6 Best Restaurant POS Systems In Canada

Square’s free plan comes with basic reporting and inventory management along with things like auto-gratuity and menu management.

The paid tiers give you access to additional features like seat and course management, shift reports, and additional customization. And with Square, you never have to sign long-term contracts. You can always pay month-to-month.

Additional add-ons are available for an extra monthly fee.

Here are some of Square For Restaurant’s best overall features:

• Offline Mode: Square For Restaurants can take all types of payments and can even accept payments during an internet outage, storing them securely for processing once a connection is restored.
• Floor Management: Quickly customize your entire restaurant layout with an intuitive click-and-drag system. This allows you to monitor your tables and close them out easily.
• KDS System: Track preparation times and customize ticket times to help boost efficiency and turn tables over faster.
• Square Loyalty: You can add Square’s loyalty program as a paid add-on, allowing you to create promotions and marketing campaigns to attract repeat customers.

Square has some of the best point of sale hardware around, from its contactless chip reader to its full-service Square Register. You can get the first magstripe reader for free on their website, which could be a good option for farmer’s markets or food trucks. Here’s what else Square offers:

• Square Reader For Contactless and Chip: This reader accepts all types of card and contactless payments.
• Square Terminal: An all-in-one mobile payment processor, Square Terminal is an excellent choice for restaurants that want to give their servers the ability to take orders on the go.
• Square Register: This is the most advanced piece of hardware Square offers and is an all-in-one POS solution.
• Square For Restaurant Mobile POS Kit: Built specifically for users of Square for Restaurants, this kit works with the Square mobile app.

Square makes payment processing simple with its built-in software. Its fees are upfront and competitive. In-person payments are 2.6% + $0.10 per transaction. Online payments are 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction and manually entered payments are 3.5% + $0.15 per transaction.

Another big benefit of Square is that you never have to sign a long-term contract. You can also pay month-to-month and know you are getting their lowest prices.

Lightspeed Restaurant has two basic pricing tiers and also an enterprise tier with custom pricing that requires a call with a sales representative. To get these listed prices you will need to sign up to pay annually.

Lightspeed has a robust feature set and you can unlock more of its potential at its higher-paid tiers. Here are some of its top restaurant features:

• Delivery Integration With Deliverect: Set your restaurant up to integrate with top third-party services like DoorDash and UberEats to increase sales with orders coming directly to your POS system.
• Advanced Table Planning: Manage your guests with the ability to easily transfer items from table to table. Track your customers and allow multiple forms of payment and bill splitting.
• Inventory & Ingredient Management: Track raw ingredients in real-time and run reports on your best-selling items. Cut down on waste and spoilage as well.
• Employee Management: Give various employees different permissions depending on their roles. Create custom modifiers to walk servers through the ordering process. Send orders to the kitchen with a single tap.

Lightspeed offers iPad bundles through its website along with individual items like printers, scanners, and card readers. It does not display its prices up front, however, and you’ll need to call for a quote.

Lightspeed has its own processing system that comes with its software. Processing fees are 2.6% + $0.10 per in-person transaction and 2.9% + $0.30 for card-not-present transactions.

Lightspeed is fairly upfront about its pricing, fees, and add-ons. You do have the option of paying month-to-month, however, Lightspeed offers discounts on its software pricing if you agree to pay annually.

Toast comes with three pricing plans and a custom plan for larger, enterprise restaurants. The free plan comes with menu and table management, invoicing, and basic reporting and inventory management.

The Core Plan gives you the ability to add on extra features depending on what your restaurant needs including mobile ordering, third-party delivery integrations, plus employee management and accounting tools.

The Growth plan includes online ordering and delivery.

While Toast has all of the basics covered and more when it comes to restaurant point of sale software, there are a few areas where it stands out:

• Robust Reporting: Toast has excellent analytics, including the ability to track performance across locations, multiple sales summaries, and product mixing to identify top-performing items
• Menu Management: Toast’s menu creation and management system is excellent, allowing for extensive customization, item countdowns, and online invoicing.
• Online Ordering & Delivery: Use your own website or the Toast app you can cut down on third-party fees and commissions
• Intuitive Restaurant Hardware: The Toast Go mobile reader is an incredibly handy piece of restaurant software, allowing for contactless mobile payments for an affordable price.

Toast’s hardware plans are a little complicated and it can be difficult to just purchase individual items. However, what Toast offers is intuitive and incredibly useful in a restaurant setting.

The Toast Go 2 is a mobile processor and POS system that functions in the palm of your hand while the Toast Flex and Toast Flex for Guest give you countertop options that are easy for your employees and customers. Toast also has a kiosk for self-serve payments.

