Best EPOS Systems for Takeaway Businesses

Square is the best EPOS system for takeaways in the UK, based on the results of our latest testing. Square offers free software and affordable countertop hardware, making it accessible for small independent takeaways. Runner-up Clover is a better option for more established businesses, such as takeaway chains, looking for high-quality hardware that can withstand a fast-paced environment.

When ranking hospitality EPOS systems for takeaways, we’ve focused on features that increase efficiency and speed up orders, such as ease of use, delivery app integration, and customer self-service tools.

But, since no EPOS system is a one-size-fits-all, so, if you need personalised recommendations, use our quick quotes tool. Just pop in a few details about your business, and we’ll match you with EPOS suppliers, who’ll reach out with tailored quotes.

Best EPOS Systems for Takeaways: Overview

For a quick overview of each EPOS system of this page, take a look at the table below. For more in-depth assessments, keep scrolling.

1. Square: Best for Growing Your Business

Square is the best cloud-based EPOS system for scaling up your takeaway business. It has a free EPOS software plan, a great option for new or small businesses, who can easily scale up by upgrading to the reasonably priced £69 per month paid version when they’re ready, and bolt on features such as loyalty plans and a KDS.

What makes Square POS good for takeaways?

Square has one of the best free EPOS systems, offering great functionality. You’ll get access to a free online and QR code ordering website, and be able to manage in-person and online orders all from the same place. When testing, we really appreciated this, since we could see what order came from where without having to flit between tabs.

Square also integrates with popular delivery apps like Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat, with all orders appearing on Square’s integrated KDS, which costs £15 per month, per device, on the free plan, and is included in Square’s £69 per month paid plan.

The £69 per month Plus plan provides access to more advanced features, including advanced reporting tools that allow you to assess how your establishment is performing during different service hours, for example, and advanced employee management functions, such as sales reporting by team member.

Square also has paid add-on tools for marketing and loyalty programmes. The £25 per month, per location loyalty programme allows you to create limited-time and recurring promotions, and set up points systems to encourage customers to buy food in person, so you can avoid hefty third-party delivery fees.

It’s also a great option for cost-effective hardware. For a typical counter-service setup, the best option is Square’s £599 + VAT Square Register, which comes with a built-in customer display and card reader, meaning you don’t need to purchase any additional equipment.

If you want to enable customer self-service and reduce queues, there’s also the Square Kiosk, an iPad-based system that costs £35 per month for the software. Square sells accompanying hardware, such as a £99 iPad stand with a built-in card reader, and a £249 booster stand.

However, since Square’s kiosk is iPad-based, you’ll still be offering your customers a relatively small screen for self-service, whereas SumUp offers a kiosk that’s full-sized.

Our experience testing Square

We found Square generally very easy to use. The backend was quite intuitive, and we had no trouble creating menus or listing items. We also appreciated the search function, which helped us find tools quickly.

We did run into a few annoying glitches, however, such as the table plan not appearing in the backend, and we found the process of cancelling orders and adding staff accounts overly complicated.

When it comes to hardware, we tested the Square Terminal, its portable EPOS device and card machine. While it was easy to access inventory and process payments from the device, we did have issues with the physical design. The card machine was quite wide, so it wasn’t easy to hold in one hand, making it better suited to countertops than table service

How could Square improve?

While Square is a great value EPOS system, it is missing some very valuable features for larger establishments or chains, such as cost vs profit analysis and ingredient tracking. If you need more advanced reporting and analytics tools, we recommend Clover or Lightspeed Restaurant.

Square also doesn’t have a training mode for staff, which might cause issues when onboarding new staff in a fast-paced takeaway environment. That said, Square’s software is quite easy to use, so this isn’t a huge issue, but if a training mode is a must for your business, competitors Clover, SumUp, Toast and Lightspeed Restaurant all offer one.

