It will cost you more for features you might expect to be standard (reservations, customer loyalty, and online ordering to name a few) which can run up your monthly bill. There are fewer integrations available which is a blessing for easily-overwhelmed new business owners but a curse for quickly growing restaurants.

If your business only takes cash and runs on a small scale, you can probably get away with a traditional cash register or cash box. But with the prevalence of card/contactless payments, we would still recommend a basic card reader and POS system.

Many kinds of businesses fall under the “food service” umbrella, including full-service restaurants, quick-service establishments, bars, and food trucks (or other mobile food operations). Some of these benefits will be better suited to one kind of eatery than another.

Every payment processor you research will have some form of fee you have to pay for every successful transaction. The best POS systems for small businesses offer reasonable flat-rate charges or interchange-plus fees. Small businesses will benefit from flat-rate payment processing, while high-volume businesses should consider interchange-plus processing for the best rates.

When applying for a loan, a potential lender is going to consider both your credit report and credit score, so it’s extremely important that you know your credit report and score beforehand.

It’s worth noting one more key difference between credit reports and credit scores. Credit bureaus are legally obligated to give you a free credit report once a year, whereas there is no law requiring them to provide a credit score. This means you’ll have to pay a fee to access your credit score through one of the “big three.”

There are many reasons you need a salon-specific POS system. Those POS systems may include every feature your salon, spa, or other service-based business needs — they are designed with your industry in mind. Others, however, might be close to perfect but don’t offer some of the built-in features you want. This is where POS integrations come in.

You (and your employees) need specific tools to be successful and help your customers leave feeling satisfied. Save yourself time, money, and energy by improving your customer retention and reducing your employee turnover with a salon-specific POS system.

In a perfect world, you would be able to ask other owners in your industry what POS system they use. If, however, you’re just getting started and not having luck in that regard, we would recommend checking out review aggregate sites like Software Advice, G2, the BBB, and Trustpilot to name a few.

The best point of sale systems for bars, nightclubs, breweries, and pubs will have bar-specific software integrations, ample hardware options, low payment processing fees, and give you a choice of payment processor.