Selecting the proper POS system is essential for the smooth operation of your food truck business.
With so many options available, it can be challenging to make an informed decision that suits your specific requirements.
To simplify your search, I’ve conducted thorough research on highly-rated POS systems tailored for food trucks.
This guide offers a balanced perspective, analyzing crucial factors to consider and presenting the top contenders in the industry.
The Top Food Truck POS Systems In 2024
- Toast – Best online ordering and takeout features
- Square – Best for startups looking for a subscription-free system
- TouchBistro – Best for ease of use and integrated loyalty features
- Table Needs – Best mobile POS system with a built-in KDS
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Why Use a Food Truck POS System?
A Food Truck POS (Point of Sale) system is an essential tool that combines software and hardware to help food trucks manage sales and operations easily.
Designed for the unique challenges of mobile food businesses, it covers order taking, payment processing, inventory control, and analyzing data.
Built with food trucks in mind, a modern cloud-based POS system tackles real-time inventory tracking in tight spaces, quick service management, and operations across different locations.
It’s more than just a mobile cash register; a food truck POS is a powerful management system that boosts efficiency and improves customer experience.
Toast
Over recent years, Toast has emerged as a significant player in the restaurant commerce industry by rapidly growing and gaining attention through notable acquisitions. In fact, one could say that Toast has become a game-changer. So, it’s no surprise that they have been named one of the most innovative companies of 2023 by Fast Company (Source).
Toast aims to become a comprehensive restaurant commerce system. It also positions itself as a one-stop shop for food trucks.
One of the best things about Toast is that even with its many awesome features, it still maintains a reasonable pricing structure. Indeed, it is one of the top Point of Sale (POS) systems for food trucks.
Toast Pricing & Hardware Options
Toast User Reviews
Here is a summary of my analysis of user reviews, testimonials, and complaints about Toast as seen on major review sites like Capterra, G2, and others.
- User-Friendly Interface: Many Toast users express satisfaction with the system’s user-friendly interface. They find that the software is easy to navigate, and training new employees is straightforward due to its intuitive design.
- Customization and Flexibility: Users appreciate the high level of customization available with Toast POS. The system allows them to tailor the POS to their specific business needs, from table layouts to menu configurations.
- Comprehensive Reporting: The reporting features of Toast POS are praised by several users. They find the reports easy to tailor to their needs and are pleased with the ability to download them into different formats for further analysis.
- Effective Tableside Ordering: The handheld devices for tableside ordering receive high marks for their ease of use and ability to increase efficiency for service staff, allowing them to spend more time with guests.
- Mobile and Cloud-Based: Toast’s mobile compatibility and cloud-based platform are highlighted as beneficial, enabling business owners to manage their operations and access real-time data from anywhere.
- Technical Problems and Outages: Some reviewers report experiencing technical issues with the system, including network-wide crashes and offline payment processing errors, which occasionally cause entry errors and disrupt operations.
- Additional Costs and Fees: Fees associated with certain features and payment processing rates are a point of contention for some users, who believe these fees can be excessive and not fully transparent.
- Limited Quick Service Features: Toast POS is criticized by some quick service restaurants for its limited feature set tailored to their business model, suggesting improvements in order management and throttling.
- Problematic Payroll Service: There are some complaints specifically about Toast’s payroll service, with users advising others to avoid it due to errors in tax reporting and other difficulties.
- Installation and Setup Challenges: A few users find the self-install process to be complicated, noting that initial setup could be smoother and sometimes requires intervention from company representatives.
- Issues with Customer Service: A common theme among the negative reviews is dissatisfaction with customer service. Users complain about receiving minimal support from customer service representatives, stating they often follow scripts with limited product knowledge.
Where Toast Stands Out for Food Trucks
Mobility and Flexibility: Toast has a handheld device, the Toast Go, which is ideal for the limited space in food trucks. This mobile POS system allows you to easily take orders, process payments, and print receipts, all from the palm of your hand.
Mobile Dining Solutions and QR Code Capabilities: Implement a custom QR code with Toast to scan to order, allowing guests to effectively serve themselves and keep staff focused on meal prep.