2. Clover: Best EPOS System for Hardware

Clover has a wide range of high-quality hardware that’s more than capable of withstanding the hot and bustling environment of a takeaway. Its advanced reporting and management tools make it a good option for established businesses.

What makes Clover POS good for takeaways?

When it comes to hardware, Clover has three registers: the Clover Mini, the Clover Station Solo, and the Clover Station Duo. The best option for takeaways is the Station Duo, since it includes a large touchscreen terminal, a customer-facing screen with a built-in card reader, and a receipt printer.

We particularly like Clover’s customer display screens: they’re bright and very reactive to touch, making it easy for customers to use them. Another standout is Clover’s fingerprint login function, making it quicker for staff to access the interface and serve customers. This is an essential feature for fast-paced takeaways looking to speed up service.

On the technical side, Clover is a specialised EPOS system for quick-service restaurants like takeaways. Since Clover offers a customised approach to EPOS, you can somewhat pick and choose what features you want.

Options available to you include generating order numbers, categorising and tracking stock, and tracking ingredients, essential tools for larger businesses looking to minimise wastage. You can also integrate Clover’s EPOS system with an online ordering page and third-party delivery apps.

Clover also has a large app store that includes third-party integrations, such as loyalty programmes, as well as many of Clover’s own extensions and add-ons, such as employee shift management and advanced discount management.

Our experience testing Clover

Clover has remained consistently easy to use in our testing, despite offering advanced features. We particularly like Clover’s frontend, which is highly intuitive and makes great use of colour to highlight features. The drag-and-drop design of Clover’s table planner is also a nice touch for hospitality businesses.

That said, it wasn’t quite smooth sailing when it came to certain backend features. For example, we had trouble finding where to set up discounts and loyalty programmes, and real-time syncing issues disrupted the overall smoothness of the experience.

When it comes to hardware, we were particularly impressed by how light the Clover Flex, Clover’s handheld EPOS device/card machine, was. Despite its size, it fit easily in our hand and didn’t feel awkward to hold, making it great for table service.

How could Clover improve?

Even though Clover doesn’t disclose its pricing for the UK market, it does for other regions. Based on those prices, we can tell you that Clover isn’t a cheap option, especially when it comes to its hardware. That’s why we don’t recommend it to small takeaway shops, or ones trying to limit spending. If that’s you, Square or SumUp are cheaper options.

Additionally, although Clover has advanced features, it’s missing automated tip sharing, a useful feature for hospitality businesses. The best option for easy tip sharing is Square.

3. SumUp: Best for Self-service Takeaways

SumUp offers affordable EPOS software plans, ranging from £0 to £49 per month, and a specialised kiosk package, making it a great option for small takeaway businesses looking for a customer self-service option.

What makes SumUp POS good for takeaways?

SumUp’s free EPOS software plan is a great option for small independent takeaways doing counter-service and looking for an easy-to-use EPOS system. But it might be too basic for some restaurants since it doesn’t have loyalty tools (those are reserved for SumUp’s paid plans).

A SumUp highlight is that it offers a self-service kiosk for £399, plus £59 per month for software. Unlike Square, which only offers an iPad-based kiosk, SumUp offers a large standing kiosk, the kind you’d see in large fast food chains. This makes it easy to install far away from the main till, breaking customers up into separate queues.

Upgrading to SumUp’s cheapest paid plan, the £19 per month POS Plus, gives you access to more tools for managing orders than the free plan, such as employee PIN logins. The most expensive plan, the £49 per month POS Pro, features easy and free digital gift card creation and a loyalty programme, included at no extra cost, unlike with Square or Lightspeed.

With SumUp, you can also add allergen warnings to all menu items, which will appear in your backend, as well as on menus displayed on kiosks or online.

This can make your eatery more accessible to people with dietary restrictions and increase the likelihood that they’ll order from you. It’s a particularly important feature for takeaways, where interactions between customers and staff are limited or indirect.

