Best Restaurant Management Software in 2022
By Angela Kayode-Sanni
| Last updated:
Aug 12
|
15 min read
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Restaurant management is the process of managing the operations of a food service outlet. It involves providing a rich customer experience across all touchpoints in the customer journey, all in a bid to impact the bottom line positively.
For this to happen, a restaurant manager needs to organize various aspects of the business, from marketing to financing, inventory, and team management, to be in sync to have a seamless operational process.
To facilitate this process, a restaurant management system is the go-to for most food service establishments.
In this post, we will be taking an in-depth look at the nitty-gritty of restaurant management software, the benefits of having restaurant management software, and the best restaurant management software in 2022.
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A restaurant management system is a software application that simplifies food business operations. It is built like a point of sale application, with add-ons like an online presence, recording transactions, analyzing data, managing inventory, supporting marketing activities, CRM, and generally streamlining the food service business process.
More importantly, it can integrate seamlessly with existing accounting and employee software.
A restaurant management process takes care of all the administrative functions and frees time to focus on more strategic functions like food recipes, creativity, and customer experience.
A system of this type may be a comprehensive all-in-one solution, including elements of a point-of-sale system, such as payment processing, with more complex back-end features, such as workforce management, inventory management, and a booking or reservations system. However, some restaurant management systems focus on specific areas.
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A restaurant management system offers a 360 solution, which usually includes a pos system: Payment processing, booking and reservation management, employee management tools, and inventory management.
The essence of this is to provide automation and speed and exceed customer experience expectations. Some of them include;
It is mostly cloud-based, so business owners can connect with their business, no matter where they are. That way, Omni channels can be run seamlessly across multiple outlets in various locations.
A restaurant management software is an effective tool for cost management. This is so because inventory management is automated via the software, and the result is smart suggestive ordering, eliminating excess ordering and, ultimately, food wastage.
With the RMS, restaurant managers can set up alerts for changes in vendor pricing. This would help you stay on top of expenses and make related menu adjustments. More so, this process maps the cost of food to the price of your menu, which clarifies profitability. This insight can help determine the pricing based on real-time data.
Use For Free: Food Inventory Form Template
The benefits of adopting a restaurant management system are numerous and create real value for restaurant owners.
It allows tracking of all sales made in real-time. This, in turn, provides an accurate picture of your business. Variances can be spotted almost immediately with the software.
A dashboard provides a holistic view of things from sales data to stock levels and order volume. Best of all, it can analyze sales data and classify them from quick-selling items to low-selling stock, customers with the highest purchases, repeat buyers, etc.
A restaurant management system is one of the keys to an awesome customer experience. This is so because of the CRM features embedded in most RSM software. It captures all the customer detail up to the most minute details like customer preferences, birthdays, and transaction value.
With this data, business owners can proffer a more personalized service, create loyalty programs, deliver campaigns and newsletters based on clients’ order history, and much more.
As transactions are recorded digitally, errors in financial records are eliminated. Details such as time of purchase, name of the employee who treated the transaction, and the number of items sold, are all populated automatically, which ensures accuracy and saves time.
With most RSM software, storage is cloud-based, enabling access to sales data on the go in real-time. This way, owners can monitor all activities in their outlets remotely.
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Since all the data in a restaurant is automated via the restaurant management system, there is no gap in information and no avenue to mix up customer orders. The kitchen staff can access the client’s orders in real-time and treat them in the order in which they arrived, thereby eliminating delays.
The inventory department can also see their stock levels and initiate order replenishments without waiting for a sales report from the sales team. Information sharing and processing are always in sync with RSM software.
A restaurant management system removes the headache of creating a staff rota with its employee scheduling software. This feature allows employees to fix their schedules, and everyone can see open or filled slots and make swaps based on agreed shift requirements schedules.
This eliminates conflicts in shift preference, and everyone knows their schedules in real-time, and reminders can be set automatically; that way, there are no gaps in operation.
A self-serve option is non-negotiable when choosing restaurant management software. Ideally, the software should cater to mobile and online ordering. That way, customers can fill their orders and pick them up at the nearest self-serve kiosk with minimal human interaction.