Hardware that Fits Your Business: Toast hardware is restaurant grade, IP54 spill-proof rated, designed to withstand the rigors of a food truck environment in a small, mobile space.
Online Ordering: Toast POS allows food trucks to offer online ordering, improving customer experience and increasing sales.
Customer Engagement and Loyalty Programs: Toast integrates with customer engagement programs like customer loyalty and email marketing, to build a loyal customer base and keep them coming back.
Inventory Management: Toast has integrated food inventory management tools, helping you keep track of stock and reduce costs.
Detailed Customer and Sales Reporting: Toast includes integrated reporting and analytics, letting you keep pace with performance in real time and make informed decisions to improve your business.
Cost-Effective Plans: Toast fits your budget. The Pay as You Go plan keeps startup costs low by providing Starter Kit Hardware for $0 (just pay shipping and taxes) and eliminating monthly POS software subscription fees. The payment processing fee covers all costs, meaning Toast only gets paid when you do.
Easy Menu Customization and Management: With Toast, you can quickly update your menu or prices wherever you are, particularly useful for food trucks with frequently changing menus.
Reliable Internet Connection and Offline Mode: Toast POS can be used on the road with a third-party 4G modem. In case of internet issues, it offers an offline mode, allowing you to place orders, print tickets, and take credit card payments until the connection is re-established.
Where Toast Falls Short
- Locked into Toast Payment Processing: Users are required to use Toast’s in-house credit card processing solution, restricting their ability to shop around for potentially better or more affordable alternatives.
- Add-ons Can Get Expensive: While Toast POS offers a range of valuable add-ons to help restaurants enhance their operations, these extra features often come with additional costs. These expenses might be prohibitive, especially for small or start-up establishments looking to maintain a low-budget operation.
- Not Very Transparent Pricing: Another downside of Toast POS is the lack of transparent pricing information on the website, including the various hardware bundles and add-on features. This can make it difficult for potential clients to compare Toast POS with other providers.
- Only Available in a Few English-speaking Countries: Toast is only available in a select few English-speaking countries, limiting access for restaurants operating outside these markets. This geographical restriction may make Toast POS less desirable for global or multi-national brands looking for a comprehensive solution across all their locations
Square
Square for Restaurants provides an excellent POS solution for food trucks, facilitating every aspect of running and expanding your business.
With Square Online, you can accept orders on your free personalized website and manage them seamlessly using the Kitchen Display System (KDS), enabling pickup and delivery.
You can simultaneously manage multiple food trucks, unifying operations, payroll, and staffing. And, benefit from the intelligent routing and reporting capabilities to enhance order accuracy and minimize errors.
Furthermore, Square offers marketing tools to connect with customers and heighten sales. Effortlessly design, send, and monitor email and social media campaigns while implementing a loyalty program to reward your regulars.
Square Pricing & Hardware Options
Square User Reviews
Here is a summary of my analysis of user reviews, testimonials, and complaints about Square for Restaurants as seen on major review sites like Capterra, G2, and others.
- Ease of Setup and Use: Many users commend Square for its user-friendly setup process and intuitive design. The system is easy to configure, adaptable for various devices including iPads and smartphones, and provides quick access to online market tools.
- Cost-Effective: Business owners appreciate the affordability of Square for Restaurants. The pricing is competitive, and the system offers a variety of financial management tools such as integrated payment processing which contributes to a low-stress financial experience.
- Efficient Sales Tracking and Payment Processing: The app has been highlighted for its capabilities in sales monitoring and secure payment processing, with immediate transaction fees rather than monthly billing.
- CRM and Website Integration: Users appreciate the CRM tools provided by Square and find the website creation services particularly beneficial for enhancing their online presence, which is especially notable for quick transitions to online ordering during events like the pandemic.
- Resourceful Features: Square for Restaurants POS is valued for its many features that assist in business operations, including inventory tracking, promotional offers, loyalty rewards, customer feedback collection, and seamless QuickBooks integration.
