top of the latest developments. You have to take care of all your customers, keep an eye on your finances, and so much more. It can be extremely challenging to find the time needed to run a restaurant if you are also busy with other responsibilities. The best way to handle this is to use software for restaurant business .
The right software for your restaurant business can mean the difference between an average business and a fantastic one. Here is a list of restaurant software solutions to help you strengthen your operations and profit from the growth of your business.
Toast POS
Toast POS is a tool specifically targeted at US-based businesses such as bars, coffee shops, and restaurants. It allows for the improvement of worker efficiencies and customer experience while reducing costs. The software has a menu management feature that can handle menu pricing, customization for both online and offline clients, and preparation of the entire menu. An ordering capability allows managers to split items and customer bills and can generate notification upon the completion of an order.
The vendor offers a great free demo that lets you try out all the key features first. You can easily sign up for Toast POS free demo.
Try out Toast POS with their free demoVISIT WEBSITEFREE DEMO
Orders are taken using POS Android-based tablet computers, eliminating the need to make runs in between kitchen, terminals and tables. Also, the system can monitor stocks and add or remove menu items. Customers can use the interface to sign receipts, pay, and hand out tips. Automation of loyalty and discount workflows, along with menu customization is achievable using the app; staff performance can be monitored through daily email alerts that the solution automatically sends out.
Transactions are hastened using the interface’s Quick Order feature as working from tablets servers easily take orders and receive payments at tableside. Another useful feature is that the application presents restaurant clients with reasonable tip percentages. All these transactions can be remotely monitored in real-time. However, as mentioned previously, this platform is only available to businesses that operate within the US.
Sapaad
Sapaad is a POS and delivery management designed to make running a restaurant easier. The system works seamlessly for food service businesses of all sizes, from cafes and take-away counters to large multi-chain restaurants and fast-food chains. The Sapaad system can also accommodate all types of orders, including dine-in, take away, and online ordering.
Aside from being versatile, Sapaad is designed to be easy to use. The system’s dashboard allows restaurant staff to browse available menu categories, place orders, and add customer preferences to orders. Moreover, the system’s Dine In module also provides a convenient overview of the status of all tables at the restaurant, so front-of-house staff know exactly how many tables are available, no matter how busy it gets.
Try out Sapaad with their free trialVISIT WEBSITEFREE TRIAL
Sapaad also helps streamline the back-office processes involved in running a restaurant. The dashboard’s Inventory tab provides features for managing suppliers, sending purchase orders, and checking received goods against invoices. The software can also help restaurants account for wastage by tracking damaged items, expired items, and cancelled orders.
For easier restaurant management, Sapaad also provides a robust business dashboard. This dashboard gives users a real-time view of the restaurant’s performance, with live updates for orders and sales as these come in. Widgets on the dashboard can be resized and rearranged so restaurant owners can focus on the most important metrics.
7shifts
7Shifts is, like When I Work, an employee scheduling software. This is, however, not the biggest reason we’ve included it in our top 10 list. This software is specifically made for use by restaurant managers because it can improve employee attendance and schedule shifts seamlessly. As a result, your restaurant will be staffed accordingly, without redundancies and conflicts.
The best thing about 7shifts is that it simplifies the creation and modification of schedules. It has a native mobile app, so you can clock in anywhere and managers can approve schedule requests on the go. Other features include in-app messaging, push and email notifications, and integrations with payroll software.
Try out 7Shifts with their free trialVISIT WEBSITEFREE TRIAL
7shifts also has comprehensive analytics with forecasting features. This software can allow you to project costs and budgets and give you numerical data on the performance of your restaurant—in real-time.
The system facilitates communication between managers and staff through integrated communication tools. One-on-one and group chat features make it easier for employees and management to communicate shift changes and other concerns. Managers can also use the system to send one-way and all-call messages to staff.
Detailed 7Shifts ReviewREAD MORE
TouchBistro
TouchBistro is an application targeted at restaurants and just about every type of foodservice there is. The platform is designed to automate virtually every business process involved in restaurant management. It can effectively manage orders, tables, and staff scheduling, among others. The software can be accessed by iPad, making tasks such as access reporting and analytics easy to do anytime, anywhere.
Operating on local area networks, the system does not need to be online to do its job. This means that no downtime will ever occur, even if an internet outage takes place. This important feature is complemented by the application’s capability to report and manage menus using the cloud, which enables managers to continually monitor their businesses from anywhere.
