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Restaurant POS hardware is a worthwhile investment for an efficient restaurant. These are our recommendations for the best restaurant POS systems along with compatible POS hardware options and pricing.

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.

You may need a KDS in your restaurant if you offer multiple ordering methods (at the counter or the table, drive-thru order window, online, etc.), currently run into order errors and slow turnaround time because kitchen staff has a hard time deciphering order tickets, have a restaurant with more than one prep station, or want to cut down on your physical paper usage.

Small restaurants and food trucks will likely only need one countertop POS system with basic inventory management, so we recommend a simple POS system setup that meets a smaller budget. These businesses can save money with a free restaurant POS system like Square For Restaurants and affordable Square POS hardware ($59-$799).

A restaurant POS system is software combined with a credit card reader that allows you to take restaurant orders on a tablet screen, manage a menu and inventory, manage orders in the kitchen, accept digital payment types, and print receipts.

You work hard for your business’s money, and your checking account should honor that with great perks, low fees, and helpful banking features. We ruled out the mediocre banks and only included business checking accounts with features and rewards that stood out from the rest.

If you are required to file a tax return, you must report all income. Even if you didn’t receive a Form 1099-K in the past, you should have reported the taxable income you received through Venmo, PayPal, and other cash app transactions on your tax return. The new rules under the American Rescue Plan simply make sure that this income is reported. For tax year 2024, if you receive over $600 in income through these sources, you will receive a Form 1099-K and a duplicate form will also be sent to the IRS.

If you are self-employed, you are still responsible for paying taxes. However, your taxes won’t be automatically deducted every time a client pays you.
Instead, you will be required to file additional forms with your annual tax return and pay any taxes owed. In some cases, you may be required to estimate your tax liability and pay taxes every quarter.