Restaurant management software: the eight systems and what to buy first

Restaurant management software is the set of systems a restaurant runs on: a POS, plus tools for inventory, scheduling, payroll, reservations, online ordering, phone answering and accounting. Start by listing the systems you already have and the job you need to improve. Check whether an existing plan covers it, what data the job needs, and who will own the setup before buying another tool.

Treat the table below as a map of jobs and possible data flows, not a requirement to connect every tool to the POS. For each proposed connection, ask which records it reads or writes, which account holds the original record, and what staff must do when an update fails. Answering a question, recording a staff shift and submitting a paid order need different checks.

What does each system do?

System	What it does	Examples from vendors' own pages	Possible records to check
POS	Takes orders and payments, holds the menu, sends tickets to the kitchen and records each sale	Toast, Square, Clover, SpotOn, Lightspeed and TouchBistro. See our POS explainer and POS buying guide	Payments, kitchen tickets and sales records; confirm each separate connection
Inventory and food cost	Counts stock, costs recipes, tracks waste and builds orders to suppliers	MarketMan's Starter plan is $249 /monthly and lists real-time recipe costing, actual vs theoretical reporting and waste management	POS item sales, supplier invoices, accounting
Scheduling and time clock	Builds schedules, handles shift trades and time off, and records clock-ins	7shifts has a free plan for single locations up to 15 employees. Homebase Basic is $0 for 1 location, up to 10 employees	POS sales for labor forecasts, payroll
Payroll	Pays staff, handles tips and files payroll taxes	Gusto Simple is $49/mo + $6/mo per person. Square Payroll starts at $35 per month + $6 per person paid	Time clock, tips from the POS, accounting
Reservations and waitlist	Takes bookings, manages tables and the waitlist, and keeps guest profiles	SevenRooms' Starter package lists CRM and guest profiles, branded reservations and waitlist management, and table management, priced by quote	POS checks and guest spend, marketing
Online ordering	Takes pickup and delivery orders from your website, app or delivery apps	Toast lists online ordering in its Digital Storefront Suite. ChowNow lists direct online ordering and prints a 2.95% + $0.29 per transaction fee	POS menu and modifiers, kitchen screen
Phone answering	Answers questions and routes calls; ordering and bookings depend on the product and setup	Maple Voice answers calls; Maple Pro adds phone orders and reservations. SevenRooms sells a Voice AI add-on that books reservations	Approved restaurant facts and transfer numbers; POS for supported orders, reservation system for supported bookings
Accounting	Keeps the books, reconciles daily sales and bank deposits, and pays supplier bills	Restaurant365 lists a restaurant-specific general ledger, daily sales and bank reconciliation, and automated accounts payable, priced by quote	POS sales, payroll, inventory and invoices

What does your POS already cover?

Before you buy a separate tool, read your current plan and quote. A product sold by the same vendor still needs a scope check: is it enabled at your location, what setup or permissions does it need, and which records does it share? Ask for the supported workflow and any separate subscription or connection fees in writing. Compare that with the separate tool before paying twice for the same job.

• Toast: its pricing page lists online ordering, payroll, scheduling, inventory and xtraCHEF among its products. That catalogue is not proof that your subscription includes each one. For example, Toast's online-ordering setup guide requires the module to be enabled, account permissions and a configured order-receiving workflow.
• Square: the restaurant pricing table marks shift scheduling, timecards and tip pooling as missing from Square Free and included in Square Plus and Premium. Reservation integrations are marked for Premium only. Square Payroll is a separate charge.
• Clover: the full-service bundles include shift management, online ordering and stock tracking, and list payroll integrations as an optional add-on.
• TouchBistro: the pricing page FAQ says the Point of Sale plan includes staff management, floor plans and reporting, and that a kitchen display, inventory, online ordering, loyalty and reservations cost extra.

In what order should you buy them?

These are representative starting points for a buying discussion, not a proven purchase sequence. Choose a candidate only when your own records show the problem and the team can support the change. Quick-service and drive-thru stores have their own order in our QSR technology guide.

Restaurant	First candidate to assess	Check before buying	Candidate to defer
Full-service dining room	Reservations and waitlist if staff cannot keep seating records straight	Host workflow, account access and guest-record ownership	A branded app if it does not solve the measured problem
Café or bakery	Pickup ordering if staff re-enter orders by hand	Menu availability, collection times and kitchen routing	Reservations if there is no booking workflow to support
Bar	Inventory if counts and purchasing records do not reconcile	Count method, units, recipes and invoice ownership	Online ordering if the store's records show little relevant demand
Takeout and pizza	Ordering or phone answering, based on the requests staff cannot handle	Separate questions, attempted orders and completed orders	Reservations if there is no current staff use
Several locations	Reporting and access controls for the systems already in use	Store-level menus, permissions, exports and support responsibilities	A shared POS migration without a separate cost and workflow case

How do you fill in the buying worksheet?

Copy these six questions into a sheet, one column per system you are thinking about. Answer from a normal week.

1. Hours by hand: how many hours a week does someone spend on this job now? Count schedule building, stock counts, re-typing online orders, or answering the same phone question.
2. Observed result: separate counts from money. An unanswered call is not a confirmed lost sale; it may be a question, repeat call or attempted order. Record known request types, verified completed orders and unknown outcomes separately. Use actual waste records or invoices for costs you can establish.
3. Already covered: does your POS plan include this, or would a plan upgrade cost less than a separate tool?
4. Data flow: name the source and destination for each required record. Ask whether the connection moves full orders with modifiers, sales totals, staff hours or something else; whether it reads, writes or both; and how failures and duplicates are handled. A logo in a directory does not answer those questions.
5. Cost for a year: add the monthly fee, per-location and per-employee charges, per-transaction fees and setup. Gusto's $6/mo per person, for example, adds $180 a month for a team of 30.
6. Owner and acceptance check: name who may change each record, who checks the result and who handles an exception. Agree with the vendor on a demonstration or non-production method that avoids guest charges, live orders and payroll changes.

Choose a supported change with a clear owner and a measurable problem. Before launch, save a baseline for the same locations, service periods and measures you will review later. Record staffing, menu, promotion and other system changes alongside the results. A month of observation or changing one tool at a time does not by itself isolate that tool's effect.

Where does phone answering fit?

Separate answering from writing orders or reservations into other systems. Ask which account each workflow uses: a supported POS connection for POS order entry, or a supported reservation account for bookings. Confirm each separately rather than treating a reservation as a POS order. Maple Voice costs $150/month billed monthly or $85/month billed yearly for answering, hours and FAQs, and call transfer. Maple Pro costs $350/month billed monthly or $220/month billed yearly and adds phone orders into a supported POS and reservations on OpenTable. Check the listed systems on the integrations page, confirm your account and workflow with Maple, and compare other answering services in our phone answering shortlist.

Published by Maple. This AI-assisted guide combines vendors' own pricing and product pages with an original system table, buying order and worksheet. The buying order is editorial judgment. The worksheets are proposed buying checks, not product tests. Vendor examples reflect the linked plans reviewed for this guide; obtain a current quote for your location. No result is promised.