6 Best POS Systems For A Food Truck 2023

We appreciate that Square understands what it’s like to start a business with a very limited budget. That’s why this food truck POS system has a free plan with an extensive number of features built specifically for restaurants. While other low-cost POS providers charge an extra monthly fee for features such as online ordering and delivery, Square provides these things for free or at a very low cost.

Also, Square’s extensive POS hardware options are affordable and intuitive, which is why Square also makes our list of best mobile POS systems.

In addition to a base subscription plan, many food truck owners also purchase these software add-ons:

• Loyalty Program Subscription: $45/month
• Square Marketing: $15/month to $425/month depending on the number of email contacts you have

You may also upgrade your Square Online website to the $29/month Premium plan to include QR code ordering, text order status updates, and item reviews, as well as remove the Square subdomain and branding.

Square’s easy-to-use register functions include conversational item modifiers, and the ability to limit or update your truck’s item availability based on your current inventory, which you can track in real-time. You can sync your in-person and online orders to a kitchen display system to ensure you get orders right every time. Registers and kitchen displays run on compact, battery-operated iPads.

With a free Square Restaurant online ordering site (or low-cost if you’d like to remove Square branding), you can upload your food truck menu, locations, schedule/events, and embed online ordering and eGift cards for sale. You can also embed a custom contact form to accept event catering inquiries and add an event calendar so that people can keep up with your food truck.

Square integrates with your Google business profile, so customers can order directly from your Google business profile. Plus, Square integrates with all popular social media platforms.

Square POS on iPad, Square Register, and Square contactless card reader.

Square runs on smartphones and tablets, so you can turn hardware you already own into a POS terminal. You will also need a $49 Square Contactless Card + Chip Reader to accept payments.

Other Square hardware offerings that are great for food trucks include:

• Square Terminal: $299; take orders and payments on a handheld device
• Square Mobile POS Kit: $299; includes compact smartphone and built-in Square card reader
• Square Kitchen Display Systems (KDS): $20/month/device on the Square free plan; $60/month for unlimited KDS on Square Plus plan
• Square POS Register Bundles: Ranges from $646 to $1,329; includes things like card readers, POS stands, cash registers, printers, customer-facing displays, and barcode scanners

Read more about it in our guide to Square POS hardware before purchasing any equipment.

Square has its own in-house payment processor, which you must use on every subscription plan. Square charges the following fees per transaction on the free plan:

• Card-Present Payments: 2.6% plus $0.10
• Manual Card Entry Payments: 3.5% plus $0.15
• Online Payments: 2.9% plus $0.30

On the Pro plan, card-present payments (i.e. in-person payments) have a processing fee of 2.5% plus $0.10 per transaction. If you have high sales volumes, upgrading to the $60/month Plus plan could end up saving you money.

Square is a refreshingly straightforward, transparent POS software and hardware provider. Contracts are month-to-month and you may cancel at any time.

Square also has a fantastic hardware replacement warranty that applies whether you get your devices from Square or from a hardware reseller.

We love that Lightspeed offers POS and kitchen display software with specific quick-serve modes that will help food truck servers cut down on lines. Lightspeed’s ordering and inventory management make it a great option for fast casual eateries selling buildable items like burritos, crepes, or sandwiches.

Lightspeed also offers a great loyalty program on all subscription plans, plus full restaurant features like floor planning and card pre-authorizations, so you can easily open a physical storefront without changing your software plan.

The Core plan includes core restaurant service features, such as iPad-based ordering and tipping, takeout and delivery features, and extensive menu management. The Lightspeed Starter plan also includes floor planning, card pre-authorizations, and a basic loyalty program builder.

The Essentials plan includes online ordering, tableside ordering, QR code ordering, and advanced inventory management. The Plus plan also includes multi-location management, making this plan suitable for larger restaurants.

The Premium plan includes hotel revenue management, API access to build your own custom integrations, and custom payment processing rates to help you lower credit card processing fees.

Most food trucks can get away with the Starter plan, but if you own a restaurant in addition to a food truck or want more ordering types, go with the Essentials plan. Very large restaurant/food truck businesses should consider the Premium plan to get lower payment processing rates.