- Complex Restaurant Issues: Some users report that Square for Restaurants is not ideal for complex restaurant operations. Glitches have led to crashes, with systems becoming unresponsive during busy times, causing major distress for restaurant owners. The system is also criticized for being unable to handle the intricacies of a full-service restaurant setting.
- Customization Limits: Certain users find it tedious to customize menus and loyalty programs. Adjustments to the system may require excessive steps, which can be frustrating, especially for businesses with frequently changing offerings.
- Technical Support Concerns: There have been complaints regarding the level of technical support provided by Square. Troubleshooting complex issues has sometimes proven difficult, with tech support struggling to resolve problems effectively. Furthermore, the lack of on-site support from Square when compared to competing products is a significant drawback for some users.
- Inadequate Reporting: Users have mentioned that the reporting feature for Square for Restaurants POS could be improved. Detailed drill-down reports are lacking, making it cumbersome for business owners to analyze sales and inventory effectively.
- Hardware Problems: Issues with the card reader have also been mentioned, with it occasionally rotating during a swipe and causing a read error, although solutions like anchoring the reader have been used to fix it.
Where Square Stands Out For Food Trucks
Square for Restaurants stands out as a great food truck point-of-sale (POS) system choice, due to its robust features catering to unique food truck needs. Here’s why Square is worth your consideration:
Mobility: Your food truck is always on the move, and you need a POS system that moves with you. Designed for mobility, Square is easy to set up and use, no matter where you park.
Ease of Use: Benefit from the user-friendly interface of Square. Quickly customize the items grid and categories page to align with your changing menu—a key consideration given your likely rotating or varying menu.
Payment Flexibility: Never miss a sale due to payment restrictions. Square accepts all kinds of payments, cash, credit cards, and mobile payments.
Fast Transactions: Thrive in your fast-paced environment with a system designed for quick transactions. It also offers a tab-splitting feature if your customers wish to spread their payment across multiple credit cards.
Inventory Management: Enjoy free inventory management software that comes with Square’s POS system. This allows you to manage your inventory in real time, even receiving custom alerts when you’re running low on a specific ingredient.
Employee Management: Square’s integrated employee management software lets your team clock in and out directly from the POS system. This helps optimize scheduling and keeps overtime hours in check.
Business Insights: Discover smarter business decisions with real-time insights. After processing payments, check out your sales, get real-time business data, and find useful insights on the Square Dashboard.
Where Square Can Improve
Limited Advanced Features: Square for Restaurants may lack some advanced features found in other POS systems, such as in-depth inventory management and comprehensive reporting tools.
Complex Reporting: The reporting features can be difficult to navigate due to their complexity and the insufficient detail they provide. Reconciling sales to receivables is also a lengthy process.
Lack of On-Site Support: Square for Restaurants doesn’t offer on-site support, which may not be suitable for businesses needing in-person assistance.
More information on Square:
Square for Restaurants: Setting a New Course for the Future
How Square’s New AI Features Can Benefit Your Restaurant
TouchBistro
TouchBistro is an excellent choice for food trucks. Not only does it offer a visually appealing and intuitive design, but it also has an abundance of features. It further offers the convenience of a hybrid cloud/server system, giving you peace of mind knowing that your data is always accessible and secure.
Ease of use: TouchBistro is one of the easiest POS systems to use. It is easy to use and you can learn it in a short time. TouchBistro is great for people who want something quick and easy to work with.
New employees don’t have to waste precious time going through an extensive tutorial – if they are familiar with an iPad, then they can easily figure out TouchBistro. You can customize your menus and interface with this tool which will help you speed up your processes in the long run.
TouchBistro Pricing & Hardware Options
TouchBistro User Reviews
Here is a summary of my analysis of user reviews, testimonials, and complaints about TouchBistro as seen on major review sites like Capterra, G2, and others.
- Ease of Use: The user interface is generally praised as user-friendly and easily navigable, making it simple for staff to manage tasks and learn the system.
- Robust Features: TouchBistro offers comprehensive features for managing a wide range of restaurant operations, from room charges to extensive menus.
- Menu Management: Users enjoy the intuitive platform for updating pricing, adding and removing items, and overall menu customization.