Our experience testing SumUp

The frontend of SumUp’s EPOS system is very user-friendly, allowing for speedy service, but the backend remains hard to navigate.

SumUp’s frontend has a simple, clear, and responsive interface, with a minimalist design, making finding features, such as table management and order cancellation and editing, easy. We especially like the “park order” function, which allowed us to quickly adjust items mid-transaction.

However, the backend consistently frustrated us, since its design was much clunkier, and we ran into a lot of slow loading when trying to access reports, bulk imports or user settings. The sidebar menu would also often cover up other navigation elements, which made completing tasks difficult

How could SumUp improve?

SumUp also just doesn’t have the features needed to run a large business, missing a few growth-oriented tools, such a built-in reservation and email marketing features, offered by rival Toast.

Although SumUp’s kiosk quick-service plan is a great offer, it’s a little limited when it comes to the rest of its hardware selection, with only one iPad stand as your option for countertop registers, no customer display screens, and no limited accessories. For top-range hardware, your best bet is Clover.

4. Lightspeed Restaurant: Best for Fostering Customer Loyalty

Lightspeed Restaurant is the best EPOS system for takeaways looking to foster customer loyalty, thanks to its range of integrated marketing features. Its high price point and extensive management features make it a top option for chains.

What makes Lightspeed Restaurant good for takeaways?

Lightspeed Restaurant comes with a range of tools to grow your customer base, including email and SMS marketing, loyalty programs, and automated marketing. These tools are especially valuable for takeaways looking to foster customer loyalty from locals in a competitive environment on delivery apps.

Plus, it has an optional Order Anywhere feature, which allows you to give your customers more ways to order, such as online or via a QR code.

The system also has an “order modifier” function that lets you customise orders, so if a customer wants to remove the tomato or add bacon, it’s not a problem. You can also create combo menus for popular items to speed up the order process.

Lightspeed Restaurant also has a robust array of restaurant management features. You’re able to customise your menu and screen, which is especially useful for customer-facing screens and KDSs. Other top features include ingredient usage tracking, cost vs profit breakdowns for menu items, and automated resupply orders.

Lastly, Lightspeed Restaurant can be used to manage multiple locations, allowing you to create separate menus for each location and even filter reports by location. This makes it a great option for takeaways that have expanded into small or medium-sized chains.

Our experience testing Lightspeed Restaurant

Lightspeed Restaurant remains a slightly difficult-to-use platform, based on our most recent round of testing. This is the main reason it slipped down in our rankings, despite offering advanced features.

For example, we had a lot of difficulty creating a discount, mainly because the process was overly complex, with too many options for offer time limits. Bulk importing products also took a lot of time, and we didn’t like that we weren’t alerted clearly when an import had failed.

We also didn’t love that the menu featured a lot of unlabelled icons that required hovering to interpret.

However, the frontend was much more intuitive than the backend, and we didn’t have much trouble processing payments or creating customer profiles during a sale. We also appreciated the depth and flexibility of features, like the loyalty system and product categorisation, particularly for businesses with complex inventories or advanced needs.

How could Lightspeed Restaurant improve?

Lightspeed only operates on iOS, and the provider doesn’t sell physical terminals or registers; it only stands for tablets, which you have to purchase separately. This is also the case for its customer display screen system, meaning that you’d need to purchase multiple iPads for effective counter-service. If you don’t already own tablets and want to skip the hassle of buying them, we recommend you go with Clover.

Lightspeed is also an expensive option, more geared to medium-sized or large establishments. So, if you’re a small, local business, we recommend Square or SumUp.

5. Toast: Best for Managing Complex Operations

Like Lightspeed Restaurant, Toast is another great option for established takeaways, such as chains, with complex operations. It offers a large array of inventory and profit management tools, as well as some excellent customer engagement features, such as loyalty programmes.

What makes Toast POS good for takeaways?