TouchBistro comes with a Self-Ordering Kiosk, which can benefit fast-food services by helping cut costs associated with labor as it speeds up the ordering process. The application’s smart features help cater to the needs of most restaurants, which include table management, bill splitting, and menu updates. All these are done through the system’s iPad interface.
Also, TouchBistro can provide restaurant staff with needed mobility by customizing the ordering process. This feature enables employees to cater to incoming customers, generating more tips and sales in the process. Order errors are also prevented, allowing for a richer customer experience.
Oracle Hospitality
Oracle Hospitality is not a single application but rather a suite of software, hardware, and cloud solutions designed to enhance hotel and restaurant operations while at the same elevating each guest’s experience. This represents Oracle’s full commitment in transitioning its hospitality unit into the digital economy.
Designed to create solutions that enable growth for the hotel and restaurant business, Oracle Hospitality provides the tools to create property management and point-of-sale systems that can better manage operations, increase efficiency, and provide improved guest experiences.
The complete suite is designed to maximize both profits and productivity by providing deeper insights into client behaviors. Through Oracle Hospitality, you can gather feedback from your customer base, tailor personalized services, and encourage direct reservations and bookings. At the same time, it can help address concerns in reservations, housekeeping, finances, guest management, and loyalty programs.
Detailed Oracle Hospitality ReviewREAD MORE
Clover
Clover is an integrated POS system specially designed for small and medium restaurants. With its user-friendly interface, the system makes it easier for restaurant staff to take orders and accept payments. The software allows restaurants to accept credit and debit cards and checks as well as payments through NFC and mobile wallets.
Using Clover’s POS hardware and software, restaurants will also be able to improve the dining experience for customers. Digital receipts and one-touch tipping become available, and safer transactions become possible through contactless payments. Through Clover’s POS system, restaurants can also accept payments even offline.
Clover also facilitates seamless online ordering for restaurants. Online orders are routed directly to the POS system to ensure accuracy. Orders can also be customized with more descriptive modifiers to ensure orders are prepared correctly. Additionally, the software allows staff to easily combine multiple orders, open tabs, and split bills.
This POS software also makes it easier for restaurant owners to track sales and revenue. The system provides accurate data on a wide variety of metrics, including overall and hourly revenue, open orders, and top-selling items. Sales can be monitored as they come in, and reports are accessible via mobile devices as well.
Revel Systems POS
Revel Systems POS is a comprehensive and scalable iPad-based POS platform made specifically for retail stores, bars, and restaurants. It allows you to fully stay on top of your business with its employee management, inventory management, and sales reporting capabilities.
The POS system comes fully integrated with both finance and accounting tools, along with a flexible payment system to ensure the smooth operation of your business. The inventory module informs you which item is currently selling most so you can prevent running out of stock and ensure satisfied customers.
For flexibility, Revel Systems POS lets you accept multiple payment types, hold bar tabs, and split bills. Versatile table management, cash management, and delivery management features let you deliver the best service to your customers according to their preferences.
While it’s a cloud-based tool, it’s fully capable of offline mode, syncing data once internet connection is fully restored.
Detailed Revel Systems POS ReviewREAD MORE
Restaurant Accounting Software
Running a restaurant can be one of the most exciting and rewarding endeavors, but this will come at a price.
It is easy to overlook one of the most important elements of restaurant operation – restaurant accounting. Without proper accounting practices set in place, restaurants are destined to fail.
But what do you do if your budget doesn’t allow you to hire a restaurant accountant?
Restaurant accounting software is often cheap (sometimes even free) and easy to learn how to use. In no time you’ll be balancing your books like a pro.
Must-have restaurant accounting software features
- Gives you real-time insights into your restaurant’s finances
- Shows you both accounts payable and receivable
- Can connect with other restaurant software (POS and payroll system)
- Can be accessed easily from wherever you are
Best restaurant accounting software in 2021
Zipbooks: Perfect for small business owners, customizable emails and invoices. Price: Free
QuickBooks: Accessible anytime on any device, has the ability to create accounting reports. Price: Starting from $5 per month (1-month free trial)
Cake
CAKE is a low-cost POS system with online ordering function and guest management features. The restaurant management solution allows business owners to handle reservations, waitlists, and payment. CAKE’s table management features make taking orders and turning tables seamless and efficient, especially during peak hours.
