6 Best Ghost & Cloud Kitchen POS Systems

Monthly Software Fee

• Free – $0
• Restaurant Plus – $60
• Premium – Custom quote

Processing Fees

• 2.9% + 3 cents
• Custom rates available for over $250,000 in monthly processing

Set up multiple online menus

Why limit yourself to one concept? Square lets you launch as many online ordering pages as you need, so your ghost kitchen can provide anything from sushi to Southern homestyle cooking. Square funnels these different concepts back to your KDS in an organized manner, allowing you to fill different brand orders with accuracy.

Auto86 reflects across menus

Square’s automated inventory counts will automatically 86 an item across all internal menus (you’ll still need to update third-party menus yourself or via a middleman app). Toast and Lightspeed also have this feature. With the others, you need to take off or snooze an item manually. This becomes helpful when you are managing multiple concepts and need a quick and efficient way to be organized within them.

Flexible Delivery

Square integrates directly with third-party platforms Slice, Postmates, and DoorDash. If you prefer aggregating apps, you can choose from several, including Deliverect and Chowly. Like Toast, Square allows you to hail third-party drivers on-demand for flat rate fees, or deliver via an in-house team. Square charges a fee of 50 cents for each delivery processed by your in-house team, so you can pay as you go. Others on our list require flat monthly fees no matter how many deliveries you process. However, Square’s driver management system does not include maps. Rezku offers the best for drivers, with route optimization tools.

Chargebacks waived up to $250 per month

Virtual kitchens don’t have to deal with dine-and-dash, but you are still in danger of losing money to chargeback requests. While the others on our list provide varying levels of protection, Square is the only one that simply waives the fees associated with chargebacks for up to $250 per month.

In-depth online ordering tools

Square has built out a truly efficient and easy service for those ordering online. It has features such as the ability for customers to reorder past orders in just three taps, allow as many ordering screens as you would like, and accept different online payments such as Apple Pay and Cash App. Square’s online ecosystem is built to help improve online ordering, which is why it caters so well to the cloud kitchen concept.

Monthly Software Fee

• Startup – $0
• Growth – $99
• Established – $199
• Enterprise – Custom quote

Processing Fees

• Startup – 1.99% + 25 cents
• Growth – Tailored to operation
• Established – Tailored to operation
• Enterprise – Custom quote

Online ordering included

Like Square, Rezku includes online ordering even in its most basic system. You’ll get a custom-branded menu website and can create a QR code for it, which is a great tool for marketing. Online orders will sync with your inventory and your KDS. If you 86 an item on the menu, the online menu is also updated.

Order pacing

One great feature, which it shares with some of the others on our list, is order pacing. Pacing is based on 15-minute slots; orders over the limit you set automatically bump to the next slot. This gives better pickup and delivery estimates for customers. You can set this temporarily to throttle orders or to permanently keep a specific pace.

Delivery management

We were impressed with the delivery management tools. While many, like Toast, have GPS tracking, Rezku will also optimize routes so your drivers can do multiple deliveries at the best times. Like Toast, Rezku also works with DoorDash Drive, allowing you to route deliveries to DoorDash drivers and only pay a flat rate for orders.

Dispatch Management Center

Rezku offers you the ability to manage all of your deliveries on a single screen using their Dispatch Management Center. You can see delivery times, payment statuses, and customer satisfaction all through this one dashboard. The service goes even deeper with cash owed, estimated driver return times, and individual driver history that allows you to manage drivers on a micro level.

Monthly Software Fee

• Essentials – $55
• Plus – $75
• Single Tenant – Custom quote

Processing Fees

Processing fees vary by the payments processor you choose to use and integrate with Oracle

Hardware designed to withstand kitchen environments

Like Toast, Oracle Simphony operates on industry-grade hardware designed for humid, hot, and dusty conditions. Many on our list, like Square, mostly employ standard iPads. Simphony advertises its terminals for as little as $1 each, but you need to contact Oracle for a precise quote as conditions may apply.

