A restaurant till system is table service software with a till attached. Orders taken at the table, courses fired in sequence, tickets routed to the right section and bills split without arithmetic. Published UK tiers run from free to about 200 pounds a month, priced per register at most suppliers rather than per site.
Test a three course table, not a single sale
Ask to see a table of four ordered, a starter modified, mains held and fired on a call, one guest paying separately and a dessert added after the bill was requested. That sequence is a normal Friday and it is where systems differ. A single drink sold in a demo tells you nothing about a service.
Priced per register, and handhelds count
Lightspeed prices an extra register separately on its own page. A restaurant running a bar till, a front of house till and three handhelds is buying five licences at some suppliers. Count the devices before comparing, because the price every supplier quotes first is the single register one.
Software licences and where they are printed
storekit prints its tiers in pounds with both a rolling and a twelve month rate. Epos Now prints an upfront licence price including VAT as an alternative to paying monthly. Lightspeed prints its UK restaurant tiers in euros. Read the currency as carefully as the number, because a budget set in euros moves with the exchange rate.
Questions people ask about till systems for restaurants
How much do restaurant till systems cost?
Published UK tiers run from free to about 200 pounds a month, usually per register rather than per site. Handheld ordering devices frequently count as registers.
What should restaurant till software handle?
Table plans, course firing, kitchen and bar routing, modifiers, split bills and staff permissions. Stock and multi site reporting are usually higher tiers.
Can I buy restaurant EPOS software outright?
Some suppliers offer it. Epos Now prints an upfront licence price including VAT beside its monthly option. Check what support and updates cost afterwards.