- Self-Ordering Kiosk and Offline Functionality: The self-ordering kiosk feature for customer upgrades and the ability to operate without internet are well-received.
- Quick and Efficient Order Taking: Utilizing iPads, the TouchBistro POS allows for efficient order taking directly at the table, enhancing the guest experience.
- Inventory Tracking: Although it requires extensive setup, the inventory tracking capabilities are detailed and offer significant benefits once in place.
- Responsive Customer Service: Some reviewers cite the customer service team as being quick to respond and helpful, often implementing suggested features.
- Ongoing Software Improvements: The company is recognized for continuously rolling out new features and for being supportive during the challenges faced by the restaurant industry.
Technology Issues During Updates: Users experience significant technology issues when updates to TouchBistro are required, leading to potential downtime that businesses cannot afford.
Difficulties with Customer Support: Reaching customer support can be time-consuming, and some users face lengthy wait times and get passed from one representative to another.
Challenges with Reporting: Obtaining comprehensive reports is cumbersome, and the analytics provided are found to be lacking in depth by some users.
Onboarding and Training Challenges: Users noted the onboarding process could be difficult, and the lack of user-friendly support materials led to some businesses having to create their own training manuals.
Wi-Fi Connection Problems: Some users reported intermittent Wi-Fi connection issues, which occasionally require modem resets.
System Stability and Bugs: Instances of the system disconnecting daily, causing significant operational burdens and frustrations.
Limited Remote Management: Managing multiple restaurants or making substantial changes remotely is problematic due to limitations of the system’s infrastructure.
Where TouchBistro Stands Out for Food Trucks
TouchBistro is a great food truck POS system with a user-friendly interface and robust features tailor-made for high-turnover food and beverage businesses. It’s built to match the pace of your mobile business, streamlining the processing of long lines swiftly and efficiently.
Sales Enhancement Features: One of the distinguishing features of TouchBistro is its sales enhancement capability. It leverages pop-up prompts to remind staff to upsell, and optimizes your menu and promotions using comprehensive sales reports. This feature aligns with the crucial need for POS systems to deliver analytics and reporting for informed business decisions.
Outstanding Guest Experience: TouchBistro not only enhances sales but also the guest experience. It boasts quick register buttons for swift order processing. A customer-facing display guarantees customers receive the correct order. Plus, integrated mobile payment processing enables various payment methods—swipe, dip, or tap—for customer convenience.
Tailored Hardware Solutions: TouchBistro offers hardware solutions that fit your business. It efficiently utilizes counter space with stow-away mobile credit card processing terminals when not in use—a particular benefit for spatially limited food trucks.
Menu Customization and Management: In terms of menu customization and management, TouchBistro allows time savings with pre-scheduled menus and promotions. An intuitive iOS system proves easy for staff to learn and use, cutting down training time.
Comprehensive Reporting: TouchBistro meets the POS system requirement of comprehensive analytics and reporting features by providing access to over 50 powerful reports on-the-go. These reports range from payment processing and financial data to a breakdown of customer orders.
Multiple Payment Processors Integration: TouchBistro shines with its capacity to integrate with various payment processors, offering flexibility and convenience for food truck owners. Its support for multiple terminals also makes it a cost-effective solution for businesses requiring more than one POS terminal.
Offline Functionality: TouchBistro ensures business continuity with its offline functionality—critical for food trucks that may occasionally lack a reliable internet connection. Uniquely, TouchBistro’s hybrid POS accepts orders and payments without internet access, assuring unbroken service.
Where TouchBistro Falls Short
- Limited integrations: TouchBistro doesn’t offer as many integrations as some other POS systems, potentially limiting businesses requiring extensive software/platform integration.
- Limited reporting: Reporting features need improvement for more comprehensive sales, employee performance, and inventory reports.
More information on TouchBistro:
TouchBistro’s New Cutting-Edge Back-of-House Solutions
Table Needs
Table Needs is a point-of-sale company that specifically targets the food service industry, with a particular emphasis on quick service restaurants, cafes, and food trucks. Its offerings include innovative and simplified products and services designed to augment business proficiency and profitability.
