Cafes and bakeries are bustling environments requiring a robust POS that can keep up. The correct point of sale system keeps the line moving, provides simple features, and assists in converting customers into regulars.
The top features of a point of sale include inventory management, menu management, customer management, loyalty programs, sales management, reporting, and so on. It is essential to identify them in at least one of the cafe POS systems in this post.
The best POS systems for coffee shops and bakeries, along with brief descriptions, are listed below.
What to look for in a cafe and bakery POS system
Cafes and bakeries might have distinct busy periods. While a substantial number of their customers order to go, the dine-in experience is crucial. Consider the following variables when choosing the best pos system for your business.
Features
POS (point of sale) systems in coffee shops do more than merely accept money. Many other capabilities are also available on modern registers to help ease daily operations. You should look for features like menu management, customer management, email or text receipts, inventory management, and sales tracking.
Efficiency
You want to make sure your POS doesn’t slow down your baristas during peak hours. Examine each system’s item arrangement and page setup to guarantee your POS system encourages productivity in a user-friendly fashion. Remember to understand all steps from taking an order to paying for it, so that you’ll know where there’s room for optimization.
Customer loyalty
Customer loyalty elements should be included in any cafe POS system to increase customer retention. Do you want to build a long list of loyal fans who consider your cafe a part of their everyday life?
Direct communication with your clients through a loyalty program has a quantifiable benefit. On a platform where consumers are already interacting with your brand, you have their entire attention, which enables you to quickly launch new items, promotions, limited-time deals, and diverse goods and services.
POS systems with loyalty programs can enrich your data stream as they help you collect customer data to build purchase patterns. You can use the data to make long-term strategies to nurture your active clientele.
Optimization
Your point of sale system should assist you in optimizing your business, keeping both the short and long-term health of your cafe or restaurant in mind. You may start improving your operating hours, on-call staff, drink promotions, and more with solid data by choosing a POS with built-in reporting.
Precise data
You may improve your guests’ experience by getting to know them better thanks to unified data. In order to tailor your brand experience and turn regulars into devoted clients and brand champions, you should identify patterns, comprehend their likes and dislikes, and collect individual information.
To assist you in making wise decisions for your restaurant business, your POS must collect the following types of data:
Customer data: The customer data in your POS system tells you the duration of a client’s relationship with you, how frequently they make purchases, how much they spend, and precisely what products they purchased. Use these insights to offer guests personalized experiences that will keep them coming back.
Accounting data: Accounting reporting is one of the best POS system features for business owners. General ledger reports, which give a thorough account of assets, liabilities, customer deposits, accounts payable, and more, are available in almost all POS systems.
Employee data: To increase the effectiveness of restaurant operations, your POS can track employee data as well. Let your POS software take care of tasks that were previously handled by independent devices or procedures, such as time clocks, and paycheck calculations. A system like this can increase productivity throughout your business and open up new growth prospects.
Inventory data: The foundation of operating a retail business is inventory. Additionally, it is much more crucial to make sure inventory levels are accurate if you run both a physical business and an online one. The majority of your stock’s POS data is related to inventory control, including picking, packing, and/or delivering things. By maintaining precise inventory levels that alter automatically when you make sales online or in-person, you can prevent stockouts and provide customers with the confidence to buy.
Besides, a top-notch POS system allows you to monitor your sales data in real time. If you operate many businesses, this capability will come in handy.
Staff management
Getting your team’s schedules in line can be a big pain. But you don’t have to keep track of your staff’s schedule by hand. A point of sale system will show you who is working at what time and who is available at the last minute to cover for someone.
FYI: Magestore solution allows you to assign staff to sales orders, track, assess, and compute their commission. It can synchronize all sales data across platforms, allowing you to record all orders linked with a single salesperson regardless of which or how many outlets they operate in.
Besides, the POS system you purchase should be simple to operate. If not, you can’t swiftly train new employees on it.
Best POS systems for coffee shops and bakeries
Best Magento coffee shop POS: Magestore
Overall
Since its inception in 2009, Magestore has served over 10,000 retailers all around the world. Fashion, sports, outdoors, hobbies and toys, home appliances, furnishings, food, and beverages are among the industries that use Magestore solution to expand their online to offline presence, maintain a seamless operation through an omnichannel approach, and increase revenues. It brings Magento’s capabilities to your physical stores, allowing you to improve your operations and provide a better client experience.
Prominent features
- Manages orders from both online and offline stores; fulfills orders right from the POS screen with 5 simple steps: verify, prepare, pick, pack, and deliver.
