01
Speed of service when it gets ugly
What happens at 7:30pm on a Friday when you mark a size sold out, when a delivery quote fails, when a guest splits the bill four ways. Treat the demo like a busy service, not a product tour.
Buyer's guide · From Next Order
How to choose a restaurant POS system
Compare vendors on speed of service when it gets ugly, the real three-year bill, and how risky the switch is. No polished sales pitch. Just the questions and the scoresheet you take into the room.
18 min readReviewed Apr 2026Scoresheet and shortlist questions inside
Classic Pizza
+ GLUTEN FREE+ VEGAN+ VEGETARIAN
Verona
Prosciutto
Salmone
Antipasto
Greek
Capricciosa
Classic Pizza
+ GLUTEN FREE+ VEGAN+ VEGETARIAN
Verona
Prosciutto
Salmone
Antipasto
Greek
Capricciosa
The screen to ask every vendor to drive: categories left, photo menu centre, the live ticket right — a delivery order building line by line.
Before you sign anything
Three lenses for choosing a POS
Score every shortlist on the same three. The chapters below give you the questions, the scoresheet, and the real bill. So you walk in with the same starting point every time.
02
The real bill across three years
Sites, terminals, modules, integrations, support, hardware refresh. And the contract terms that decide what happens at renewal. If a line is missing from the quote, it still lands in your bottom line.
03
Switching risk you can name
Menu, modifiers, guest data, training, the week the two systems run side by side. Who owns each step, who signs off, and who pays if go-live slips a weekend.
On this pageThe 10 questions
CHAPTER 01
Ten questions every POS vendor should answer
Take these into the next demo. Ask them out loud. If the answer is fuzzy, ask again in writing before you pay a deposit.
- 01
Does the POS handle every way you take orders today, without bolting on a second system?
If your website, app and floor menu are not kept in sync, you get the same order typed in twice, wrong tickets to the kitchen, and refunds that show up after service.
- Look for
- One menu and one guest record across the floor, your website, kiosk, QR, and delivery handoffs. Same prices, same modifiers, same sold-out list. Wherever the order came from. The vendor walks every channel you run on screen, not on a roadmap slide.
- Watch for
- "Omnichannel" as a buzzword, with a separate login for the website and the floor. Online ordering or QR sold as an add-on that breaks every time the floor menu changes.
- 02
Can you change menus, mark sold out, and update prices yourself, without raising a support ticket?
A POS should behave like a control panel during service. Not a catalogue that only changes overnight.
- Look for
- Managers can mark sold out at item, size, and topping level, and push it to every terminal and the website in minutes. Half-half, modifiers, specials, and tax rules survive an edit without being rebuilt overnight. When something breaks mid-shift, there is one clear name to call: you, the vendor, or a named partner.
- Watch for
- Sold out is whole-item only when you need to pull a single topping. Every price change goes through a support ticket before it lands.
- 03
What is the real total bill across three years, in writing?
Your software now touches ordering, marketing, reporting, and the books. The cheapest quote almost always grows once busy season hits.
- Look for
- Line items for licences, terminals, the modules you will turn on, install, training, support, and what each integration costs. A three-year view that includes hardware refresh and realistic add-on growth, not just year one. A single monthly and annual number for your exact site count, terminals, and card volume.
- Watch for
- A headline per-terminal price that quietly leaves out integrations, menu-change limits, kiosk modules, or busy-season support. Verbal "we will cover that" lines that never make it into the contract.
- 04
What does the contract commit you to: minimum term, exit terms, price increases, and auto-renewal?
Lock-in is where great pricing turns into great-for-the-vendor 18 months in. The day you want to leave is the wrong day to read the contract.
- Look for
- A short minimum term, or month-to-month if you want it. Plain-English exit terms with a stated notice period. Annual price changes capped or tied to inflation, not "reviewed at vendor discretion". Auto-renewal flagged with a written reminder before it kicks in.
- Watch for
- 36-month lock-in as the default, with auto-renewal nobody mentions during the demo. "Annual price review" clauses with no cap on the increase. Exit terms hidden behind a clause that needs a lawyer to interpret.
- 05
Which integrations come from the vendor itself, which come from a partner, and who picks up the phone when one breaks?
When three vendors point at each other, service stops. You need one phone number per failure, with a name on it.