Note: Pricing is for one register. Additional registers cost $59/register/month.

Lightspeed’s best quick-serve and fast-casual restaurant features include:

• Separate quick-serve and full-service modes
• Order holds, which allow servers to take the next person in line if someone forgets their wallet or needs to wait to pay
• Custom online and self-ordering menus so that customers can’t order items like alcohol or miss modifiers
• Set items as a composite of individual ingredients, which is great for fast-casual restaurants serving buildable items like grain bowls or burritos
• Automated inventory tracking with auto-86ing on POS screens so that servers can’t accidentally sell what they don’t have
• Kitchen display software with easy order fulfillment management

Lightspeed has great ingredient tracking and automatically removes an ingredient when you run out of it, so a customer won’t be disappointed if they order something online that you don’t have in-store.

You can also create rules in Lightspeed’s inventory management dashboard that alert you when an item is low in stock and allows you to generate a purchase order email or connect the alert to a supplier’s website if you order from there.

Lightspeed Restaurant kitchen printer, iPad register, cash drawer, and receipt printer.

Lightspeed Restaurant hardware is all iPad-based. Hardware options include a countertop POS with a customer display, standalone iPads for tableside ordering, and/or iPad kiosks for self-ordering. Lightspeed’s KDS is also iPad-based.

You may purchase your own iPads or through Lightspeed at $329 per device. The iPad stand costs $199, the kitchen bump bar costs $199, the cash drawer costs $129, and the kitchen printer costs $299.

It’s important to purchase your card reader (Lightspeed supports Verifone products) from Lightspeed to make sure your Lightspeed Payments account is configured correctly with the hardware.

We advise contacting Lightspeed to get a custom quote on a hardware bundle.

Lightspeed has its own processing program, Lightspeed Payments. Its fees are 2.6% + $0.10 for card-present transactions or 2.9% + $0.30 for card-not-present transactions for business owners on the Essentials and Plus plans.

Those on the Premium plan can get a custom payment processing rate, which should be lower than the rate offered on lower-level plans.

Lightspeed lists monthly costs but will have you fill out a custom order form, which will dictate your payment period. You could be charged monthly or annually for a predefined amount of time.

However, Lightspeed does charge an early termination fee if you decide to cancel your subscription early, and hardware return windows are short, so start with a monthly plan until you’re sure Lightspeed is the POS for your restaurant.

We believe that Revel’s strong inventory and multi-location management make Revel an excellent POS system for businesses that have multiple food trucks or have food trucks and at least one physical location.

It’s easy to create different menus and pricing depending on location, ordering type (online, food truck, catering, restaurant, and event orders), ingredient availability, or any other custom identifiers. Menu and inventory updates can be synced across locations automatically. Plus, Revel’s built-in online ordering and delivery functions are hard to beat.

Revel lists one subscription plan on the company website:

• $99/month/terminal, billed annually
• $674 one-time implementation fee

Merchants on this Revel subscription must use at least two terminals, and sign a minimum three-year commitment.

Many food truck owners, especially those who also operate restaurants, will require a custom software plan and several POS terminals.

Revel offers a combined retail and restaurant POS system so that you may sell retail items, weighted food items, made-to-order food, and more from your food trucks and restaurants.

Larger restaurants that provide catering services or rent out their location for special events will appreciate Revel’s appointment scheduling, service charging, pre-ordering module, and catering reporting capabilities. Also, Revel offers age verification functions, which are great for wine trucks and event catering.

Food service businesses with multiple restaurants and/or food trucks will appreciate Revel’s enterprise-level menu, inventory, scheduling, and reporting functions. There’s even franchise management built into Revel’s software.

Revel iPad POS register, iPad stand, iPad customer-facing display, cash drawer, receipt printer, and card reader.

Revel software runs on iPads.

You may get a quote for Revel proprietary iPads, iPad stands, self-serve ordering kiosks, card readers, printers, and auxiliary hardware. You also have the option to purchase compatible hardware on your own.

Revel offers its own in-house payment processing system, Revel Advantage. You will have to contact Revel for a custom payment processing quote based on your business’s sales volume, average ticket size, and time in business, among other factors.

