Lightspeed Restaurant POS Review 2022
Lightspeed Restuarant is a cloud-based iPad POS system built solely for the foodservice industry and, like many of its rivals, can be a one-stop-shop for your POS needs.
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Expert Analyst & Reviewer
- 59 comments
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Lightspeed Restaurant POS
| Total Rating | 5.0 |
|---|---|
| Pricing | Excellent |
| Features | Excellent |
| Customer Service | Excellent |
| Contract Length & Early Termination Fees | Excellent |
| Integrations & Add-Ons | Excellent |
| Reviews | Excellent |
Pros
- Competitive monthly cost
- Well-designed UI
- Highly customizable
- Raw ingredient tracking
- Loyalty program
Cons
- Limited inventory management
- Moderate learning curve
Lightspeed Restaurant POS Overview
Looking for an all-in-one POS solution tailored to the food industry? You’re in the right spot. Whether you’re just opening a new restaurant or are looking to change POS systems, Lightspeed Restaurant may have just what you’re looking for.
Lightspeed Restaurant is loaded with features including mobile and tableside ordering, delivery, eCommerce, and analytics. Add in an integrated payment platform and an easy-to-use interface, and it’s easy to see why Lightspeed Restaurant is a top contender in the POS space.
Lightspeed Restaurant POS isn’t without its drawbacks. The system’s offline mode isn’t as well-developed as Lightspeed’s other features. And while the Essentials plan is fairly inexpensive, costs can add up quickly for businesses that need a more advanced plan or multiple add-ons and integrations. Minor issues aside, Lightspeed Restaurant is ideal for many small- to medium-sized food establishments, perhaps even yours.
Keep reading to learn more about Lightspeed Restaurant POS and what it can offer your business.
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What Is Lightspeed Restaurant POS?
Lightspeed Restaurant is a cloud-based iPad POS system built solely for the foodservice industry. It combines a complex, feature-rich POS backend with a deceptively simple structure and intuitive interface. Lightspeed Restaurant covers the basics, adds a range of custom options, and throws a good dollop of useful side functionality into the mix as well.
Table of Contents
- Lightspeed Restaurant POS Pricing
- Lightspeed Restaurant POS Features
- Customer Service & Support
- Payment Processing With Lightspeed Restaurant POS
- Contract Length & Early Termination Fees
- Lightspeed Restaurant POS Integrations & Add-Ons
- Lightspeed Restaurant POS Reviews
- Final Verdict Of Lightspeed Restaurant POS
- Lightspeed Restaurant FAQs
Lightspeed Restaurant POS Pricing
Lightspeed Restaurant Essentials
The Essentials plan is designed for new, single-location restaurants that only need one terminal. This plan is priced at $39/month and includes:
- One register
- Menu manager
- Mobile access
- Takeout & delivery orders
- Integrated payment processing
- Reporting & analytics
- Inventory
- 24/7 support
- Dedicated account management
- Table Mode
Lightspeed Restaurant Plus
The Plus plan is best suited for full-service restaurants, cafes, and bars. This plan costs $119/month and includes everything from the Essentials plan, plus:
- Loyalty program
- Gift cards
Lightspeed Restaurant Pro
The Pro plan offers advanced features suitable for growing restaurants and hotels. This plan is priced at $289/month and includes everything from the Plus plan, plus:
- Advanced insights
- Advanced inventory
If you want to give Lightspeed Restaurant a test drive, you can sign up for a 14-day free trial — no credit card required.
If you have multiple stores or need more than what the three standard plans have to offer, you can contact Lightspeed for a personalized quote. Merchants looking to use more than five registers can take advantage of Lightspeed’s Enterprise plan by scheduling a call and requesting a quote.
Lightspeed Restaurant Add-Ons
You can further personalize your plan by purchasing add-ons. Add-on options include:
- Customer-facing displays
- Kitchen Display Systems
- Advanced reporting
- Loyalty
- Gift cards
- Accounting
- Delivery integration
- Order ahead
Contact Lightspeed to learn more about these add-ons to personalize your POS system.