- Look for
- A clear name beside payments, delivery, reservations, and your accounting hand-off. Not a logo wall. A named contact to call when a delivery network or third party has an outage on a Friday night. Early warning when a partner system is changing, not a surprise on a trading Saturday.
- Watch for
- A logo wall with no contract on who answers the 8pm phone call. Every integration described as "best effort", with no support contract behind it.
- 06
How do user roles, permissions, and site controls work across multiple venues?
Without one set of rules across the group, menus drift between sites, margin goes missing, and every site ends up training its staff differently.
- Look for
- Standards across the group for menus, pricing, service charge, holidays, and who can do what. Site-level overrides where local laws or the venue format require it, with a record of who changed what. Limits on discounts, voids, comps, and no-show controls per role. Matching how you run shifts.
- Watch for
- Every site running on its own, with manual exports up to "HQ reporting". Managers share one super-admin login because there are no proper user roles.
- 07
Can your bookkeeper tie out the day without spending it in spreadsheets?
Managers need speed. Bookkeepers need numbers that tie out. If your books live in spreadsheet exports, you pay for it in labour hours every single week.
- Look for
- Sales, payment mix, channel mix, refunds, voids, delivery costs, and unmatched payments shown in the system, not exported to a spreadsheet. A clear line from each payment type back to what hits your bank account, in the language your bookkeeper uses. Order history that matches what the guest paid and what the kitchen fired.
- Watch for
- "You can always export it" as the answer to every reconciliation question. Five exports to tie out one night of trading.
- 08
How do we move off our current system, and who owns go-live?
The POS you can get live cleanly always beats the POS that looked best in the sales pitch.
- Look for
- Who imports the menu, modifiers, half-half rules, taxes, and guest data. With a practice copy you can break safely before you sign. A week running both systems side by side, with the numbers that have to look right before go-live, and a written plan for switching back if you need to. Training hours, on-site versus remote, and tracks for floor, bar, kitchen, and the bookkeeper.
- Watch for
- No sample import before contract signature. A go-live date picked before anyone mapped your trickiest menu items.
- 09
What hardware can you reuse, and which devices are tested for the way your restaurant runs?
Hardware surprises wipe out software savings fast. Ask before you build the cost list.
- Look for
- A tested list of printers, terminals, tablets, and kitchen screens for a layout like yours. A clear plan for replacements, plus how many spares you should hold for opening week. An honest call on what is too old to carry forward, instead of a "works with everything" claim.
- Watch for
- "Works with everything" with no contract for when something odd fails on a Friday. Hardware lock-in where spare parts are scarce in your city.
- 10
What does support look like during install, and what does it look like a month after go-live?
Verbal promises land in writing with a name beside them, or they do not exist.
- Look for
- Hours, who you call for serious issues, go-live cover, after-hours options, and response times. Written into the contract. A named owner for onboarding plus a named backup contact. A clear hand-off from install to day-to-day support, with example tickets you can read.
- Watch for
- Only a generic support number, with no written response time for your plan. Training sold separately with vague hour counts and no agenda.
Do this next
Pick the three your current system fails tonight, and open the next demo with those.
CHAPTER 02
One scoresheet for every demo
Same rows for every finalist. Tick what they have, leave the rest blank, and the totals do the talking.
Copy the sheet into your notes, one copy per vendor. Tick the rows they cover today, and leave the rest blank.
Service and order entry
Menu and changes
Kitchen and fulfilment
Payments and checkout
Loyalty and repeat business
Reports and the books
Delivery
Do this next
Copy one sheet per vendor and run them on the same night, so you compare the same rows on both.
CHAPTER 03
The three-year bill
The headline price is a decoy. Build out the real running cost before you negotiate, then ask each vendor to beat your list line by line.
What belongs in a three-year bill
The headline per-terminal price is never the whole story. Build the full list of what you will actually pay before you negotiate, then ask each finalist to beat it line by line.
- Subscription per terminal
- Billed every month per terminal whether you use the headline features or not. Multiplies as you add sites.
- Modules and integrations
- Some vendors bundle online ordering, loyalty, and reservations; others charge per module and per integration (delivery apps, accounting, gift cards). Track what is included, what is extra, and what is charged by usage.
