As with any other business, there are several things that owners of small and medium restaurants have to take into consideration. From inventory management to customer satisfaction, restaurant owners have to step up their game in order to make sure that their food is of optimal quality and that their restaurant is profitable. 

One of the specific things that either owners or managers have to consider is how they can effectively boost their sales. Expectedly, an increase in sales may result from a combination of various factors. These factors may include the food quality and even how the restaurant is managed internally. 

The good news is that restaurant managers can utilize a restaurant management system to help manage different facets of the restaurant more efficiently and effectively. Resultantly, sales may eventually be boosted. Here are some of the top restaurant management systems.

Here are the top 8 software that most small and medium restaurants use in 2022 to boost sales. 

1. Square

Square is a POS (Point-of-sale) software that is budget-friendly and is generally easy to use. This restaurant management system was specifically designed with restaurants, retails businesses, and appointment-based businesses in mind. The baseline of the POS can be accessed without incurring any fees. Otherwise, businesses may also subscribe on a month-to-month basis. 

Square is loaded with various features that may be relevant for various types of industries. For restaurants specifically, some of its noteworthy features include digital ordering and delivery integrations, check splitting, and table and check management. 

Moreover, unlike other POS software, Square does not require its own hardware in order for it to run. Restaurant managers can access the platform easily on their iPads. 

2. Toast

Unlike Square that is designed for different types of businesses, Toast was created for restaurants specifically. Restaurants can start using Toast without any upfront costs since the software offers a free Starter POS as well as pay-as-you-go choices for their hardware. 

This specific software may be a preferable choice for enterprise-status and growing restaurants. The platform offers integrations of online orders, management of delivery, marketing, employee management, and inventory features. 

It may be important to note, though, that in order to access various other tools, paying subscription or processing fees may be necessary. Toast also has their own hardware and requires a standard contract of two years. 

3. TouchBistro

This restaurant management system, TouchBistro, is also specifically crafted for businesses in the food and beverage industry. It is designed for specific usage on iPads that are run on iOS 12 or later versions. Having this specific design makes it easy to navigate especially for restaurant managers who are accustomed to using iOS devices. 

TouchBistro has a user-friendly interface, is affordable, and offers the ability to opt for low processing rates. These factors make TouchBistro quite a favorable option for food and beverage small businesses, such as coffee shops or food trucks.

Some notable features of TouchBistro are its flexibility in terms of hardware, availability of training and support, per-terminal pricing, and flexibility in payments. 

4. Revel Systems

Like TouchBistro, Revel Systems is also a POS system designed for iPads. It is tailored for both restaurant and retail business support. Aside from using other POS terminals, users of Revel Systems may also integrate handheld inventory, barcode scanners, and scales. Other than that, it also has inventory and delivery management tools. Because of these specifications, Revel Systems may be an ideal restaurant management system for restaurants that have high volume. 

Users of Revel Systems must be ready to pay the POS baseline fee of $99 for each terminal and for each month. Other than that, an installation fee amounting to $674 as well as a contract duration of three years are required. 

5. Lightspeed

Lightspeed offers POS options for either restaurants and retail businesses. Both options are loaded with solid tools for inventory management. Other than that, users may also manage their vendors and orders, keep catalogs of suppliers, and find fresh suppliers. 

Inventory management of the restaurant POS option is also supported up to ingredient-level, simplifying the process of monitoring ingredients.

Lightspeed offers plans ranging from $69 up to $289. It also allows enterprise plans to be customized. 

Like other restaurant management systems, Lightspeed also runs on iPads. 

6. Lavu

Similar to TouchBistro, Lavu is also an iPAD POS crafter for businesses under the food and beverage industry. A unique feature that Lavu has to offer is its cash discount setting. With this feature, restaurants can offer discounts when it comes to cash payments. These will then help in offsetting the processing fees of credit card transactions. This specific feature may help the smaller restaurants in their transition from cash-only transactions to digital payments. 

7. 7shifts

Specifically tailored for restaurant managers, 7shifts enables management of shifts and monitoring of employee attendance. With this restaurant management system, restaurant managers can see to it that the restaurant is staffed just right—with conflicts and redundancies eliminated. 

Other than these features, 7shifts also enables in-app messaging, payroll software integrations, email and push notifications, and real-time data analytics. 7shifts also has a native mobile app that makes its usage more convenient. 

Subscription rates start from $29.99 per month. However, users may also opt to give their free trial a test. Other than that, they also offer a free version. 

8. CAKE

CAKE is a POS software that was also tailored to fit the needs of restaurants. Its features include online ordering as well as guest management. Through this restaurant management system, restaurant owners or restaurant managers may effectively manage payments, waitlists, and reservations. CAKE also offers table management features that make table assignments efficient even during peak hours.  

The costs of CAKE’s bundles start at $69 each month. The fees cover the software usage as well as tech support for 24/7 and monitoring of security. 

Though small and medium restaurants may function without software at hand, making use of these available technologies would ramp up capacities and efficiency. In turn, restaurants may be able to expand their reach, do  more, and earn more. Hence, making use of a restaurant management system may be of great help for restaurant owners and restaurant managers. 

ICTS is a custom software development company that consults and provides restaurant owners digitalization solutions for their business, at a reasonable budget.

Contact us and discover what benefits we can bring to your F&B business.