Get Started with Lightspeed POS
Lightspeed Restaurant POS Features
Lightspeed Restaurant features all the basic functions you would expect from a POS, so instead of going on forever about the obvious stuff, I’ll just cover the elements that separate Lightspeed from the pack:
- Employee Management: Lightspeed Restaurant’s employee management feature has extensive permission-setting capabilities. Employees can be broken down into categories (waitstaff, cashiers, cooks, etc.). There is also an option to change employee “visibility” for seasonal and part-time staff.
- Product Management: This feature makes it easy to set up your menu. Products can be added and associated with unique kitchen names, IDs, or pictures. You can also quickly add discounts, service fees, and combos using this feature.
- Raw Ingredient Tracking: With Lightspeed Restaurant’s raw ingredient tracking, you can automatically keep track of all your raw ingredients based on specific dishes sold. If you’ve run out of an ingredient for a menu item, a notification will be sent to the waitstaff. Lightspeed Restaurant’s integration with MarketMan allows users to track their raw ingredients and also allows for purchase order management capabilities.
- Mobile Ordering: With mobile ordering, orders can be sent directly from the table or bar. Customers can also place their own orders directly from an iPad at their table. Another option is QR code ordering, which allows customers to place orders and pay directly from their phones.
- Modifiers: This function works seamlessly, as you can punch in special requests directly into the system. Whether it’s forced modifiers or important changes, such as allergy restrictions, a simple click of the button sends custom orders to the kitchen that are easy to read.
- Timed Events: Timed Events allow you to set promotions and offers to run for a specific time or on certain days; it works great for “20%-Off Tuesdays” and “Half-Price Fridays.” If that’s not enough, you can also set multiple offers to run at the same time, setting which one has priority.
- Kitchen Name Printing: With this feature, you can input the order as it appears on the menu, and when you send it to the kitchen, it will print in the language of your choice. This feature is also beneficial if your restaurant has different names for menu items. If, for instance, you have a menu item called “the Senior Breakfast Special,” you can have the order printed out in the kitchen as “two eggs and a side of bacon.”
- Loyalty: Easily add customer information into your system, allowing you the ability to track their purchase orders and add credit to their account. See when reservations have been made and assign customers to their preferred tables.
- Delivery: Lightspeed offers delivery integration in a simple, consolidated format that makes large numbers of orders easy to sort. It partners with UberEats, SkipTheDishes, and DoorDash. It also allows you to create promo codes and delivery-specific menus, all while providing a simple interface for customers.
- Menu Building: With Lightspeed Restaurant’s menu building feature, you can create a simple menu in minutes and on any device. It’s also simple to make changes to items, immediately informing servers of changes.
- Reporting: Lightspeed Restaurant offers a substantial number of reports. You can view revenue and receipts by hour, day, week, and month. There are tailored product and product category information, specific cash register monitoring (so you can see which employees are earning the most money), and also in-depth user tracking (so you can see what your staff’s activities and performance have been like over a set period). Advanced reporting is available on select plans or as an add-on.
- Floor Planner: This feature makes adding tables and floors, modifying their sizes, and adding specific printers for each effortless. You can add cars for take-away management. There is also a feature that helps you better keep track of things when your business is swamped. As you can see below, the tables are different colors; green means that the table is busy, and red means that the bill has been printed, but the patrons are still waiting to pay.
- eCommerce: If you want to take your business online, you can add eCom for Restaurant to your plan. This eCommerce platform helps you boost your online presence with website themes, an online store for selling your merchandise, and an online reservation system that’s easy for both you and your customers.
Is LightSpeed Restaurant POS User-Friendly?
Lightspeed Restaurant has a simple interface that is both visually and practically pleasing. Set up is easy, starting with customization of your overview page with your choice of widgets. Lightspeed Restaurant also provides a variety of training videos to help you get your system up and running, as well as offering descriptions of some of the system’s key features.
There is a design consistency among the different platforms. The fact that the desktop, iPad, iPod touch, and iPhone interfaces look the same helps alleviate the learning curve enormously.
Some users have criticized Lightspeed’s approach as “too minimal.”However, for many others, the combination of good functionality and a minimal, easy-to-use interface is just another positive aspect of this POS system.
