TouchBistro POS Reviews
TouchBistro has years of experience pairing innovative restaurant technology to individual business needs, and the potential to streamline your operations.
But with dozens of restaurant management POS systems out there, how do you know if Touch Bistro is right for you?
In this review, I’ll analyze the wide variety of customizable features offered by the TouchBistro POS system as well as its two top competitors so that you may make a well-informed decision.
Will TouchBistro be the POS system you choose?
TouchBistro POS Review
Pricing
TouchBistro offers a wide selection of pricing options making it simple and easy to personalize this all-in-one POS and restaurant management system. Prices start from $69/ month. A kitchen display system and customer-facing display are available for this restaurant POS system for additional hardware costs only. Add-on Touchbistro software products for customer engagement and restaurant operations include:
Features and Benefits
The TouchBistro company has been around for over a decade and aims to provide innovative restaurant technology that makes running a restaurant easier. The TouchBistro all-in-one POS and restaurant management system includes payment processing, reservations, online ordering, amongst many other functions, all designed to save time and money in the restaurant industry. It is suitable for many different types of restaurant businesses, from food trucks to coffee shops to fine dining establishments and even bars and clubs.
Ordering and Payment Processing
This hybrid POS system has a digital menu board feature which is very useful in the ever-changing restaurant industry. This contactless menu lets you update prices, items, product descriptions, and special dishes, in moments.
Restaurant tableside ordering system with its simple user interface allows servers to take and place orders tableside with the mobile POS.
The self-service kiosk is a user-friendly tablet-based self-ordering system that allows customers to place their own orders in just a couple of taps. More orders can be taken in less time, without the need to increase the number of staff.
Accuracy is also improved as the orders are sent to the TouchBistro POS and kitchen display system automatically, thus reducing communication errors as well as ticket times. The online ordering feature allows you to benefit from off-premise orders by letting customers order takeout and delivery directly from your restaurant. This online ordering platform is integrated into your restaurant's website. The online ordering feature is also easy and simple to manage and update. You can alter your online menu from any location with an internet connection using the TouchBistro Cloud, making it a great choice for pop-up eateries and food trucks.
For payment processing, TouchBistro Payments offers a transparent price structure and integrates with the TouchBistro POS. Powered by the payment processor, Chase, customers can pay any way they like from credit and debit cards, including a Mastercard and Visa service, to contactless and digital wallet payments such as Samsung Pay, Google Pay, and Apple Pay. This point-of-sale software also allows offline payments so you can keep your business going in the event of internet problems or connection issues.
Table Management
The TouchBistro POS comes with a user-friendly table management system. It is straightforward to design the layout for your entire restaurant in a couple of taps and it is perfect for busy restaurants as it allows capacity to be managed easily. This TouchBistro software allows staff to comfortably service multiple tables thereby increasing productivity, maximizing covers at the same time as improving the experience of the customers.
Menu and Inventory Management
The TouchBistro restaurant menu management system lets you organize your food and drinks in minimal time. Dishes can be added, copied, and the menu organized with ease. I particularly like the feature which allows you to set up menus to introduce specials for particular mealtimes.
This TouchBistro POS software can boost profits with the upselling tools. It can assist with increasing sales of premium dishes as well as non-food items. It can also allow easy management of takeouts by minimizing confusion and streamlining restaurant operations.
The inventory management feature tells you when supplies must be reordered. Inventory management is simplified with recipe logging. There is easy access to sales information and food prices which assist in deciding which dishes to keep or remove based on profitability, not just guesswork. I like this feature as it helps to decrease food waste which may be of particular concern to the environmentally-minded restauranteur.
There are more program features including customizable alerts that tell staff when a dish or item is running low. I think this feature is very useful because if something does run out during service, you can mark it as out of stock immediately, therefore, avoiding confusion and complaints from customers.
Customer Relationship Management
The TouchBistro software for reservations has multiple online booking touchpoints, helping you to make the most out of your restaurant's capacity. Bookings can be taken through the TouchBistro app as well as your website.
