Imonggo is a free web-based point of sale solution that launched in 2009. The vendor says currently it is scaling to address the various needs of states across global markets to become the authority in a point-of-sale solution for growing businesses.
$30
per month, per branch
Toast Point of Sale
Score 7.2 out of 10
N/A
Toast Point of Sale is a cloud-based restaurant point of sale solution provided as the foundation for Toast's all in one restaurant management solution which supports payment processing, as well as customer care, gift cards and loyalty, as well as back of house and back office (HR, payroll, schedule and shift management, etc.).
With all of the supplies and outreach we do with clients, Imonggo is really good at tracking that inventory. We can scan it in to have a detailed accounting of where our supplies end up located. We can scan them out to track which department is using supplies and at which quantities. This helps us keep track of our inventory usage rates and therein our connections with clients. This extremely useful in our grant reporting so we can track spending and demonstrate that money is translating to tangible benefits for our clients.
For restaurants it's great, and that's the only scenario I'm really use to seeing it. However I do have to say that during Christmas time, our city has a craft bizarre where local artists are featured and sell their wares, and this Bizarre was using Toast POS. Therefore, I think it can really span across all avenues. It's great because of how it categorizes menus, and how you can run reports like a p-mix to see your top sellers, and bottom sellers, etc. The more I think of it, now, really any business that sells something and needs to track those sales, could use this POS. A tire store? Sure. A hat shop? Absolutely. The great thing about Toast is that it is just SO customizable! You can even make the buttons different colors, that's how customizable it is. Lastly, the ability to sell online has been a game-changer. I wish there was a little bit better formatting for online ordering, but really, you can add pictures, descriptions, modifiers, use discount codes, and accept gift cards all online. We didn't have to build out an online store, we just had to build out our menu buttons and we were all set.
Design - While the UI is navigable, the design looks a bit dated.
Server issues - Occasionally the web-based client is too slow to process information and can result in a double input of said information. It's not life ending but a bit annoying at times.
Custom Tagging - Most of the tags we input to classify inventory have to be entered manually, it would really nice to have those populate automatically.
Inventory buttons - They used to have buttons that you could click to change the inventory in a given field, now you just have to enter the number in the field itself. Was much nicer to have the option of both.
Though sales details are available in real time, the analytics take 2-3 days to post. So if you are looking for specific modifications you'll have to wait.
Though you can edit the menus directly from the devices and move them around like you do on a smartphone, it doesn't give you a sorting option. If you're OCD like me, you have to alphabetize my hand.
It's something we've used for a while now and we're pleased ultimately with its functionality. This is not to say its perfect, it isn't, but accomplishes a lot of what we need it to do. The fact we've been able to utilize it outside of a traditional retail environment speaks to its versatility and adaptability. For those reasons we'll continue to use until we're presented with a better alternative.
There are many features I wish Toast had that it currently does not, but we are likely to renew this year because given Toast's recent increase in funding and expanding of their staff, we are hopeful some of these issues will finally be resolved in 2019. Plus, though I've never done it, I'd imagine that switching to another POS system would take a ton of time, money, and resources---things most businesses don't have a lot of. So we'll sit tight with Toast for now and see what they come up with this year in terms of fixing our biggest pain-points.
It's pretty phenomenal for inventory management/POS of functions. Relatively easy to use and incorporate into our process. The lack of customization and categorization from the client/customer tracking side of the software is its big limitations and the only frustration for a usability perspective.
Toast POS is a great basic POS tool, having some features I didn't think would be possible at this price point, such as:
processing CC payments in "offline mode" in case there is an internet outage
kitchen display screens
collecting payment from customers using a handheld right at their table
pre-approving card payments to assure the customer has enough money to pay for their order, etc
That being said, I still feel that Toast misses the mark on some things that I truly would consider 'common-sense' features, such as:
providing hardware that connects the Register Screen (Elo) to the Cash drawer so it doesn't fall off the table when flipped over for customer signature
accepting physical and e-gift cards as payment on their own online ordering platform (ToastOO)
a Rewards Program that allows for online enrollment, rather than holding up quick-serve lines to sign up
a Promo code feature that allows you to add basic restrictions such as Limit 1 per customer, or date/time limitations
increasing in-store operations efficiency by creating more straight-forward ways to manage restaurant/ToastOO hours, and Delivery/Takeout quote estimates
Facing these issues after 3+ years has been a frustration. We hope Toast has some solutions in mind that they will be implementing in 2019.
It usually loads quickly and without hesitation. There are the occasional slow moments in connectivity that can present small frustrations, but nothing majorly inhibiting. We haven't integrated it apart from being a standalone application.
The few times we've used them, they've been really solid. The only reason they didn't a perfect 10 is that we haven't had a major hiccup by which to judge them.
It's hard to give anything a perfect 10 when it comes to implementation unless it does it all for you. Our biggest complaint was the time it took to set up everything in the software, though to be fair that's almost always going to be the case with inventory management software. The lack of auto-populate fields did slow us down some, but ultimately we got the set up done without egregious headaches, that's a win in my book.
Imonggo makes things simpler given its relatively clean UI and simple options tree that results from each click. Salesforce can do more and use custom tracking more efficiently but is more of a pain to set up and maintain. Xero handles inventory management in a different way than Imonggo and for day to day purposes its easier for our staff to use Immongo. Imonggo lets lower level staff interact with our inventory and we can set up access for them to more akin to its typical POS service, scanning out inventory for clients.
Toast is so much easier to use than Breadcrumb. The display is so much easier to navigate. The card readers are more quality with Toast. Chownow was hard because it had its own printer, different than our kitchen printer, for to go orders, but now with Toast's all in one ordering we get the to go orders sent to the kitchen with the same ease as if they were getting fired from the main floor.
It works exactly as we intend the vast majority of the time. There are moments where the software is slow to respond and thus causes duplicate input of information. That may be the fault of our machine/internet connection, but it happens with enough frequency that it can be a small hiccup. Usually any hiccups that it presents can be remedied immediately.
Inventory management - This has been extremely helpful to track what we're using and in what quantities. Makes budgeting a lot easier and more accurate.
Client engagement - It's helped us engage and maintain clients, but by the same token has proven limited as it's difficult to separate clients into custom subcategories.
Grant reporting - The numbers generated through Imonggo are really helpful for providing numerical feedback to our funders.