Workforce management

Simphony offers excellent tools for managing your employees. The HR module lets you onboard employees with contact and other information that it applies to scheduling—such as notifying you if you overschedule a minor. It tracks time and PTO for accurate payroll. Even more, employees can use the self-serve app to manage schedules and request time off. It doesn’t just let you create schedules; its forecasting tools can make recommendations for schedule optimization.

Inventory management

A large reason to invest in workforce management is to ensure inventory and your goods are handled properly. Oracle Simphony offers a forecasting tool in inventory that helps you understand and expect where par levels should be. Oracle also tracks inventory discrepancies and offers menu modeling in order to see how costs and price changes will affect menu items before making these changes. This is huge when wanting to figure out the best price to sell a menu item at.

Intuitive kitchen display

Oracle’s KDS technology allows for extremely efficient information relay between staff members and the back of the house. The KDS’ themselves are built with touch screens, and bump bars and are also built to handle the heat they will be exposed to in a live kitchen. They do require a custom quote, but are made for ease of use and durability in any professional kitchen.

Support for non-US businesses

While others on our list may work with a few other countries, Oracle supports over 180 countries.

Customer updates

Like the other ghost kitchen POS systems on our list, you can let customers know when an order is out for delivery. Oracle Simphony goes one step further, however, by tracking driver location to give customers live updates.

Monthly Software Fee

• Mini – $29/mo, $24/mo with yearly contract
• Business – $49/mo, $44/mo with yearly contract
• Pro – $69/mo, $64/mo with yearly contract

Processing Fees

Processing fees vary by the payments processor you choose to use and integrate with Poster

Kitchen Kit

Like the others on our list, Poster can send orders to a kitchen display system—like Square, this is a tablet rather than an industry-grade KDS. (Consider Toast and Oracle Simphony for the best hardware.) What sets it apart from the others, however, is that the orders can include the recipe and cooking instructions. This feature allows you to not only train staff with ease but also offer consistent products again and again.

Delivery tracking

Once an order is ready, a message is sent to the cashier’s terminal. You can then assign a driver. Like Square, you can create special offers and cash-back options for delivery services. The Poster Courier mobile app lets you notify your delivery drivers through the app and provides maps for delivery locations. However, it does not do route optimization like Rezku.

Marketing

Unlike Square, Poster includes a loyalty feature in all its plans. You can offer different discounts or bonuses such as those based on points. It works via SMS rather than cards, so customers can activate rewards with just their phone number. You can also integrate applications such as chatbots if desired.

Works on many devices

Another advantage for a kitchen starting out is that Poster works on Android tablets or iPads rather than proprietary hardware like Toast or Simphony. This allows all necessary stakeholders within your operation to access the data they need, regardless of their phone’s operating system.

Monthly Software Fee

• Quick Start Bundle – $0 (pay as you go)
• Core – $69
• Growth – $165

Processing Fees

• 2.99% + 15 cents

Toast aggregator

Toast offers its own app for hungry customers. Toast TakeOut & Delivery lists your restaurant and menu, so diners in your area can order food directly from you. This then feeds into your POS system like other delivery services. It has over 500,000 downloads with 4.7 out of 5 stars on Android and 4.9 out of 5 with over 57,000 ratings on iOS.

Inventory by xtraCHEF

Toast offers inventory management through xtraCHEF. This system allows you to sync invoice information into your accounting system, track fluctuating costs, and track inventory with efficiency and ease. xtraCHEF excels at accounting-related invoice tasks and is a great asset for anyone running one or multiple brands out of their ghost kitchen.

Delivery services

If you have your own drivers, Toast lets you assign them routes, record tips, and schedule and manage them easily. It offers Google Maps and custom delivery areas, and lets you program delivery fees. It also works with DoorDash Drive if you need to hail additional drivers for a flat-rate fee. The maps and DoorDashDrive options make it one of the best on our list; only Rezku with its route optimization does driver management better.

Kitchen display system (KDS) syncs with customers

Like the others on our list, online orders are coordinated and routed to your KDS or kitchen printer. Where Toast stands out, however, is that it automatically sends a text to customers when an order is completed by your kitchen team, a function also found in Simphony.