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The RSM software should be smart enough to upsell or recommend add-ons based on clients’ previous orders. This feature is an absolute delight to customers and is something close to the human touch that customers appreciate when using the software.
Restaurant management software should have an integrated payment solution that seamlessly connects all your sales to one centralized system.
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A modern restaurant management solution should be flexible enough to accommodate sudden changes from any central location and communicate the same to all your outlets in real-time. This would eliminate gaps and ensure that the menu syncs with all the available outlets. It should also be able to adapt to all the requirements your business needs and be adaptable to various outlets based on their unique needs.
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Nothing is more frustrating than software that responds slowly, with a complicated interface that requires a lot of training to navigate. Hence software that can quickly work even with the slowest internets and update itself when the internet is at its peak is key.
A restaurant management software without inventory management features is like a fridge that keeps warm. It is important to see, track and manage stock levels via an automated process. This is key to managing food costs and determining ideal profit margins.
This is the deal-breaker for any quality restaurant management software. The features should be able to generate real-time reports and analytics based on whatever parameters the business owner wants to see or measure.
An ideal software should feature table management systems and reservation options. This way, managers can know the status of their reservations and see cancellations requests and available tables. This feature ensures owners are on top of their operations at all times.
The quality of the support system of your provider can either encourage or frustrate your business. Be sure real people and not bots handle the support numbers work and the support emails. This is key to ensuring you get the help you need when needed the most.
Marketing tools that can help grow your business is a nice to have to add on, either as a feature or as a flexible option for integration. To generate traffic at slow periods, loyalty programs, gift card options, discounts, and loyalty points earned based on purchase frequency should be part of the offerings of your software.
Formplus can provide 360 support for restaurant managers with its wide array of cloud-based form templates, which can help food business owners manage their restaurants effectively.
This feature provides form templates that can be customized to match your food brand identity with your company logo and brand image. These templates can be integrated across all payment forms, invoices, and reports.
With its employee management data templates, applications like leave requests and shift changes can be processed, and employees can access this information in real-time.
The client service feature in this template also allows managers to embed a form on your website, gather customer information, direct them to your website, and process payment through the order forms via a wide variety of online payment gateway.
With this free inventory management template, restaurant managers can never lose track of their inventory. Names and records of available stock can be recorded, tracked and shared in real-time across departments. This can help automate and fast-track stock replenishment.
With these feedback survey forms, restaurant managers can gather customer feedback in real-time before they leave the restaurant or at whatever channel they are served. This can help you to acknowledge customer complaints and address them on the go, which is key to delivering a pleasant customer experience.
This survey template can be embedded on your website and shared via email or QR codes, accessed on your restaurant’s fliers, access gates, and menu cards.
Formplus booking templates are ideal for restaurants, and the customizable form builder allows users to create beautiful reservation forms customized to suit their needs. The variety of forms can be embedded into websites and social media channels and can be used to attract quality customers. Sign up here to build your forms for free from any of the templates for restaurant businesses
Price: From 69$ monthly
TouchBistro is a robust all-in-one restaurant management system with an intuitive design that makes it easy to use with minimal training. It supports a wide range of food business niches, like food trucks, full-service restaurants, fine dining, quick-service restaurants, coffee shops, breweries, bakeries, and lots more.
Touchbistro aids restaurants in streamlining all aspects of their position by automating all aspects of their hitherto manual operation, freeing up more time to focus on customer experience. With over 29,000 users in over 100 countries, TouchBistro is the market leader in restaurant management software technology. There is currently no free trial available.
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TouchBistro’s partnership with Apple makes it difficult and expensive to use, as expensive hardware must be purchased separately in other to use the software.
Toast POS features flexible management suited exclusively to the food service business. Its solutions include ordering, delivery, payments, and gift card purchasing automation. With Toast Pos, data from the restaurant can be accessed in real-time from any location. Adjustments and updates can be inputted into the system from any terminal. The report and analytic features easily display top-selling products and integrate seamlessly with other applications.
Best of all, it fosters an awesome client experience by allowing users to track their bills at the bar and have a peek into the drink recipes. It then ensures employee satisfaction by automating fair tips on the payment check-out page.
