The software that is the best is the one that has these features- 1. SPEEDY INTERFACE AND QUICK CHECKOUT One of the most important features of a restaurant or bar POS is to have speed. When you get busy on a Friday or Saturday night, you can't afford to have a lagging system. Many of the tablet systems on the market today are dependent on your internet bandwidth speed. So if you have slow internet, chances are you're going to have a slow POS too. 2. EASY TO MANAGE There are systems on the market that can do everything imaginable to manage your restaurant or bar. The challenge is finding a happy medium between features you need and the features you don't need. The reason is, you might want the Cadillac of all systems, but do you need hundreds of features you may never use? Generally speaking, the more you spend on a system, the more challenging it can be to manage it. 3. EASY TO USE As mentioned earlier, not all POS software is created equal. So in your research, you'll want to consider ease-of-use of the software configuration and operations. The best way to do this is to see or take part in a product demonstration. Most POS software companies will offer a remote or onsite live demonstration of their products. And some will provide software demos you can download on your computer or tablet. 4. INVENTORY CONTROL Some may disagree with this being a must have feature, because keeping inventory is the bane of existence for restaurateurs, but if you want to know how much food you have on hand, your food costs and profit margins, you're going to need inventory control. Most quality POS systems will have some inventory control built-in to the software, so there is no excuse not to use inventory management. It can be as simple as deducting count from your inventory numbers when you make a sale. If you want or need to get granular, most systems will have 3rd party integrations that can use more powerful stock platforms designed specifically to keep track of your product. 5. QUALITY REPORTING Having quality reporting is a no-brainer, but your choice in a system must have the reports you need to run a successful business. These are your Key Performance Indicator (KPI) reports that all restaurants need like sales by item, time, and department, employee labor, sales vs. labor costs, and seating performance, as a few examples. 6. EASY TO SETUP AND CONFIGURE MENU Another no-brainer, but you'd be surprised at the complexity of some systems to change a simple menu item or price. 7. TABLE MANAGEMENT AND RESERVATIONS Any quality POS programmed for bars and restaurants should have built in table management and an option for reservations. If you're doing table seating, you obviously will need this feature, and it's essential for managing your front of house operations. You'll want to know the status of your tables at any given time. For instance which tables are occupied, being cleared or are available. The program should also tie into a reservation system that can quickly update your table status based on customer reservations. This integration creates a seamless experience for managing your tables and seating arrangements. 8. COMPREHENSIVE TRAINING To get the most out of your new point of sale, you'll want to make sure you get properly trained on all the functions and features on the front of house and back of the house. Not all systems will come with training, so you need to be sure to ask if training is included. Some POS companies may have basic training videos online. Other companies may have a trainer that works with you remotely. Or your POS dealer may provide training onsite. Either way you go, make sure your system has the adequate training you need to get running smoothly. 9. SUPPORT FROM HEAVEN Quality service and support can make or break your business or at least determine your frustration level. Here's one of the best tips we can offer. When researching your POS, don't call the sales number first, call the support number first. Here are some points to question. How quickly do they pick up the phone? Have you been put on hold right away? When you get someone on the phone, are they friendly and helpful? Let the support person know you're researching their product and ask them what they like most about the product they support AND ask them what's the biggest complaint they receive about their product. 10. MARKETING TOOLS Having the resources and tools that you need to help market and grow your business are just as important as collecting money from customers. You want features in your POS that is going to help you grow your revenue and keep customers coming back. Features like loyalty programs, gift cards, customer rewards, messaging tools, automatic promotions based on customer's purchase activity, and special promotions to drive traffic during slow times.

Some of the most popular POS systems for restaurants are Harbortouch, HungerRush, Rezku POS SpotOn and Loyverse

1. Self-Service Walk-Up Counter Some restaurants give their customers the power to order whatever they want from a touch screen, pay, and even tip all in one place. Countertop terminals, tablets, or even smartphones can be used as restaurant POS systems. With the EMV liability shift placing the burden on restaurants to combat fraud by using EMV terminals, the most secure self-service POS systems accept EMV chip cards. 2. Tablets on Tables In some places, diners may be sat by a host and greeted by a server, but they may have the power to order themselves using a tableside restaurant POS. The POS on the table may be a tablet system that can be passed around from table to table or one that is housed in a stand that stays in one location on the table. 3. Mobile Restaurant POS With mobile POS systems in restaurants, servers can transact diners right at the table, from a smartphone, tablet, or handheld device. Instead of dropping off a check, going back to the table to pick up payment, running payment, and then dropping the check and card back off to the diner, all of these actions happen at one time while at the table. With a feature like EMV Tip Adjust, diners can add a tip before making their total payment on EMV terminals. 4. Countertop Terminal POS Systems Countertop terminal POS systems are wired computers that process payments. They may be scattered throughout a restaurant, so that servers have multiple places nearby in which to process payments. The terminal POS can send orders to the kitchen, print out checks, and process transactions, just like other forms of restaurant POS systems. 5. Online Restaurant POS According to Restaurant Business, 86 percent of consumers use off-premise restaurant delivery, including services like Grubhub or Uber Eats, at least monthly. As of October 2018, online delivery orders increased 16 percent year over year, while off-premise orders increased 25 percent for consumers. Restaurants who want to make their food available to off-site diners can use an online ordering system that uses a virtual terminal for transactions.