Workforce management

Unlike most on our list, Toast offers a complete workforce management system. You can onboard new employees through the system, storing their paperwork and prepping information for payroll. Plus, you can create schedules and control clock-in/clock-outs. However, like with Square, most of these features are add-ons that cost extra. (Simphony includes these in its system.)

Monthly Software Fee

• Starter – $69 (Does not include online ordering)
• Essential – $189 (Includes online ordering)
• Premium – $399 (Includes online ordering)
• Enterprise – Custom quote

Processing Fees

• 2.6% + 10 cents for the Starter and Essential Plans. Custom quote needed for higher tiers. (This is for Lightspeed Payments. You can shop around with many others for better rates.)

Lightspeed Delivery

Lightspeed Delivery is a premium add-on to the Lightspeed Restaurant POS with a custom quote. Pricing for this add-on averages $50–$120 a month. This module consolidates online orders from third-party services like UberEats, Skip the Dishes, and DoorDash. It also lets you manage your menus across all third-party delivery sites in one location.

Promotions

Lightspeed Delivery also comes with excellent promotional tools that others charge extra for. You can create discounts on delivery prices or promotions to attract new or returning customers. Additionally, you can create promo codes to use with social media and advertising as well. Use its tools to share positive reviews to let others know how much people love your food.

Auto86 reflects across menus

With Lightspeed Delivery, you can update your menu across all platforms from a single dashboard; plus Lightspeed’s inventory tools allow auto86ing of items as they run out. This puts it on par with Toast and Square.

In-depth inventory tools

Manage your in-house inventory within or across multiple locations with Lightspeed’s inventory tools. Track ingredient level items, track waste, and look at overall purchasing data using its interface. You can also access monthly sales reports and export inventory reports when needed.

Large choice of payment processors

Lightspeed’s allowance of customers to shop around to different payment processors is an advantage for those who want that kind of flexibility. As with Oracle Simphony, you can select Lightspeed Payments, TSYS, WorldPay, and others. It also has country-specific payment processors.

Ghost, dark, and cloud kitchens refer to the same thing, although “CloudKitchens” is also a service that provides kitchen space for rent along with the equipment for managing orders. Dark kitchens are usually small, mobile, self-contained spaces (sort of like a semi-permanent food truck) filled with kitchen appliances and accessories that connect to electrical and water, but they serve the same purpose.

Cloud kitchens work for delivery or takeout only (usually just delivery). Thus, there’s no overhead associated with on-location eating, like floorspace, waitstaff, or public restrooms.

According to a study published in ResearchGate, the average profit for a restaurant runs from 3%–5%, while cloud kitchens usually enjoy a profit margin of 10%–12%. Cloud kitchens also have lower startup costs.

A POS or point-of-sale system is software that lets you manage your in-person (and sometimes online) sales. It acts like a register in ringing up payments but also tracks inventory, costs and profits, customer information, and more. The best also include clock-in tools and out-of-stock alerts and send information to a kitchen printer or display system.

In all honesty, it depends on your business model. Delivery services like DoorDash give you a system for tracking orders. Thus, if you are using only a single delivery service or working with a franchise like CloudKitchens, they supply all the equipment you need. (Cloud kitchens will coordinate all the delivery services they use for you.)

However, if you take your own orders and orders from multiple delivery sites, a POS system will help you coordinate orders, track inventory, prompt for re-orders when supplies are low, and give you internal reports that you can use to audit your accounts with third-party platforms. A POS will also help you track staff hours and ease your payroll processes.

In addition to the items you need to create and pack the meals for delivery, you need a payment processing service, an online store, and a kitchen display system or kitchen printer for keeping track of orders. Most of these tools are provided by the POS system you select or the delivery service you work with.

There are two types of third-party platforms that send online orders to POS systems. Direct ordering and delivery platforms are third-party services that provide the orders, drivers, and hardware, while middleman apps aggregate orders from multiple direct ordering and delivery platforms and send them to your POS.

Direct integrations with third-party platforms are better, because you only pay per order processed. With the middleman apps, you still have to pay the third-party fees, but you also have to pay a monthly subscription fee (which can be pretty expensive).