Toast locks you into its own processing service. Fees are 2.49% + $0.15 for card-present transactions and 3.5% + $0.15 for Visa, Mastercard, and Discover, and 3.89% + $0.15 for AMEX for online transactions. 

Toast has come under fire recently for signing up customers to three-year processing contracts that are incredibly difficult to break and that come with hefty early termination fees. You’ll want to make absolutely sure you know what you’re signing up for when you make your agreement with Toast.

Clover’s pricing structure can vary somewhat as you can purchase the software through multiple providers. Generally speaking, we suggest that you purchase through a certified Clover reseller.

Clover has a wide array of features for restaurants and you can add on specific apps to expand the software even further. Here are a few areas where Clover stands out:

• Menu Management: Create things like menu items, categories, and automatic modifiers to help your servers in the ordering process.
• Specific Bar Features: Turn tickets over quickly with features like pre-approval of credit cards and an excellent offline mode if you lose your internet connection.
• Online Ordering Integrations: Set up your own delivery system or use third-party delivery options. Clover can help you create a website and an online website to expand your sales.
• Mobile Ordering: Clover has excellent hardware to help your servers take orders tableside and send them directly to the kitchen where Clover’s kitchen display system can organize them and give your cooks an overview of the whole restaurant.

In Canada, Clover offers three hardware options: the Clover Flex, the Clover Mini, and the Clover Station Duo.

As we mentioned, your fees can vary depending on who you purchase your Clover products from. If you purchase from someone other than a Clover reseller, you’ll want to make sure you read the terms of your contract carefully as you may get locked into a long-term contract.

If you do go with a certified Clover reseller, you will pay 2.3% – 2.6% + $0.10% per transaction per transaction. For card-not-present transactions, you’ll pay 3.5% + $0.10 per transaction per transaction.

We’ll mention it one more time. There are multiple retailers who sell Clover products and some are less reputable than others as there are many online reviews from customers who unknowingly signed up for long-term contracts. Make sure you choose from one of the best Clover resellers to make sure you’re getting a good deal.

As we mentioned, TouchBistro’s pricing is simple to understand. You can pay month-to-month. Certain add-ons may need to be purchased depending on what your restaurant needs.

While TouchBistro has an extensive feature set for all sizes of restaurants, here are a few areas where it really shines:

• Built-In Reservations: TouchBistro has a terrific system for taking reservations. It allows you to set reminders, create service fees for large groups, and alter your floor plan if necessary.
• Tableside Ordering: Easily allow servers to take and send orders from the table, eliminating a time-consuming step. You can also split tickets instantly and effectively.
• Dining Preferences & Loyalty: Manage customers by adding preferences or allergies from the table and store customer order histories and information for future visits. The loyalty add-on allows you to incentivize customers to return by giving them points they can redeem.
• Deep Reporting: Go into the analytics of your restaurant’s performance, tracking things like inventory efficiency and waste and determining what times your restaurant is busiest.

Touchbistro has hardware bundles available for purchase on its website. It sells its hardware on a quote-based system so you’ll have to call to speak to a representative to get accurate pricing.

TouchBistro allows you to use outside payment processors, so rates vary based on what processor you choose. You can also use in-house payment processing. You will have to contact TouchBistro directly for more information about rates.

You have the option to sign up for TouchBistro on a month-to-month basis but, as mentioned, you do get a discount in processing fees if you pay for your hardware upfront.

Revel no longer discloses pricing, so you’ll have to contact the company for a quote. To get the lowest pricing, you typically have to sign a three-year contract.

As mentioned, there are very few, if any, gaps in Revel’s restaurant feature set. Here are some of the highlights of the system:

• Online Ordering: Revel has built-in online ordering which is a huge perk. You can sell from any of your locations and track orders on Revel’s kitchen display system and create your own branding opportunities on your website.
• Inventory Management: While most POS systems come with at least some form of inventory management, Revel’s is outstanding, coming with easy-to-use spreadsheets to track consumption and other features to help cut down on waste.
• Integrations: While Revel’s base offerings are extensive, it also integrates with scores of companies that can help you customize your POS system and take it to another level if you have more complex needs.
• Strong Security: Revel comes with individualized staff accounts for all employees and you can track changes to the menu and see an itemized breakdown of payouts.

Like TouchBistro, Revel requires customers to call for a quote on hardware options. Revel uses iPad-based hardware and offers bundles on its website.

Revel gives you multiple options to choose from for processing so you can shop for a competitive rate. You can also use Revel’s own processor Revel Advantage which has a flat rate of 2.49% + $0.15 for standard transactions.

Revel is fairly straightforward with its pricing but, as mentioned, to receive the lowest pricing, you’ll need to sign up for a three-year contract and you may face a hefty termination fee if you have to break the contract.