- Provides both in-store and curbside pickup,
- Tracks inventories from one location,
- Syncs and monitors live and offline promotions such as loyalty points, gift cards, and credits,
- Generates real-time POS reports on sales, stock, and employee performance to help merchants make rapid and informed decisions,
- Accepts all common payment methods,
- Able to work in offline mode for continuous operations,
- A responsive user interface to work well in all browsers and on multiple devices,
- No limit to the number of users or connected devices. For companies looking to go omnichannel, this will pay off in the long run.
- Offers POS performance feature to track the productivity of your POS system.
Pros and Cons
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Pricing plan
For Magestore POS, you simply have to pay once to receive the POS license. Because the POS price varies based on your business scale, unique needs, and goals, you’ll need to contact a Magestore business consultant for a quote.
After that, you’ll receive a price for a custom Magento best POS software designed just for your business.
Best for ease-of-use solution: Shopify
Overall
Shopify, based in Ontario, Canada, is the world’s greatest eCommerce firm. This firm created POS in 2013 as the best pos system for retailers running online and offline stores on Shopify platform.
Small and medium Shopify enterprises in every sector will benefit from Shopify POS. You can sell on the move or at events, and keep track of all shop sales, inventory, and customer information in one location. As one of the best POS systems for coffee shops and bakeries, Shopify point of sale system can assist you in selling online, efficiently establishing or improving your online presence with curbside pick-up, delivery, and different tipping options.
Highlight features
- Accepts a variety of payment methods,
- Provides gift cards and loyalty programs,
- Calculates taxes automatically,
- Syncs inventory management in real-time,
- Able to customize the configuration,
- Includes a mobile POS app to allow employees to service customers from anywhere in the business,
- Able to integrate POS with other apps like appointment booking and door-counting,
- Shopify App Store with a variety of add-ons.
Pros and Cons
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Pricing plan
Payment processing: Shopify works with over 100 different payment processors. It also has its own processor, and in-person charges begin at 2.4%.
Any plan is eligible for a 14-day free trial.
Shopify POS Lite is available for free if you subscribe to at least one of Shopify’s plans. You just have to pay for each completed transaction that starts at 2.4% + 0 USD.
Shopify POS Pro costs $89/month per location and includes credit card processing fees.
Best competitive pricing for enterprises: Toast
Overall
Toast, a relatively young startup founded in 2012, focuses on restaurants with reasonable pricing and numerous features for cafe pos systems aimed to make day-to-day operations easier.
Toast POS was designed specifically for tiny cafes and bakeries, although it may also be used in full-service cafes. The program includes front-of-house, back-of-house, guest-facing technologies, and all you need to manage your restaurant’s sales. Toast is notable for being technologically advanced, with several mobile and internet ordering alternatives.
Highlight features
- Provides contactless solutions such as mobile ordering and payment, portable and touch wallets and QR codes,
- Uses portable, pocket-sized terminals to enable bar ordering and payment,
- Maps and manages counters, collects real-time customer feedback, and automatically sends order notifications and tickets to kitchen computer monitors,
- Provides detailed menu management, including ingredient tracking, recipe expenses, waste and COGS reports, payroll services, sales data, and performance metrics,
- Connects to online ordering and delivery,
- Includes automated payroll and recruiting features such as HR paperwork, employee scheduling, and detailed labor reporting.
Pros and Cons
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Pricing plan
Toast offers a completely free plan. However, starting at $165 a month, the POS provides all-in-one solutions that include its takeout application and online ordering. As the number of POSs in your business grows, you’ll need more subscriptions.
Best for retail features: Vend
Overall
Vend POS is a cloud-based POS system based in New Zealand. Vend by Lightspeed is primarily a retail point of sale system, but it may also be used in coffee shops, especially those that sell merchandise or grab-and-go items and require inventory management.
Vend is one of the few point of sale systems for small businesses that includes loyalty programs, store credits, categorized tools, offline processes, and product catalog management like Magestore POS. Vend also interfaces with a variety of payment gateways and payment alternatives, such as PayPal, to accommodate your financial needs.
Highlight features
- Offers a dual-display for customers to boost transaction transparency,
- Has employee supervision feature,
- Has access to APIs (add-on),
- Scans barcodes for free,
- Provides detailed analytics and reporting,
- Limitless products and users,
- Provides various customer and sales add-ons such as loyalty programs, gift cards, and promotions,
- Integrates with many apps, including eCommerce apps.