You also have the choice to integrate your POS with third-party payment processors, such as Adyen or FreedomPay. You may face an extra monthly fee if you choose a third-party provider over Revel Advantage.

You will sign a three-year contract when you decide to use Revel Systems as your food truck POS system. There’s also a huge early termination fee.

There’s also a two-terminal minimum for Revel’s advertised subscription plan, so you’ll pay a minimum of $198/month.

You are billed annually for the advertised subscription. You should strongly consider getting a custom quote for a monthly subscription to test out the software. A short-term subscription will have a higher monthly fee but starting small is worth it to decide whether you should really invest in Revel.

We love that Toast offers an entire line of restaurant management products as well as durable Android-based hardware, which is heat-resistant and waterproof (most other restaurant POS systems run on iPads, which are not as durable.)

In terms of software products, Toast now offers catering and event management software in addition to contactless ordering, loyalty program, scheduling, accounting, payroll, and multi-location management. All Toast products integrate well with each other, since they’re all made by the same provider.

Toast also offers several add-on products, everything from third-party delivery services, to kitchen displays, to Toast Payroll. The most popular add-ons are the marketing and digital ordering suite products, which include the following:

• Digital Ordering: $75/month
• Loyalty: $50/month
• Gift Cards: $50/month
• Email Marketing: $75/month

Since our last update, Toast has added catering management software, Toast Catering & Events, which costs $100/month.

Toast will often bundle add-ons and multiple POS terminals with a bulk discount, so you may get a better deal when you get a custom quote from a Toast representative.

Note: If you are on the Quick Start Bundle plan, you can incorporate Toast add-ons for no monthly cost, just an increased payment processing fee (more on this below).

One of Toast’s most unique and comprehensive features for food truck owners looking to build a solid customer base is the customer loyalty program, which includes:

• Multiple Enrollment Opportunities: Customers can enroll during or after checkout on in-person, self-serve kiosks, delivery, and takeout orders, plus via a link on your website.
• Custom Account Information: Customers can sign up via text or email and receive a welcome message, plus updates on your loyalty program.
• Earn On Every Purchase: Customers automatically earn points with every purchase made through a card linked to their loyalty account (automatically set to whatever card was used to pay for the order during signup). They may add more linked cards whenever they want and manually enter their loyalty account information on purchases made with cash or check.
• Customer Loyalty Account Link: Customers get their own digital loyalty account link where they can view their points, see ways they can earn, and add their birthday to get a birthday reward.
• Automated Redemption Prompt: Once customers have spent enough to earn a reward, they are automatically asked if they’d like to redeem it. This automated prompt shows up on online, takeout, and in-person orders, so customers will never forget to redeem their points.

We also like Toast’s online ordering add-on, which allows customers to choose from multiple food truck and restaurant locations for curbside pickup and delivery. You can also list your food truck on the Toast Takeout app and third-party pickup/delivery platforms to get even more exposure. Like Square, you can allow customers to order with Google.

If you get a lunch rush or large mobile order, you can easily set a cutoff for online ordering, that way no one gets overwhelmed trying to prepare too many items.

Plus, Toast has recently released a new product, Toast Catering & Events, that helps food truck owners accept pre-orders and order requests online, make estimates and send invoices for catering orders, sync events with a Google calendar, and create special catering menus. You can even send a contract with custom terms to make sure you get paid for your services.

Toast mobile ordering app on smartphone device, PC user dashboard, kitchen display screen, handheld POS system, and countertop POS system.

Toast offers a Starter register kit and accessories exclusively for users on the Quick Start Bundle and Core plans. If you decide on the Growth or Build Your Own plan, you need to contact Toast to get a custom quote on POS and kiosk hardware.

Starter kits include either a handheld or countertop POS system, router, WiFi access point, and basic POS software subscription. You could also purchase only a self-serve kiosk if you run a business such as a food stall.

The Handheld kit, which includes the Toast Go 2, one of the best restaurant handheld POS systems, costs $627 upfront. The Countertop kit costs $875 upfront. The Toast Kiosk costs $1,009 upfront.

Alternatively, you can pay $0/month, with $0 upfront, and pay higher payment processing fees to cover your Starter kit hardware and monthly software subscription costs.

