TouchBistro Review: Is It Right for My Business?

If you’re a restaurateur looking to grow your business, TouchBistro might just be the POS system you’re looking for. Its extensive reporting tools make it best suited for restaurants and were designed with them in mind.

In our deep-dive research into the best POS systems for restaurants,  backed by our 10+ years experience and first-hand usage, TouchBistro scores a solid 4.2/5. We also looked into its restaurant-specific features as well as price and support – key aspects that you’ll want to know before committing to a service.

When browsing for a POS system, you should look for features, scalability and integrations – points we’ll cover in depth in our TouchBistro review. Read more on this below.

How Much Does TouchBistro Cost?

TouchBistro’s pricing is quote-based, but the cost starts with the software, which is offered in plans based on the number of user licenses you’ll need.

Solo ($69/month) gets you one, Dual ($129/month) gives you access to two, Team ($249/month) gets you up to five, and Unlimited ($399/month), as it says on the tin, allows for an unlimited amount of user licenses.

Compared to its competitors, TouchBistro is on the pricier end of things. That’s mainly because the majority of its tools are only available as chargeable add-ons, which raises its overall cost.

For comparison purposes, Square for Restaurants has a free version, and you can add loyalty and marketing features by paying $39/month overall. On the other hand, that combination would cost you $218/month on TouchBistro. Another provider, Zettle, even offers its software for free, although it includes less features and integration.

That said, a good way to choose your POS system is to compare quotes. To do that, just fill in our comparison tool and we can get trusted providers to send you custom, obligation-free quotes!

TouchBistro’s Pros and Cons

Pro: No Transaction Fees of Its Own

While TouchBistro requires you to integrate a third-party to process payments (such as TouchBistro Payments), it doesn’t charge any additional transaction fees beyond those incurred by the payment provider, which is something Shopify does.

Since these charges could easily build up into a big expense (especially for businesses dealing with large sales volumes), this is a solid pro.

Pro: High Customization

TouchBistro allows you to choose exactly which tools you’d like to have instead of bundling up a set of features under an umbrella tier, like Shopify. While the tier mode can have its advantages, it can also make you pay for things you don’t need – something that TouchBistro avoids.

The amount of tools you can add to it is the reason TouchBistro scores 4.8/5 in restaurant features in our research into the best POS system for these businesses. This high result puts it in the same league as Square (a big competitor) and higher than Clover (4.6/5) and Zettle (4.4/5).

Con: Pricey

Starting at $69/month, TouchBistro is costly from the get-go – and its price structure doesn’t help matters. Since you pay for each feature separately, expenses can easily build up if you purchase several add-ons, which will impact the overall cost of the POS system. If you'll need a lot of add-ons, you’ll be better served by alternatives that work with price tiers, like Square and Toast.

Due to this, TouchBistro scores a low 2.8/5 for price in our research. In this category, it beats Lightspeed and Shopify (both of which score 2.3/5) but fares worse than Square (5/5) and Epos Now (3.3/5).

Con: Contract Commitment

With the exception of booking a demo, TouchBistro doesn’t offer chances for you to test it before you buy it. It offers no free plan or free trial, so you’re drawn into a contract. Once you sign up, it renews automatically.

If you decide to cancel it, you’d have to send a written notice to TouchBistro’s team no later than 30 days before the contract’s end date. Also, their T&Cs only allow for a termination of contract before the end date in exceptional circumstances, and don’t state what these could be. These restrictions make getting out of the contract very difficult.

TouchBistro’s Key Features Explained

Restaurant Features

When it comes to restaurant features, the chargeable add-ons are where TouchBistro really shines. These include both a kitchen display system, a customer facing display, and reservation system.

All features can be synced up – along with the integrations – to create a seamless experience for both staff and guests. They can also be combined with TouchBistro’s native growth tools, like the marketing campaigns and loyalty programmes.

Even if you don’t shell out more for these, you’ll still be well served by the several industry standards TouchBistro provides, like menu management, staff management, and table management. With these, you can easily edit your menus, highlight promotions, and upsell items. You can also alter tables or whole sections of your floor plan with just a few clicks.

Scalability

TouchBistro’s software pricing is based on the number of licensed users (aka, the ones who’ll be managing the program’s usage), not user accounts or locations. This gives you plenty of room to scale your business without having to worry about paying more because more staff are using your POS system, or because you’ve opened a new restaurant.

Conveniently, this feature also applies to the add-ons you purchase. Some of those, like the customer facing display, are based on hardware that you’ll have to buy elsewhere. However, once that’s done, they’ll be once-off investments that don’t require extra monthly fees.

Integrations

TouchBistro offers integration with 21 third-party providers in the US, which expand on its possibilities. Making up for the fact that it doesn't handle payment processing on its own, it integrates with Square, Moneris, Worldpay and Tsys for that (it also offers a TouchBistro Payments platform, which is powered by the bank, Chase).

It links up with popular accounting platforms, such as Xero and Quickbooks. It also connects with popular online ordering services, such as Deliveroo and Uber Eats (and more than 90 others), via its integration with the aggregating platform, Deliverect.

What Kind of Business Is TouchBistro Best for?

TouchBistro is built with restaurants in mind and is best suited to serve these businesses. Features key to hospitality’s day-to-day activities, like floor plan management and menu management, are native to the platform and allow for the smooth running of a hospitality venture.

TouchBistro’s reporting is focused on customer preferences, so business owners can easily identify which items commonly sell together, or which modifiers are ordered often, for example, so it can inform future promotions or upsell opportunities.

Key add-ons that TouchBistro offers, like online ordering and reservation tools, are also developed to cater to the needs of this industry.

How Does TouchBistro Compare to Its Competitors?

Price

With a starting cost of $69/month, TouchBistro’s software is pricier than several of the best POS systems we surveyed.

Square and Zettle offer their software for free, whereas Talech and Epos Now have cheaper entry points ($17/month and $39/month, respectively). Since TouchBistro only sells software, we can’t compare average hardware prices.

Unlike Square or Zettle, TouchBistro doesn’t offer a free plan, though this isn’t uncommon in the industry. However, TouchBistro’s lack of a free trial is its Achilles heel.

Features

TouchBistro offers more restaurant features than Zettle, which lacks loyalty programmes and marketing campaigns.

TouchBistro’s online ordering and reservation tools, as well as industry-specific hardware like the customer facing display, made it score highly in restaurant features in our research (4.8/5).

However, its reporting (which is crucial to restaurants) is less detailed than Toast’s and Lightspeed’s – both of which score 4.9/5 in the same category in our research.

Because of its pricing model, TouchBistro scales better than Square, which charges for paid plans by location. While Square’s transaction fees can be expensive for scaling businesses in the long run, this  can be avoided by choosing TouchBistro, and ensuring a merchant account is set up with one of its compatible payment processors.

Does TouchBistro Have Good Customer Reviews?

TouchBistro has a fair share of good customer reviews, averaging 3.9/5 on Trustpilot, 4/5 on Capterra and 4.4/5 on G2.

On them, the customer support has divided the provider’s clientele, with both praise and criticism being offered. You can check both points of view below, as well as the company’s response to the negative review included.