- Payment partner
- How payments are handled matters more than the headline percentage. Look for an established payment partner, so refunds, exceptions, and reconciliation land in one place. Not three.
- Install, training, support
- Onboarding hours, training time, and the support tier. Pin these to dates in your own trading week, not a verbal range.
- Hardware reserve
- Terminals and printers wear out over time. Set money aside so replacing one is planned, not a last-minute scramble.
For the cut taken on online orders, see our commission savings calculator.
Example bill
One site, three terminals, £120,000 a month through the card terminals, four modules turned on. Subscription, payments, and hardware reserve are all in this number. Drop your real venue in when you sit down with the bookkeeper.
£33,012
Three-year total · one site, three terminals
Running total36 months
Year 1
£11,004
Year 2
£22,008
Year 3
£33,012
Drop any finalist quote into this layout. If they leave a line out, it still lands in your bottom line.
Do this next
Take any vendor quote, lay it next to the five lines on the left, and add the missing rows back yourself before you compare.
CHAPTER 04
Switching is half the product
The POS you get live cleanly beats the POS that looked best in the sales pitch. Ask for the unglamorous documents up front.
01
Menu, including the tricky items
Get a practice copy of your menu before you sign. Modifiers, half-half, specials, and tax rules should land correctly in the new system, not come across as the wrong items.
02
Guest data and marketing history
Customer lists, gift card balances, loyalty balances, and your past marketing are not optional. Map what moves automatically and what needs cleaning up by hand.
03
A week running side by side, and who owns the switch
Who runs which shift on the old system and which on the new one, which numbers have to look right before you go live, and who can still sign a comp after the switch.
04
Training built for each role
Separate tracks for the manager, head chef or kitchen lead, floor staff, bar, and the bookkeeper. The hours included should be in writing, not a verbal range.
05
A plan for going back
If go-live hits a wall on a trading Saturday, who makes the call, how quickly you switch back to the old system, and what happens to open tickets and gift card balances in the meantime.
Do this next
Put these five lines in your shortlist email, with a blank for the vendor to put a name beside each one.
CHAPTER 05
Shortlist questions to send
Send the same headings to every finalist so their answers come back in the same order. Add your venue-specific lines at the bottom of your own copy.
Send the same outline to every finalist so their answers come back in the same order. Add your venue-specific lines at the bottom of your own copy.
- 01
Service and order entry
- Dine-in, bar, takeaway, delivery, kiosk or drive-through on one guest record and one ticket
- Splits, transfers, coursing, void or comp with a record of who did it
- Permissions by role for discounts, refunds, and no-shows
- 02
Menu and changes
- One menu source for floor, web, QR, and third-party apps
- Modifiers, half-half, specials, taxes, and the ability to make items unavailable per channel
- Sold out at item, size, and topping level, updated on every channel in seconds
- 03
Kitchen and fulfilment
- Kitchen display and printer routing with item-level holds and fire rules
- Limits or caps on incoming orders when the rush hits
- Clear behaviour when tickets are edited after they fire
- 04
Payments and checkout
- Card-present, online, and digital wallet payments with split tickets
- Refunds and chargebacks visible in reporting, mapped to the right payment type
- Surcharging set up the way local rules require, with the cost shown to the guest
- 05
Loyalty and repeat business
- Loyalty and vouchers tied to the same guest record as POS and ordering
- Your own SMS or email with opt-in records you can defend
- A plan for moving customer data and gift card balances during the switch
- 06
Reports and the books
- Sales, payment mix, channel mix, voids, refunds, and delivery costs without juggling exports
- Tie-out views your bookkeeper can use directly
- Direct hand-off to your accounting software, with exactly what gets sent written down
- 07
Delivery
- Delivery areas, driver assignment, and tracking if you run your own fleet
- Third-party delivery from every supported marketplace live on one screen: driver assigned, on the way, handoff done. Without staff jumping between apps
- Reporting that splits delivery cost out from food margin
- 08
Switching and support
- A practice copy with your real menu, including the tricky items, before you sign
- A week running both systems side by side, the numbers that have to look right before go-live, a plan for switching back, and training hours in writing
- Support hours, who to call for serious issues, and go-live cover tied to your trading week
Do this next
Copy the outline into your shortlist email, then walk your bookkeeper through the must-haves before the next round of calls.