Table Needs was founded by individuals who have substantial experience in the food service industry and are well-versed in the specific needs of restaurateurs.
The company’s vision is to foster a world where locally-owned quick service restaurants, cafes, and food trucks are stable, profitable businesses that contribute to their communities and promote local growth.
Where Table Needs Stands Out for Food Trucks
All-in-One System: The Table Needs POS system is a comprehensive platform allowing you to manage your entire business seamlessly. The full package includes a kitchen display system (KDS), QR code ordering, online ordering, and menu management, all at no extra cost.
Ease of Use: Designed with simplicity and speed in mind, this POS system runs on standard mobile devices, thereby saving you the expense of investing in proprietary hardware.
Ordering Options: Your customers are presented with a variety of ways to place an order. They can Scan to Order & Pay via their mobile device after scanning a provided QR code, place an order for a future time using the commission-free online ordering system, or make traditional counter orders. All these orders are routed through the POS system, allowing for easy tracking and reporting.
Built-in Kitchen Display System (KDS): The in-built KDS feature aids you in streamlining order management. This tool simplifies kitchen operations, helping you manage orders, prioritize tasks, and reduce confusion during busy periods. Additionally, the KDS will automatically send text messages to your customers to let them know when their orders are ready for pick-up.
No Contracts, No Hidden Fees: Table Needs operates with total transparency. There are no contracts or hidden fees to worry about. Besides, no proprietary hardware is imposed on you, making it a more economical choice compared to some other systems out there.
Mobile App: Initiate your journey with Table Needs simply by downloading their mobile app. As a food truck owner, this sets you up with a cost-effective, highly portable, and efficient solution right at the tip of your fingers.
Mobile Point of Sale (POS) system specifically designed for food trucks and food carts. This robust system provides a full suite of features that lets you manage your entire business right from the palm of your hand, eliminating the need for bulky hardware.
Table Needs Pricing
Table Needs operates on a flexible pricing model designed to cater to different sizes and scales of food service businesses.
Food Truck POS System Recommendations
Based on the features of each POS system, here are my recommendations for different types of food trucks.
Toast: For newcomers to the food truck business or those functioning on a restrictive budget, Toast’s economical plans and robust features make for an ideal fit. Its offline mode and mobile compatibility establish Toast as a reliable option for food trucks navigating areas with inconsistent internet connectivity. The system’s ability to split tabs and rapidly process transactions proves advantageous for food trucks catering to larger groups.
TouchBistro: For food trucks dealing with high staff turnover or keen on reducing the training period, TouchBistro meets the unique requirements with its user-friendly interface and robust features. With offline functionality, the system guarantees uninterrupted service making it perfect for food trucks operating in areas with unreliable internet connection.
Square for Restaurants: If you’re kicking off your food truck business or seeking a simple, uncomplicated system, Square’s mobile design and easy setup offer an effortless solution. The provision of free inventory management software and real-time business insights makes Square particularly appealing for food truck owners desiring to monitor their business performance and inventory closely.
Review Conclusion
In the food truck industry, a powerful POS system with diverse features plays a vital role. It drastically improves business proficiency and profitability by offering mobile compatibility and optimizing inventory management in limited spaces.
The significance of flexible menu management, financial integrations, and analytics to streamline operations and guide strategy is noteworthy. The system should enhance payment conveniences, provide insights, and enable quick menu adjustments to changing demands.
The POS system should also align with the changing industry trends by integrating online ordering, delivery services, and digital marketing. A loyal customer base can be established through customer loyalty programs. Importantly, select a durable, user-friendly POS system hardware that fits the food truck’s space limitations.
A carefully chosen POS system significantly contributes to the food truck’s success. Therefore, every food truck owner must assess their specific needs before selecting a system, ensuring it is intuitive, reliable, and provides excellent customer support.
In conclusion, a good POS system is not just for processing transactions, but it is a strategic partner for advancing your food truck business.
Read more:
How Much Does a Restaurant POS System Cost?
Restaurant Payment & Credit Card Processing Simplified
14 Restaurant POS Features That Are Essential