Improving customer service is one of CAKE’s top priorities. In order to achieve this, it is important to understand your customers’ preferences. By utilizing CAKE’s Guest Manager feature, you can gather enough information from your customers’ previous transactions and make intelligent decisions on how to give them a better customer experience.
Aside from full-service and quick-service restaurants, the software solution also caters to other establishments like pubs and bars.
For added convenience, CAKE is also available at various bundles and price points. CAKE’s POS Software and Service Bundle, for instance, costs $69 per month and includes the software, along with security monitoring and 24/7 tech support.
ShopKeep by Lightspeed
ShopKeep by Lightspeed is a POS software designed purposely for iPad and Android devices. Built by merchants for merchants, ShopKeep by Lightspeed offers a number of tools to help retail and food and beverage businesses in solving challenges common to POS systems. Its main features include inventory management, invoicing, and payment processing. With ShopKeep by Lightspeed, business owners can streamline inventory tasks payments and sales and marketing processes.
As a restaurant POS software, ShopKeep by Lightspeed comes with an intuitive and user-friendly interface to simplify your POS transactions and payment processing. It has smart POS features that let you speed through customer transactions, split payments, manage refunds and returns, as well as customize recommended tip amounts.
Moreover, ShopKeep by Lightspeed offers staff management tools that allow you to oversee the performance of your team from a single, unified POS platform. For instance, you can use ShopKeep by Lightspeed to record employee hours and keep track of their performance. The time clock feature also allows employees to clock in directly from the register so you don’t have to switch to another application for employee time tracking.
When it comes to payment processing, ShopKeep by Lightspeed offers an integrated payments solution that helps you save big on processing fees. With ShopKeep by Lightspeed, you can accept all payment types, whether cash, credit, debit, or contactless payments.
The Food & Beverage industry is a constantly evolving playing field. Practices that were acceptable just a few years ago are quickly becoming phased out in favor of faster and more efficient methods of operation.
One aspect of restaurant operation that has seen the most change is that of restaurant management software. Every day new systems pop up that are able to do certain tasks in a fraction of the time and with more precision than what was previously achievable.
Restaurant management software, when done the right way, is a sure-fire way to ensure a restaurant’s success.
Whether it be by choosing the best POS system or even an inventory management software that saves you hours of headache, restaurant management software is something that shouldn’t be skimped out on at your restaurant.
Read on to learn about the 16 best restaurant management software in 2021 and the features you need to make sure they get the job.
Looking for specific restaurant management software? Jump there directly.
- Point of Sale System
- Restaurant Reservation Software
- Table Management System
- Food Costing Software
- Inventory Management System
- Waitlist Software
- Restaurant Accounting Software
- Cash Flow Management Software
- Online Ordering Software
- Restaurant Analytics Software
- Restaurant Menu Builder Software
- Additional Restaurant Management Software
>> Learn how to make the most out of your management system
Restaurant Reservation Software/Table Management System
For restaurants taking reservations, moving from the ‘pen and paper method of restaurant booking to a restaurant reservation system can make an incredible difference.
Using restaurant reservation software not only makes your day-to-day operation immensely easier but also creates a better user experience for your guests.
Rather than answering phones and having to manually enter information, guests can input their own information through a website interface, mobile app, or web widget.
A good restaurant reservation setup will also feature an intuitive table management system.
This allows restaurants to receive bookings through a multitude of channels and also to visualize their restaurant hour by hour.
Useful Features of a good restaurant reservation system
- Reduce no-shows through custom reminders (SMS updates or time-sensitive push notifications)
- Easily make reservations online
- Manage inventory more efficiently
- Restaurant automation to jumpstart efficiency
- Predict the stock needed for upcoming days
- Allows you to allocate a certain number of tables for reservations to prevent overbooking
- Stores guest information to allow for future marketing activities such as emails, or alerts on special occasions (birthdays and anniversaries)
When choosing a reservation system for your restaurant, make sure to find one that fits your daily needs.
A good system should be easy to use and not require hours of training to master. It should also be scalable and not only just fit the current requirements of the restaurant but also the future volume.
It helps if all restaurant information is stored in the cloud rather than on the system itself to create a faster user experience.
Food Costing Software
As a restaurant operator, the number one priority is to ensure profitability. In the scope of a restaurant, the primary source of revenue is the food itself, and hence it’s important to know the food cost of each menu item.