Toast requires you to use its in-house payment processor, which charges the following payment processing fees per transaction:

• Quick Start Bundle Plan: 2.99% plus $0.15 (3.49% plus $0.15 if you add the Toast digital marketing and online ordering bundle)
• Core Plan: 2.49% plus $0.15
• Growth & Build Your Own Plans: Custom quote

If you can, sign up for the Standard plan and purchase your equipment upfront. The amount you save on payment processing fees will probably more than cover your monthly fee.

Get one of these best small business loans or use one of these best equipment financing options to pay for your Toast hardware upfront.

On higher plans, you must get a custom payment processing quote.

You have to sign a merchant contract with Toast, which typically lasts at least two years. There are early termination fees, should you decide to break your contract early.

You are also required to buy Toast’s proprietary hardware, which means that you could be paying a lot for a setup that includes POS registers, kiosks, kitchen displays, kitchen printers, etc.

Toast covers hardware purchased directly from the company for up to three years, which is much longer than most POS and kiosk hardware providers.

The best food truck POS systems should have a really strong offline mode, since it won’t be tied to any physical location. Since TouchBistro is a hybrid POS system, you can take online orders and payments using a local network, and data is automatically saved in the cloud on a daily basis. This setup makes TouchBistro one of the strongest POS systems on this list in terms of offline POS capabilities.

Additionally, TouchBistro offers great catering order and delivery management, plus a web-based app that incorporates an online ordering platform, loyalty program, customer feedback, truck location information, and custom web pages.

Plus, Gordon Ramsey backs TouchBistro, so you know it’s a high-quality POS!

If you don’t use any integrations or add-ons, TouchBistro is $69/month for one register, billed annually. The Dual plan includes two user licenses and costs $129/month. The Team plan includes five user licenses at $249/month, and the Unlimited plan includes unlimited user licenses at $399/month.

Optional add-ons include:

• Online Ordering: $50/month
• Reservations: $229/month
• Gift Cards: $25/month
• Loyalty Program: $99/month
• Marketing: $99/month

The reservations app can be used to accept catering orders and book events.

The company also charges a nonrefundable setup fee that starts at $200 and includes your hardware setup plus a software walkthrough.

TouchBistro offers a hybrid cloud-based and local installation, which is a very attractive feature for food truck owners who are not always tethered to any WiFi connection. With this setup, you can use iPads to take online orders but can also connect your food truck POS to a locally installed router, which allows you to take orders and payments on iPads without internet access.

Food trucks that also offer mobile catering will appreciate these features:

• Taking Catering Orders: Caterers can create a quote and take notes for a future order, require a deposit for future orders, and choose how far in advance someone can order. You can also set concrete event start and end times.
• Delivery Customization: Caterers can set different delivery zones and increase fees and set minimum order amounts per delivery zone. If a customer inputs an address outside your delivery zone, an automated message will ask the customer to contact you to discuss a custom order.
• On-Location Sales: You can bring items that are on your catering menu with you to sell on location with TouchBistro’s hybrid system.
• Customer Accounts: Allow billing to regular catering customers’ house accounts with saved payment types. Take partial or full balance payoffs. Allow customers to preload credits to an account.

TouchBistro’s online ordering platform allows you to do many things, but one of the biggest benefits for food trucks is that you can post your locations on your own branded web-based app so people have an idea of where to find you. You can include restaurant and food truck locations.

With the web-based app, you can also:

• Customize your online presence by branding the app, adding your socials, and creating pages such as “FAQs” and “Contact Us”
• Accept orders for pickup and delivery with estimated wait times that can vary depending on how many orders are in your kitchen order queue
• Allow customers to sign up for, automatically collect, and redeem loyalty program points from the online ordering platform
• Generate item pairings that show up as dynamic upselling suggestions on orders
• Accept customer feedback to assist you in making your food truck business better (and boosting the confidence of stellar employees)

TouchBistro countertop iPad POS, iPad stand, handheld iPad POS, cash drawer, card reader, and receipt printer.

TouchBistro software runs on iPads, and you can configure iPads as POS terminals, customer-facing displays, kitchen display screens, and self-serve kiosks.