CHAPTER 06
How Next Order answers
Built for restaurants, not retail with restaurant labels stuck on top. Three answers to the lenses you opened with.
One screen, every channel
Floor, web, delivery, loyalty. One menu, one guest record, one orders view
Same menu and guest record on every channel. Where orders came from, and which sites are running the same menu, both show up in one place. So managers and the bookkeeper stop tying out on Sunday morning.
nextorder.com/hq/stores
Live
Group · this week
5 sites · £61.9k direct revenue
Direct share
62%
+3 pts
Menu parity
92%
Drift: 1 site
Staff hours
1,140
On budget
- OK£18.2k
Brick Lane
Shoreditch · direct 74%
- OK£14.9k
Kingsland Road
Hackney · direct 68%
- Menu drift£11.4k
High Street
Camden · direct 52%
- OK£9.8k
Old Street
Clerkenwell · direct 61%
- Low rating£7.6k
Berwick Street
Soho · direct 44%
Channel mix · group
Direct web
38%
POS walk-in
28%
Phone
14%
Marketplaces
14%
Third-party delivery
6%
Rollouts in flight
- Spring menu · 4/5 sitesStaged
- Loyalty tier change · all sitesLive
- Surcharge calendar · UK holidaysDraft
01
Speed of service when it gets ugly
Floor, web, delivery, kiosk on one menu
Same items, modifiers, and prices across every channel. Mark a size sold out and it is gone everywhere instantly, with order limits built in for the rush. No second menu to tie out when Friday gets busy.
02
The real bill across three years
No surprise extras, and no lock-in
Online ordering, loyalty, and integrations are included. Not charged per integration or per menu change. Month-to-month, with no 36-month lock-in waiting at renewal. One bill, one support line, one system that keeps improving.
03
Switching risk you can name
A switch with names beside every line
A practice copy with your tricky menu items, a week running side by side with the old system, training for each role, and a written plan for switching back if anything goes sideways. Each step has a name and a date before you sign. Not a slide-deck promise.
Do this next
Score Next Order on this scoresheet when you are ready to put your menu, your sites, and your busiest hour on screen.
Still weighing it up
A handful of questions we hear most often. Tap any to expand.
How do I compare total cost, not just the per-terminal price?
Build three years out: licences, the modules you will use, the percentage on card payments, support tier, hardware refresh, and switching costs. The cheapest quote almost always grows once add-ons and busy-season support are extra. Use the list in chapter three, then make every quote beat it line by line.
What is a red flag when a vendor is showing you the system?
A locked-down sample menu they will not let you change. No walkthrough of splits, voids, or coursing. Vague answers on who answers the phone for a third-party integration at 8pm. Reporting that needs five exports to tie out one night. Push them to walk you through your busiest scenario live. If they stall, that is the answer.
Should online ordering and loyalty be built into the POS?
For most restaurants, one menu and one guest record across floor and web cuts down on tying out and on training. If ordering is bolted on as a separate product, work out who fixes the bug when the ticket on screen does not match what the kitchen sees.
How important is being able to choose your hardware?
It matters for the total bill and for spares. Know what you can reuse, what the vendor recommends, and when each device should be replaced. A POS that locks you into scarce hardware can strand you on opening week.
What should be in the contract before we sign?
Install scope, training hours, the right to export your own data, support hours and who you call for serious issues, the exit terms, and which integrations come from the vendor versus a partner. Verbal promises land in writing with a name beside them, or they do not exist.
How long does a switch usually take?
For a single venue, a clean switch typically runs three to six weeks: menu and modifier import, hardware staged, training booked, then a week running the new system side by side with the old one before go-live. Multi-site groups roll out site by site, with a written plan for switching back if anything goes sideways.
Keep going
What to read next
Three short reads on cost, switching, and bringing orders direct. Before you sit in the next demo.
Money
01Commission savings calculator
Drop in your delivery split. See how much more you keep when you bring orders to your own website.
Read the resourceSwitching
02How switching to Next Order works
The eight steps, the dedicated onboarding manager, and the six weekly check-ins after you go live. Around 30 days from sign-up to your first direct order.
Read the resourceStrategy
03Direct ordering playbook
How venues move from third-party apps to their own website, without losing volume overnight.
Read the resource