Kiosk or cashier: which counter setup fits your restaurant

If a line forms at your register most days, a mixed counter fits best: kiosks for card-paying guests with longer orders, and at least one staffed register. Keep cashiers only if your menu is short and one person keeps up at peak. Kiosk-only works when nearly every guest pays by card, you sell nothing that needs an ID check, and someone is free to help at the screens.

This page is about how to set up the counter. For choosing between a kiosk, QR codes and tabletop tablets, see the kiosk, QR or tablet guide. For what kiosks cost, see the kiosk cost guide.

Which counter setup fits?

Setup	Fits when	Watch for	Start here if
Cashier only	Short menu, few choices, a line only on rare days, many regulars	The line at peak, and add-ons a busy cashier forgets to offer	One register keeps up in your busiest hour and few guests walk out
Mixed: kiosks plus a staffed register	A line most days, a menu built on choices, guests who pay both card and cash	Who helps at the kiosks, and who calls out and hands over orders from both	Your busiest hour has more orders than one register can take
Kiosk only	High volume, nearly all card payments, no alcohol, a menu with clear photos and required choices set	Cash guests, guests who cannot use a screen, age checks, and internet outages	You already run mixed, the register sits idle at peak, and a staff member is free to help at the screens

How many orders can one register take?

Work this out from your own counter. It takes an hour of watching and one POS report.

1. At your peak, time 20 orders at the register, from the guest's first word to the receipt. Average them.
2. Divide 3,600 by that average. That is the most orders one register can take in an hour with no pause.
3. Pull the order count for your busiest hour from the POS, all channels that go through the counter.
4. If the busiest hour has more orders than the register can take, the line grows through the rush.

A made-up example: orders average 60 seconds, so one register tops out at 60 an hour. The busiest hour brings 90 counter orders. If one kiosk takes a third of them (30), the register is left with 60, exactly its limit, with no slack for a slow order. A second kiosk or a second register gives that slack.

A kiosk helps at peak mainly because guests can order at several points at once. In a 2019 University of North Texas field experiment at a campus Burger King, peak orders took about the same time at the kiosk and the cashier (54.5 and 54.7 seconds). Off-peak, kiosk orders were faster (43.3 against 62.7 seconds). That study was one store with mostly student guests, so time your own.

What do chains that run both setups say?

• BurgerFi found that two kiosks plus one or two registers worked best, with kiosks on the counter to save floor space, according to Restaurant Business in June 2022. Cashiers moved to the dining room to refill drinks and help guests.
• Shake Shack told QSR Magazine in June 2023 that it can put four to five or more kiosks in a restaurant and take out cash registers. The company said at least one register stays for guests who pay cash or buy alcohol.
• An analyst's rule of thumb: in the same QSR Magazine article, BTIG analyst Peter Saleh said brands he spoke with found that kiosks handling 30 to 40 percent of sales let a store move staff to other jobs, while cutting order-taking labor took 70 percent or more.

These are chains with many stores and trained crews. Treat them as a starting layout to test, with your own counts.

Which guests still need a cashier?

• Cash payers. In the Federal Reserve's 2026 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice, consumers made an average of 47 payments a month; suburban and urban consumers made six cash payments a month and rural consumers nine. Households earning under $25,000 and adults 55 and older relied on cash more. Toast's kiosk setup guide lets a guest choose cash at the kiosk, print a receipt and pay a cashier, so even that path needs a person. The kiosk payments guide covers cash in detail.
• Anyone buying alcohol or other age-checked items. Square's kiosk menu guide says Square Kiosk does not support age verification for alcohol or other age-restricted items.
• Guests who cannot use the screen. A guest who is blind, has low vision or cannot reach the screen needs another way to order. The kiosk accessibility guide covers what the law and the Access Board say.
• Guests with questions. Allergy questions, large group orders and catering requests are easier to handle with a person at the register.
• Everyone, during an outage. Square's setup guide says the Square Kiosk app does not take offline payments. Ask your vendor what its kiosk does when the internet drops, and keep a way to take orders by hand.

How do you move from cashier-only to mixed?

1. Put one kiosk beside the register, where the cashier can see it and point guests to it.
2. Have the cashier offer the kiosk to guests with long orders in the first weeks.
3. Move one person from the register to help at the kiosk and hand out orders during the rush.
4. Track the kiosk's share of orders each week. Toast's kiosk overview shows how to filter the sales summary to kiosk orders.
5. Recount your busiest hour after four weeks. Add a kiosk only if the line is still there.

A voice kiosk is another option for the counter. Maple's voice ordering kiosk lets guests say the order while the cart builds on screen, takes orders in many languages, and has a staff-help button on every screen. It is in early access with a small number of restaurants, priced per unit with no public price. The voice kiosk guide covers where speaking helps and its limits.

Published by Maple, which sells an early-access voice ordering kiosk. This AI-assisted guide combines Square and Toast help pages, a University of North Texas thesis, the Federal Reserve's 2026 payment diary and reporting by Restaurant Business and QSR Magazine with an original decision table and counter worksheet. It does not report a Maple test or give legal advice on cash or accessibility.