Pros and Cons
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Pricing plan
Lite: $99 per month with a revenue cap of $20,000.
Pro: $129 per month for the Pro version. You’ll have to upgrade to Pro if you exceed the revenue base three times in a year.
Enterprise: There are no advertised prices, and you must submit contact information in order to receive a quote.
Best for large-scale business: Revel
Overall
Revel was the first cloud-based iPad POS in the market and is among the best POS systems for coffee shops and bakeries. It’s a management tool designed to help retailers improve customer service and streamline operations. Among various provided POS features, its loyalty programs really shine. You can easily create a custom program for your customers to earn loyalty points and rewards with Revel.
Highlight features
- Manages financial resources,
- Controls inventory at the ingredient level,
- Comprehensive reporting solution that will assist you in analyzing and improving your sales performance,
- Compatible with bar and management software.
Pros and Cons
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Pricing plan
Three-year Advantage contract starts at $99 per month.
Clover
Overall
Clover is among the top pos systems that provides everything a coffee shop owner needs to start selling food and managing their business. Clover is a plug-and-play coffee shop pos system that requires very little training to set up and use. Clover employs custom Android-based hardware with quick-serve functionality.
Highlight features
- Ordering and delivery over the internet,
- Dynamic floor plans,
- Customer loyalty on the go,
- Offers both digital and physical gift cards,
- Devices for placing orders on the go (Clover Flex),
- Advanced customer involvement function (add-on),
- Easy to integrate with 3rd-party integration,
- Has Clover App Store as a marketplace for mobile applications.
Pros and Cons
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Pricing plan
The table service restaurant plan is $69.95/month for the first device. Their counter service plan requires $39.95/month to access the coffee shop POS features.
Square POS
Overall
Square is a California-based financial and mobile payment systems startup. Square’s elegant all-in-one POS contains a customer display and a card/NFC reader that’s available for restaurants on the iPad.
Highlight features
- Works well on mobile phones, Android devices, and iPads,
- Accepts contactless payment methods,
- Allows curbside pickup,
- Inventory management and a loyalty program are included.
Pros and Cons
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Pricing plan
Square program is available for free and has a limited feature set. You can consider signing up for their advanced services, starting at $60/month.
Lavu
Overall
With a reasonable price tag and access to a range of 3rd-party delivery options, Lavu is one of the best POS systems for coffee shops and bakeries. Restaurants of all sizes can use Lavu as it’s a highly customizable POS system.
Highlight features
- Menu that is centralized,
- Scheduling of employees,
- Integration with 3rd-party platforms is possible thanks to an open API.
Pros and Cons
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Pricing plan
Monthly fees start at $59 and go higher from there.
TouchBistro
Overall
TouchBistro is a cloud-based iPad coffee shop pos system created exclusively for restaurants. The standard system features detailed ingredient monitoring, limitless user logins, and permissions that can be customized. It also interfaces with a variety of payment processors, allowing small bakeries to compare prices to choose the best option.
Highlight features
- In-house reservation system with simplified payroll and personnel administration,
- Ordering and delivery over the internet,
- Digital menu boards,
- Kiosk mode,
- Comprehensive inventory management.
Pros and Cons
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Pricing plan
Monthly fees start at $69 and go higher from there.
Cake POS
Overall
Cake comes last in our list of the best restaurant POS systems. This easy-to-use and cost-effective point of sale is designed to fulfill the needs of quick-service and full-service restaurants.
Faster table turns, fewer waits and higher customer loyalty will help you streamline your coffee shop operation. With guest, table, and waitlist management, you can provide consistently outstanding service to every guest. Online ordering is now integrated into Cake POS.
Highlight features
- Waitlist management,
- Guest manager add-on,
- Offline mode.
Pros and Cons
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Pricing plan
$69/month for a single terminal plus $49/month for each additional terminal.
Conclusion
While all of the POS systems listed above are capable and well-reviewed, each of them excels in distinct areas. Whether you run a basic coffee cart, a sit-down cafe that also processes orders through 3rd-party delivery applications, or a hybrid business that sells both coffee and products, perhaps this article has simplified the process of picking the finest POS for your particular coffee shop needs.
For coffee shops and bakeries on Magento platform, Magestore is among the best pos system. It combines coffee shop-specific features, competitive pricing, and good usability aspects to provide a consistent experience for both you and your customers. You can request a POS demo to experience how it helps streamline your cafe and bakery operations.