With well over 57,000 thousand users, it is easy to see why Toast Pos is popular in the food industry and rated as No 1 in 2021 by G2.
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Pros:
Con: Occasional delay in getting customer support
Price:0$-8$ per user monthly
When I Work is an employee scheduling solution built to help restaurant owners manage employee scheduling seamlessly across multiple shifts. Employees get notifications of their shifts and schedule changes when I work and can request shift swaps from their mobile devices. Shift managers, on the other hand,d can track attendance and time, create new schedules, make changes, add new job responsibilities, and much more.
Best of all, it can integrate seamlessly with various payroll software providers and 360 customer support.
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Price:39$-289$
Lightspeed Restaurant POS is a cloud-based one-stop management software that provides awesome customer experiences. Its solution simplifies operations and promotes business scaling at the speed of light. This one-stop restaurant platform helps hospitality businesses simplify, scale, and provide exceptional customer experiences.
It helps businesses stay agile and provides a flexible payment solution by accepting various forms of payment. It integrates seamlessly with delivery partners like uber eats to allow customers to order from any location and deliver it in minutes conveniently.
With lightspeed restaurant software, users can get sales reports, employee performance reports, and analytics of products, trends, and customer behavior, all in real-time.
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Price:0$-69.99$
7shifts is a restaurant scheduling software that simultaneously automates team schedules, tasks, communication, tips, and timesheets in one place. Users can create personalized shift schedules with its intuitive drag-and-drop kanban style builder. It is mobile-friendly, so managers and employees can manage availability, leave requests, performance tracking, and much more from a mobile app. It is trusted by over 700,000 users globally, and its reviews and ratings are top-notch.
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Price:$399-Custom billed monthly
Restaurant365 software is essential for food business owners as it seamlessly manages a restaurant’s essential operations and accounting functions across Omni channels. It provides a 360 view of how the restaurant is performing, side by side, and how much is expended. With its cloud-based feature, access to data is provided in real-time. One of its most prominent features is its ability to centralize data from multiple locations and integrate seamlessly with over 70 top-range POS systems, payroll, and human resource management systems.
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Price: Custom pricing
eRestaurant Systems is an end-to-end management system developed by Altametrics. The software features a robust solution from back office operations to sales/demand forecasting and food management, which includes prep labeling, ordering, and inventory management. erestaurant systems also support workforce management, scheduling, time management tools to prevent labor law violations, and reporting and analytics.
It is suitable for different restaurant types, from small QSRs to multi locations restaurants. It has been used by well over 100,000 customers globally.
Features
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Price: Custom pricing
HotSchedules is a cloud-based management software that supports restaurants, retail, and hospitality organizations. It facilitates employee scheduling, attendance, business performance, and operations across multiple locations. With its mobile app, employees can perform multiple administrative functions fluidly.
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Price: Custom pricing
FoodHub is a reliable restaurant management system that helps food business owners streamline operations, automate marketing, and interact with loyal customers from one platform. It connects restaurant businesses in multiple locations and connects them with their customers.
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Clover is a 360-solution point-of-sale and payments system that syncs payment functions of a cash register, card payment terminal, and POS system. It is a cloud-based platform providing access from any location and simplifying daily operations and administrative functions effortlessly.
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Petpooja is a full-fledged restaurant management platform that supports users’ offline and online works via a single point. It is popular in India, the Arab Emirates, and South Africa and boasts a 35,000-plus customer base.
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Price:60$-Custom
ChefMod is a cloud-based online restaurant management system that organizes workflow, places orders, manages inventory, and processes invoices. One of the unique features of ChefMod is its Ezrecipe solution, which records the costs of ingredients per recipe, and helps managers to make adjustments that can increase profitability.
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Rosnet is a restaurant management solution that tracks financial trends and manages inventory budgets and workforce management. It also provides intuitive insights on product management, reasons for the loss, hygiene process review, and general auditing.
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A restaurant management system is essential to managing a food business successfully, especially in this age and time when technology simplifies and automates processes to achieve better results.
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