Food costing software facilitates the entire process by automating all calculations. A good food costing software will help keep track of your inventory in addition to providing detailed analytics for each dish.
Must-have features from your food costing software
- Understand profit margins for each dish to assess the profitability
- Highlight the money-making dishes to increase demand
- Takes labor cost and fixed costs into consideration
- Allows you to experiment with different price points to achieve maximum profitability
Best Food Costing Software in 2021
FoodCo: Fully integrates into your existing accounting software. Intuitive controls make for easy use. Price: Starting at $4,000.
CostBrain: Real-time food costing, allowing you to scan invoices directly. Price: From $0-$40 depending on the plan.
Alternatively, download this free food cost calculator excel sheet.
Inventory Management Software
A proper inventory management system gives restaurant operators a crystal clear image of the current state of their inventory.
This eliminates the need for regular inventory checks, which in turn reduces the number of human errors involved.
With software automating the process, restaurants have more time to focus on running their business rather than completing menial tasks and are guaranteed the right stock at the right time.
Must-have inventory management software features
- Improves the accuracy of inventory orders (Never overstock or understock)
- Help keep the business organized
- Saves time by automating the inventory process
- Saves money by providing insight into which products are selling and which aren’t
- Can be integrated with POS and accounting software
When choosing an inventory management system, it is important to have a budget in mind as some products can be incredibly costly but unnecessary for your size restaurant.
It is also essential to understand the inventory challenges you face in your restaurant before making a decision.
Waitlist Software
If you are running a popular restaurant, or just having a busy night, then you know the importance of implementing a waitlist system.
Waitlist software allows restaurant operators to quickly add guests onto a waiting list when a restaurant is full, which are then alerted when a table frees up.
This is achieved through either a portable buzzer that the guest carries or with more modern waitlist systems, an SMS is sent when a table is ready.
Must-have Features in your waitlist software:
- Automate the waitlist process
- Gain insight into your client base
- Quick SMS functionality to send alerts to guests
Best waitlist software in 2021
WaitWhile: Create a waitlist from anywhere and inform guests through SMS updates. Create check-in stations to allow guests to sign themselves in. Price: From $0-$149/month depending on restaurant volume.
Queupad: Can handle multiple waitlists, no internet needed. Price: Free
Waitlisted: Integrates with a multitude of other services. Allows guests to refer friends to move up the line. Price: $60/year.
Cash Flow Management Software
In the restaurant industry cash is king and to keep a steady flow of money coming in to balance the money going out, you are going to need to manage your cash flow.
Just being profitable is not enough for a small restaurant, you’re going to need the right cash flow to make that a reality.
Despite it being one of the most important aspects of financial business stability, it’s often the first element restaurant owners overlook in favor of other business offerings.
If this is the case at your restaurant, find out how you can easily get your cash flow managed by using affordable cash flow management software.
Must-have cash flow management software features
- Multiple cash flow views to monitor flow on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis
- Ability to connect to your accounting software for seamless viewing of data
- Project future cash flow
- Export data to process externally
Best cash flow management software in 2021
Pulse: All in one cash flow solution, connects to QuickBooks. Price: Starting from $30 per month (1-month free trial)
Menumiz
Menumiz has a ton of features that enables managers and staff alike to have an easy time managing their restaurants. From its robust menu-maker that can create and modify menu items to its top-of-the-line POS, Menumiz is an agile, cloud-based restaurant management software that deserves a spot on our top 10.
It also includes kitchen management capabilities alongside mainstays in this category such as order, table, and customer management. It comes with a built-in loyalty program for repeat customers and supports payment through a cashier (with an RJ11 cash drawer trigger) or through its app. And yes, Menumiz has a free mobile app (for iOS and Android) that customers can use to view menus and prices for restaurants that use this software.
Through the mobile app, customers can browse through the restaurant’s menu and services. Once submitted, orders are directly routed to the kitchen staff to speed up the kitchen-to-table process and improve order accuracy.
Another unique feature of Menumiz is its floor layout design. With Menumiz, you can upload a layout in supported formats like DWG files or even a photo. The software allows you to base a floor using this layout and number the tables accordingly.
Conclusion
Software is the backbone of any successful restaurant business. Restaurant software can help you to stay on top of your payroll, inventory, orders and customers, while also helping you to get your business online. We’ve rounded up some of the best software for managing a restaurant business.