I think the two-way communication feature via text message and email is very useful. It reminds customers of approaching reservations and also lets them inform you if they have a change of plan, making it a great tool for optimizing customer management and the smooth running of your entire restaurant.
The TouchBistro loyalty program can help you boost the number of regular customers and also turn them into promoters for your restaurant business by generating rewarding experiences for them. There is add-on TouchBistro software that allows you to produce gift cards, both physical and digital ones. This integrates with their pos system proving a useful reporting tool and helping to streamline restaurant operations.
Back Office Features
TouchBistro POS and restaurant management system has several features the help you streamline restaurant operations for example the inventory management, menu management, and point-of-sale system.
When it comes to employee management, this pos system is very useful, enabling you to streamline staff management with simple shift management and payroll features in a user-friendly system. Restaurant managers can keep track of their employees from anywhere with an internet connection using the cloud and staff can clock in and out effortlessly. It can provide you with real-time information on staffing costs and sales performance as well as spend on overtime allowing you to make informed decisions about your staffing requirements.
TouchBistro's restaurant analytics and POS reporting features provide you with accurate, real-time data about your restaurant business. It can provide more than 50 different reports to give you detailed insights into your business.
Customer Support
TouchBistro has a high level of customer support available and a responsive customer service department. Their help site has step-by-step guides which should help resolve an array of issues that may arise when using this restaurant POS, from setting up a barcode scanner to tech support with hardware and software bugs. There are also videos, tutorials, and live workshops available. If you cannot find the answer to your query on the help site then their customer support team is available at any time, even at weekends and on holidays.
TouchBistro Partners
TouchBistro has a partnership program that allows you to generate extra revenue. You can become one of the TouchBistro partners by registering on their website. You can receive $100 for referring someone for a demonstration of this restaurant POS and $1000 for a sale of the system which may be a consideration for smaller businesses in particular.
Complaints and Limitations
Overall this restaurant POS System has many positives. However, some customers have stated it does not integrate well with certain other payment processing systems, despite these being supposedly supported (Square particularly). This can result in slow communication between these systems and sometimes the addition of extra steps with certain processes like paying with gift cards, which is not ideal for busy restaurants.
Other complaints have been that, although the core POS features are good, some inventory management and reporting functions require costly add-ons. Make sure you check your package against the features you require.
It is also important to make sure any updates are carried out on all the devices in the restaurant to avoid any software glitches which could result in the restaurant POS system not working properly (updates are not automatically synced).
The Toast point-of-sale is a complete restaurant management system that has been serving restaurants of all sizes since 2013. With a wide range of POS hardware and software solutions, Toast is highly customizable depending on your needs.
A big strength of the Toast POS software is customer management. Customer data can be used to generate custom loyalty rewards and gift card programs. This module is a strong competitor to the TouchBistro loyalty system.
Another upside of Toast POS is order processing, with a whole range of ordering and payment options to suit any model. Several features are aimed at reducing the need for direct contact, which is very useful in the post-covid environment.
As for concerns, there is limited clarity to the posted pricing information and customers need to be especially aware of early termination fees if switching providers before the end of a contract period. Toast also insists on using their in-house payment processing service, so if you have a different preferred payment processor this won't be supported.
Upserve by Lightspeed
Lightspeed provides POS systems for a range of businesses. Their restaurant industry-specific platform, Upserve (formerly Breadcrumb), has become a popular option for food trucks, quick-service, and full-service restaurant operations alike.
Highlights of the Upserve restaurant POS system include the online ordering platform, comprehensive inventory management and menu intelligence features, and a training mode that allows staff to practice using the system without disrupting live data.
Some customers have reservations about the reliance on iOS and iPad technology (no Android or Windows options as yet). Although not necessarily a complaint, some businesses operating on a simple counter-service model have said there are many features they don't use and they could have opted for a more streamlined, cheaper restaurant POS.
Final Verdict
As restaurant POS systems go, TouchBistro is a very competitive option and, for simple operations, it could represent excellent value compared to a system like Toast.
However, some of the core features are relatively limited compared to other POS systems so, when performing price comparisons, make sure you include the cost of any extra add-ons you may require.
Tyler Connaghan
Contributing Author
