TouchBistro Review and Pricing

Why We Chose TouchBistro for Restaurants

We like that TouchBistro POS is made specifically for restaurants and doesn’t try to cater to every industry. This focus allows TouchBistro to offer restaurant-specific tools, like drag-and-drop table management, customizable menu dashboards and ingredient-level tracking. 

TouchBistro also makes it simple for servers and bartenders to upsell customers, split the bill and manage restaurant seating. These features streamline your restaurant operations and improve the customer experience. 

In addition, TouchBistro was one of the only hybrid POS systems we reviewed. Hybrid POS systems combine the flexibility of cloud-based POS software with the reliability of an onsite server. Your restaurant will continue to operate even if you lose your internet connection during the middle of a dinner rush, which can have a significant impact on your bottom line.  

TouchBistro’s restaurant-specific table management features help boost table turn times, reduce errors and improve the customer experience. Source: TouchBistro 

Ease of Use

We were impressed by TouchBistro’s intuitive and user-friendly software. In particular, we liked how businesses can set up the TouchBistro POS dashboard to match their menu and table layout. Because TouchBistro is an iPad-based system, most of your employees will already be familiar with the system and feel comfortable navigating it. 

We also appreciate that TouchBistro allows users to customize the system to meet their specific needs. For example, you can customize forced menu modifiers and upsell prompts to ensure a smooth ordering process. It’s also easy to add features such as reservations, online ordering and customer loyalty programs to take your customer service to the next level. 

TouchBistro Features

TouchBistro offers a comprehensive set of features that serve restaurants of all sizes, and we like that TouchBistro continually updates and improves its software features. Here’s an overview of TouchBistro’s most impressive features. 

Restaurant Management

TouchBistro is designed to make floor and order management as easy as possible, especially during peak hours. Here are some of its best restaurant management tools:

• Table management: When testing the software, we liked how the drag-and-drop table management tools made it easy to create a floor plan that mimics your restaurant’s layout. This function makes it easy to manage tables and maximize your seating occupancy. 
• Tracking tools: We really liked the platform’s robust tracking tools, which provide detailed information on a restaurant’s performance. There are more than 50 reports that update in real time, and you can use this data to track your daily sales and monitor staff members’ performance.
• Online ordering: TouchBistro makes it easy to manage online orders and deliveries. You can accept orders directly through your website or Google profile, which syncs seamlessly with the TouchBistro POS system. Guests can place orders for immediate pickup or delivery, and they also have the option to schedule future orders.
• Menu management: Quick-service and full-service establishments will appreciate the platform’s customizable menu management. Users can modify menus for different days and add item modifications, allergen warnings, and upselling and cross-selling options to grow their revenue. 

TouchBistro’s online ordering functionality can boost restaurants’ sales. Source: TouchBistro

Employee Management

We like that TouchBistro allows restaurants to customize employee management to free you from time-consuming personnel tasks. 

• Customized user profiles: You can create user profiles for each employee and assign them to staff roles. This tool gives you total control of the information and features your staff can access. For example, you may want only hosts to make reservations or only managers to comp meals.
• Data-based employee management: We were impressed by TouchBistro’s data-based approach to employee management. For example, you can run reports on staff members to determine your best performers based on sales. This feature makes it easy to run staff competitions and encourages servers to offer upsells. The platform also has a built-in time clock and in-app messaging to help you communicate with employees.
• Robust scheduling: We like TouchBistro’s robust scheduling tools, which are vital in an industry with varying weekly shifts. The platform allows users to determine staff availability, organize split shifts, ensure coverage and record overtime hours. Notably, Touch Bistro also integrates with 7shifts to help with scheduling. 

TouchBistro allows you to set user profiles and permissions for staff members. Source: TouchBistro

Inventory Management

We found TouchBistro’s inventory management among the industry’s best. The platform’s integrated MarginEdge back-office solution is a significant aspect of this functionality. It allows you to use digital inventory management to track food costs and pinpoint areas of consistent waste. 

We were very impressed that MarginEdge has a team of real people — not artificial intelligence — reviewing costs line by line in each menu category before it publishes food cost numbers. This data can help you determine which parts of the menu to keep and which parts to change to ultimately help increase your restaurant’s profits. 

TouchBistro allows you to manage your inventory by focusing on the specific ingredients used in each dish. The platform can flag items that are running low and automatically remove offerings from the menu when you’re out of a specific ingredient. You can add inventory using a barcode scanner or enter items manually.

During our testing, the initial inventory setup required some time and patience when we were manually adding ingredients, recipes and associated menu items. However, once the initial work is done, stock levels are updated automatically as customers place orders. This high level of inventory management can streamline kitchen and restaurant management because you won’t need to track ingredients by hand at the end of every shift.

TouchBistro’s digital inventory management system helps you track food costs and minimize waste. Source: TouchBistro

Customer Management

A restaurant that earns repeat business and customer loyalty is well positioned for stable revenue and future growth. TouchBistro excels in these areas with its customer accounts feature, which allows you to record customer preferences, view purchase histories and manage balances. You can track 24 data points as customers interact with a restaurant location onsite or online.

We were also impressed by the platform’s in-house TouchBistro Reservations platform (available as an add-on for a flat monthly fee), which facilitates two-way texts and emails between establishments and their customers. It also helps to provide detailed reports by tracking spending versus a customer’s in-restaurant time.

TouchBistro Reservations helps you manage your restaurant’s capacity and note customers’ needs and requests. Source: TouchBistro

Customer Loyalty Programs

We like that TouchBistro makes it easy to create and use loyalty programs. The platform helps you collect customer data to provide branded loyalty cards, gift cards and other rewards.