Customer Service & Support
The monthly subscription price includes Lightspeed’s customer care. You can contact Lightspeed Restaurant through the following outlets:
- Phone: Lightspeed offers 24/7 phone support, excluding holidays. There are dedicated country-specific numbers for the US, Canada, Belgium, United Kingdom, Australia, the Netherlands, and Singapore.
- Email: Lightspeed Restaurant has a dedicated email address. There is a one-day turnaround time for emails.
- Live Chat: Live chat is offered from 9 AM to 6 PM EST.
- Social Media: Lightspeed has profiles on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
- Blog: Lightspeed Restaurant has a blog that is updated regularly. Posts generally revolve around company news and business-related topics.
- Community Forum: There is also an active forum through Lightspeed’s website for customers to ask questions and help each other or get advice from professionals.
Payment Processing With Lightspeed Restaurant POS
There are several payment processing options available with Lightspeed Restaurant. You can opt for integrated payment processing with Lightspeed Payments. Rates are competitive at 2.6% + $0.10 for card-present transactions, and 2.6% + $0.30 for keyed-in transaction.
You can also use a third-party payment processor. Lightspeed Restaurant is compatible with Dejavoo with Worldpay (formerly Vantiv), Cayan, and Bridgepay.
Contract Length & Early Termination Fees
Lightspeed Restaurant offers month-to-month pricing, so there are no long-term contracts. You must send notice of cancellation prior to the next billing period to avoid being charged. While there are no contracts, you will sign a service contract, so make sure you review this document in full before signing up for Lightspeed Restaurant.
Lightspeed Restaurant POS Integrations & Add-Ons
Lightspeed Restaurant has over 70 integrations listed on its website. If you need some niche functionality, you’ll likely find what you’re looking for in that list, although probably not for free.
- Employee Management: Lightspeed integrates with Push Operations, which helps streamline labor management.
- Online Ordering: Lightspeed Restaurant integrates with several online ordering services, such as BPL and Chowly. Mobi2Go and Zuppler offer online ordering as well as mobile ordering.
- Hotel-Specific Integrations: These include MEWS and StayNTouch.
- Accounting: Lightspeed Restaurant integrates with QuickBooks, QuickBooks Desktop, and Xero through Lightspeed Accounting.
- Reservations: Lightspeed Restaurant integrates with Resengo for your reservation needs.
- Financing: Lightspeed Restaurant integrates with Econolease Financial Services.
- Online Scheduling: For online scheduling, use CoverManager.
- Loyalty: You can integrate with services including GourmetMiles and Incentivio.
- Inventory Management: You can integrate with MarketMan or Growzer.
- Tech Support: With Boomtown!, businesses can get 24/7 tech support.
Get Started with Lightspeed POS
Lightspeed Restaurant POS Reviews
Negative Lightspeed Restaurant Reviews & Complaints
Overall, Lightspeed Restaurant POS has a very good public reputation, earning numerous five-star reviews across the internet. However, there have been some complaints from unsatisfied customers. Lightspeed POS has a B+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and a total of nine complaints closed in the last three years. There are also some negative reviews online pointing out Lightspeed Restaurant’s flaws, most notably:
- Bugs: Occasional glitches when navigating the front end, such as freezing, have been noted.
- Outages: Multiple reviewers mentioned frequent interruptions in service, particularly during peak times.
- Lightspeed Payments: Some customers weren’t happy with Lightspeed Payments fees, claiming other companies were cheaper. Lightspeed Restaurant does integrate with other payment processors, but you have to do your research to figure out what makes the most sense for you.
Positive Lightspeed Restaurant Reviews & Testimonials
Lightspeed Restaurant POS has a number of glowing reviews. It receives a rating of 4.5/5 (based on 42 reviews) on G2 and a rating of 4.5/5 (based on 62 reviews) on Software Advice. Users most liked:
- Ease Of Use: Customers like that Lightspeed is easy to use and doesn’t have a high learning curve.
- Great Customer Service: Many find Lightspeed’s customer service to be very friendly, helpful, and happy to resolve your issues.
- Simplicity: Some customers praise the simplicity of Lightspeed Restaurant’s front and back ends.
- Customization: Users appreciated that they could easily tailor the system to fit their specific restaurant’s needs.