You must contact TouchBistro for a quote on hardware such as card readers, iPad stands, and cash drawers.

You can use TouchBistro Payments in-house payment processing (powered by Chase), or you can choose from several third-party processors, including Square.

TouchBistro Payments uses an interchange-plus pricing model, and TouchBistro will give you a custom payment processing rate quote.

TouchBistro does not state on its website whether its contracts are month-to-month or if there is an annual or multi-year commitment. Usually, this means a long-term commitment.

Check your TouchBistro quote to see your contract length and to verify if it is possible to leave your contract early if you are not satisfied. Always start out with a monthly plan when possible.

TouchBistro does charge an early termination fee, so really negotiate for a short-term plan or make extensive use of demos before signing on with this software provider. You may also be able to get the fee written out of your contract before signing.

While Clover doesn’t have as many niche restaurant POS features as a provider like TouchBistro or Toast, we believe that it still has a strong feature set for food truck owners, especially when you take into account Clover’s extensive app market. Food truck-specific apps such as Truckfindr are available. With Clover’s built-in and add-on features, you can build a custom solution that includes food truck features and more.

Also, Clover offers a range of hardware options, so no matter the size of your food truck, you can find equipment that fits your needs and your workspace.

The best food truck POS plan for Clover merchants is the Counter Service Restaurant plan. This plan costs $44.95 to $54.90 per month if you purchase your hardware outright. If you opt to lease your equipment, plans for your hardware and software package range from $90 to $175 per month.

The above pricing is for merchants who purchase their software/hardware package directly from Clover. There are a number of Clover-authorized resellers who may charge a different monthly subscription, but more on this later.

Clover’s base offering includes an online ordering page that connects to your Google business profile, a loyalty program builder, gift card sales, scan-to-pay QR code ordering, and retail sales functionalities.

Clover users have access to the Clover app market, which includes hundreds of retail, restaurant, and general business apps made by Clover and third-party providers to help your restaurant succeed. There’s even an app specifically geared toward food trucks, Truckfindr, that allows you to:

• Put a pin on all your truck’s locations and update it in real-time so everyone can easily visit your truck
• Update your location a week in advance
• Allow customers to order on your online ordering platform or app and provide customers with a link to track the status of their orders
• Publish a custom catering menu for pre-ordering
• Sign customers up for SMS updates on anything from your location and specials to a new truck opening

You can also add apps such as an ID verification app to make sure you’re selling alcohol legally in your restaurant and/or food truck and third-party delivery integrations.

Clover has a unique software/hardware offering. Your hardware and software are tied together. This means that the reseller you purchase your Clover hardware from also provides the Clover software and the merchant account (which you need for payment processing.)

This is almost the opposite of a POS provider like Square, where you can bring your own hardware but the software comes from Square, and you don’t have your own merchant account.

If you purchase your hardware from Clover, you’ll pay anywhere from $49 for the Clover Go card reader to $1,799 for the Clover Station Duo.

Read our Clover pricing guide for an in-depth explanation of how Clover pricing works.

If you use Clover’s parent company, Fiserv, for payment processing, you’ll get the following flat-rate payment processing:

• Card-Present Transactions: 2.3% + $0.10 per transaction
• Card-Not-Present Transactions: 3.5% + $0.10 per transaction

Card-not-present transactions include any phone order, third-party ordering platform order (e.g., Grubhub and Order With Google), invoice payment, online order on a Clover-hosted website, manually-keyed-in card payment, and any form of payment that is not a swipe/chip/tap card payment, cash, or check.

If a large amount of your revenue comes from online or phone orders, choose a different payment processor or POS provider for your restaurant.

Clover offers 36-month and 48-month contracts, with early termination fees if you cancel your Clover subscription early.

Also, you can’t use your Clover hardware with any other POS software, sell your Clover hardware, or transfer ownership of your hardware in any way, making your Clover devices useless if you want to stop using Clover POS software.

We recommend you really consider whether Clover is the right POS system for you before committing to getting any hardware and that you get a better merchant contract with one of these top Clover resellers if you decide that Clover is the best fit for your restaurant.