Toast offers a range of features to help larger takeaway businesses manage their operations,  such as in-depth inventory management, which includes food and recipe cost management, as well as low-stock alerts. However, this feature is a paid add-on (Toast doesn’t specify its cost), which is the case for most of Toast’s best tools.

Other useful add-on features for takeaways are Toast’s QR code and online ordering tools. You can also increase your takeaways’ sales with Toast’s delivery services and ordering app, and a host of integrations with third-party delivery apps. These are essential features for casual dining restaurants looking to increase sales by reaching a larger number of customers.

Other useful add-ons include customer engagement tools, like loyalty programme building (set spending and create a points system), email marketing, and gift card creation, including physical gift cards, a feature SumUp is missing.

Toast offers good hardware options for takeaways. Its selection includes a register with a built-in customer display, although it’s missing a built-in card reader like Square’s. Plus, all of Toast’s hardware is heat and spill-resistant, ensuring it can withstand a busy takeaway environment.

Like SumUp, Toast also offers large kiosks for self-service ordering. The displays are fully customisable and integrate with Toast’s KDS system. That said, these devices cost extra, and Toast does not specify the cost, unlike SumUp and Square.

Our experience testing Toast

We found Toast generally easy to use. We found the backend particularly intuitive and had no trouble navigating it and finding features. The setup tutorial also offered a clear step-by-step guide that helped us find our way around the platform.

The only task we struggled with a little was setting up a discount on an order, which is something we had trouble with on a lot of other EPOS platforms we tested. In this case, we found Toast’s wording a little confusing, since you have to click on an “update” button to find the discount button.

Lightspeed and Square both clearly label this option on the checkout screen.

How could Toast improve?

Toast is an expensive option, which means it’s not a good choice for small takeaways or businesses on a budget. It has the highest starting price of any provider on this list, at £80 per month, and many of its marketing and advanced profit and inventory management tools come as paid add-ons. Cheaper alternatives include Square and SumUp.

Additionally, although Toast offers both countertop terminals and an EPOS app that works on tablets, its app is only compatible with Android tablets. If you already use iPad-based EPOS software and want to spare yourself the expense of replacing your hardware, we recommend Square or Lightspeed.

Buying Guide: How to Choose an EPOS System for a Takeaway

You won’t feel the benefits of an EPOS system if you don’t pick the right one for your takeaway, so here are a few things to consider when making your choice:

✔ Cost

The cost of an EPOS system doesn’t have to be astronomical for it to be good. As well as fitting into your budget, an EPOS solution should save you money in the long run by increasing productivity. Morale of the story: don’t pay more for features you don’t need.

For a healthy ratio of features to price, we recommend Square.

✔ Reliability and speed

Speed is of the essence to ensure your patrons enjoy their stay. Look for an EPOS system with a quick load time and a well-organised dashboard, so you don’t waste time shifting through the interface looking for key functions like bill splitting, discounts, or refunds.

EPOS systems that offer ways to reduce queues, such as self-service kiosks, or QR code and online ordering, are also great options for takeaways.

✔ Functionality

On that same point, you also want to make sure you choose an EPOS system equipped with the right functions for the takeaway business you run. If you’re a small chippy that caters to locals, you might not need extensive inventory management tools, but you could benefit from integration with third-party delivery apps like Deliveroo, so you don’t lose business on rainy evenings.

Likewise, if you operate in a big town or city with plenty of competition, then picking a system with great marketing tools is probably the best way to stay on top of the competition.

✔ Hardware

You should also look at the physical equipment that’s available to buy or rent from each EPOS system provider. If you want kiosks so customers can self-serve, then make sure your EPOS provider can supply you with them. If you accept cash as well as cards, look for an EPOS provider that has a till setup.

Some EPOS systems are compatible with third-party hardware, but it’s always best to check if your existing equipment or the equipment you plan on buying can easily integrate with your chosen EPOS system.

How We Test EPOS Systems for Takeaways