- Robust Features: Many reviewers were impressed by how much was offered from Lightspeed Restaurant and pleased with the value of the product.
Final Verdict Of Lightspeed Restaurant POS
For small- and medium-sized businesses in the food services industry, Lightspeed Restaurant should offer everything you need in a POS system. A well-designed, easy-to-use interface, numerous features, and multiple reports are what you can expect from this robust system. Throw in options like eCom for Restaurants, contactless ordering and payments, a floor planner, and numerous integrations, and it’s easy to see why Lightspeed Restaurant has an overwhelmingly positive reputation among its users, both past and present.
With that being said, no POS system is perfect, and Lightspeed Restaurant is no exception. A lack of CRM options, problems with the system’s offline mode, and added costs from add-ons and integrations may be deterrents for some businesses.
Despite these flaws, though, Lightspeed Restaurant continues to expand its feature set, keeps up with current advances in both the restaurant and POS industries, and provides users with exceptional customer service. Its base pricing is also extremely competitive, and many users will find the additional costs of add-ons and integrations to be well worth the investment.
Lightspeed Restaurant POS is certainly worth a try, and you can take it for a test run with a 14-day free trial. After all, there’s nothing to lose, and you may just find the POS that’s the right fit for your business. Good luck!
Lightspeed Restaurant FAQs
Erica Seppala
Expert Analyst & Reviewer at Merchant Maverick
An expert in accounting, finance, and point of sale, Erica has been researching and writing about all things small-business since 2018. Erica's insights into personal and business finance have been cited in numerous publications, including MSN, Real Simple, and Reader's Digest. She is a graduate of Limestone College.
View Erica Seppala's professional experience on LinkedIn.
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The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
Lightspeed Restaurant POS |
|---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Lightspeed Restaurant POS for yourself.
The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
Lightspeed Restaurant POS |
|---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Lightspeed Restaurant POS for yourself.
Read Next
Organization Name: Saint Sushi Bar
LS has been essential to the growth of our business. Their software is very reliable and their customer service is courteous. They have definitely made our operation smoother going through the pandemic with their various integrations!
Organization Name: Palme
We have used the light speed restaurant POS for 5 years and we love how easy it is to use and integrate with other services and programs we use. They have a good customer service and are always updating the make a better experience for the users.
Organization Name: Lobos Coffee Roaters
Lightspeed is a great POS system. I’ve been using it for over a year. They keep on rolling out new update, which is needed in todays world. They aren’t perfect and they have items to work on. One that I would recommend them to prioritize is their gift cards process. Everything works, but we can’t print out a gift receipt or print out a balance on gift cards. It’s not a major issue. But guest at times get annoyed by it. I still recommend the system.
Organization Name: Western Explosives
super easy web interface for any product update or price changes can also be done at the ipads. the light speed team is always very friendly and helpful
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Tenzo Sushi et Fusion
Really love the interface being on iPadOS makes it quick and easy to set up. Our delivery and take out has been simplified and allowed us to focus on our customers. The technical support which is available 24/7 is a huge added benefit. It does take a bit of time to get everything started up and getting used to it at the beginning which is the same for anything new, however this is all worth it and part of fun. Once it is all up and running it will make a huge difference. Highly recommend for your restaurant!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Merrill House
We use Lightspeed as a POS and management platform in the restaurant and to integrate with our booking engines in the hotel. It’s a little more complex than most POS systems but it also has capabilities that others do not. Best thing is that they listen to their users and are continually making improvements that matter to actual users. For customer service they are #1!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Bytown Catering
We use the restaurant POS and it’s always met our needs. The ipad solution is mobile, we use it for our catered events, as well as our brick and mortar locations.They invest heavily in product improvement and have even added features that we personally requested.Cloud reporting is a must and their solution is functional and easy to use. We can monitor real time sales from multiple locations at once.Highly recommend!!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Sandrini Confections Inc.
Lightspeed has made my life as a small business owner in the food business much easier. Their reporting is solid, their interface is very intuitive and I can update menu items within seconds. I had shopped around around systems, downloaded their demos and nothing compares to Lightspeed. And as a bonus this is a Montreal based company with EXCELLENT customer service. I will be a loyal client for life!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.