Although most POS system competitors have some customer loyalty features, we were impressed that TouchBistro offers a dedicated program, called TouchBistro Loyalty, as an add-on. TouchBistro Loyalty provides the following functions (and many can be customized with your restaurant branding):  

• CRM features for gathering important customer information (e.g., number of visits, spending, order information, birthdays)
• Targeted marketing campaigns that you can distribute through TouchBistro Marketing
• Integrated online ordering to reward customers no matter how they interact with your restaurant
• Customized loyalty programs by eatery type (e.g., food truck, quick-service, full-service restaurant)

We also really like that TouchBistro can help you set up a customer-facing web app that makes their loyalty info easy to see and access on the go.

Reporting

TouchBistro provides a variety of reports to help restaurants keep track of important financial and inventory details:

• Total sales
• Menu items, categories and promotions
• Customer behavior and spending patterns
• Statistical summaries
• Payments and payment types
• Shifts, staff tips and activity
• Discounts, deletions and voids
• Taxes and accounting
• Inventory tracking (by ingredient)

Integrations

TouchBistro doesn’t have the plethora of integration options that some competitors offer. However, the platform provides essential integrations that many restaurants will appreciate. In particular, it has partnered with companies to provide functionality in areas such as loyalty, marketing and reservations.

In addition to its own payment processing service, TouchBistro has also partnered with several payment processors to provide payment processing services. It also supports third-party payment integrations, so if you’re looking for a new POS setup and really love your payment processor, you could keep it with TouchBistro.

TouchBistro Pricing

We appreciate TouchBistro’s transparent pricing. The company offers a core POS system for $69 per month, and add-on features are available for an additional monthly charge. These add-ons allow restaurants to customize their POS system according to their specific needs. 

Here’s an overview of TouchBistro’s pricing:

• Base POS system: $69 per month, which includes features such as menu management, reporting and analytics, table-side ordering, floor plan and table management, and staff management.
• Kitchen display system: $19 per month
• Profit management: $330 per month
• Online ordering: $50 per month
• Reservations: $229 per month
• Gift cards: $25 per month 
• Loyalty program: $99 per month
• Marketing: $99 per month

TouchBistro also gives you access to TouchBistro Payments, its in-house payment processing service. 

Implementation/Onboarding

We were impressed by TouchBistro’s easy implementation and onboarding process. In particular, we like how simple it is to customize your system. You can do this by adding functions such as reservations, online ordering, gift cards and loyalty programs. 

You can also modify the table layout, menu setup and forced modifiers for each dish or drink. And if you operate multiple restaurant locations, you can implement these changes across the board or make one-off tweaks for individual locations. 

When it comes to hardware, we appreciate that a TouchBistro onboarding team will help you decide what’s best for your restaurant. Depending on your business’s specific needs, the company may recommend implementing a mix of stationary terminals, line busters and table-side devices.

Once your system is set up, employee training should be straightforward and quick. We like that the POS dashboard is intuitive and user-friendly, so the learning curve isn’t steep. Setting up forced modifiers within the system can reduce the overall time you spend training employees on the menu. 

We were particularly impressed that you get a dedicated onboarding manager to help guide you through onboarding and implementation and ensure your system is set up correctly. Not all POS providers offer this service.

TouchBistro’s hardware offerings are iPad-based, including options for stationary terminals, line-busting devices and table-side ordering. Source: TouchBistro

Customer Support

TouchBistro offers 24/7 customer support via phone, email and web chat. If you prefer to do your own research, you can access a wealth of information through TouchBistro’s searchable support hub. 

This hub includes articles, videos, workshops and a VIP community willing to help out. TouchBistro continually updates its software with new features and performance enhancements, so we like that it offers a user tutorial on how to keep the software updated.

Limitations

TouchBistro is a robust solution for restaurants, but we discovered a few limitations you should be aware of:

• Long setup process: Although we appreciate that the TouchBistro POS system is very customizable, that means it can take a long time to get the system set up the way you want it. If you’re new to TouchBistro, make sure to allocate plenty of time for the setup process and to leverage the tutorials and guides provided by the company.
• Customer service complaints: TouchBistro has mixed reviews for its customer service. Some customers complain that they have a hard time reaching the company or receiving timely assistance.
• Limited integrations: TouchBistro doesn’t have as many integrations as some competitors. However, it does have options for accounting, analytics, inventory management, online ordering, payment processing, staff scheduling and payroll. If you are looking for a POS solution with hundreds of integrations, check out our Lightspeed POS review and our review of Square.
• No Android options: TouchBistro is an iPad-based POS system that doesn’t offer Android or other operating system options. If you’re looking for hardware built on a more diverse array of operating systems, check out our Cake review.
• No free trial: Some businesses want to test their POS system before fully committing to it, but TouchBistro doesn’t offer this option. If this is a dealbreaker for you, check out our review of Toast, which has a free Quick Start plan that can give you a feel for the platform, or our Clover review, which explains the vendor’s generous 30-day free trial.

Methodology

We researched and analyzed dozens of the best POS systems to identify the top industry solutions. We examined pricing, contracts, hardware, platform compatibility, must-have POS features, reports, payment processing, integrations, usability and customer support to help businesses choose the right POS system for their needs. When looking for the best POS system for restaurants specifically, we prioritized features such as inventory management, customer management, loyalty programs, table management, usability and customization. 

Bottom Line

We recommend TouchBistro for …

• Restaurants of all sizes that are looking for a customizable POS system. 
• Restaurants that need a hybrid POS system.
• Restaurants that are looking for advanced inventory management features.
• Restaurants that want flexible payment processing options.
• Restaurants that need a server-friendly platform that’s easy and quick to learn.

We don’t recommend TouchBistro for …

• Companies in the retail space.
• Restaurants that want an Android-based POS platform.
• Restaurants that want a free trial to test a POS system.