Katana Cloud Inventory vs. Lightspeed Restaurant

Katana Cloud Inventory is great for shipping and receiving busiiness. Where things are very cut and dry as far as what comes in and what goes out, this program is excellent at keeping track of these things. We do a lot of custom build items and it is not the greatest for these. A lot of time it is difficult to both enter these items and keep track of these items.

Incentivized

One thing Upserve [POS (formerly Breadcrumb)] does well is splitting customer checks is very easy and intuitive. We used to host a lot of groups (pre pandemic) and splitting checks can be a nightmare. But they let you split it evenly by number or by item. You can even split one item (say, an app) across multiple checks.

Incentivized

• Tracks incoming and outgoing parts/items
• Very easy to use and easy to learn.
• Able to implement the program quickly and begin using because of ease of use

Incentivized

• Reporting: Upserve's backend reporting system is unparalleled in this industry. It's extremely robust and gives us eyes into every nook and cranny of our business.
• Intuitive: The Upserve POS is nearly as intuitive as Square. The ease of use really helps us provide great service without spending a fortune in training.
• Extras: A quality POS system is assumed with Upserve. It has all the bells and whistles and it's very effective. What takes Upserve over the top is all the added features. Our online ordering system, loyalty program, delivery platform integration, KDS system, and soon to be inventory management are all provided for free with our system. The other benefit is all these features are seamless and work really well.

Incentivized

• Auto email generated with PO's cannot be permanently altered in my opinion.
• Different pack sizes of same items do not automatically fill in inventory I've found. For example, we order an item in singles, 4-packs, and 32 packs. In my experience, If we order the 32 pack, it does not show inventory for the smaller unit sizes. Each pack size has a different item number I believe.
• Fields on the PO are not adjustable in my experience. You must create a template and use the template. You cannot change the PO each time unless you have a template created in my experience.
• When closing out a sales order, if you invoice from Katana Cloud Inventory and send to Quickbooks, it automatically enables the invoice to receive credit cards in Quickbooks. We use another credit card service (not Quickbooks) and do not want this feature turned on. There is no way to disable it at this time.
• When being billed for a PO that has been received and that bill is sent over to Quickbooks, it does not show item counts in my expereince. It only translates as a total dollar amount for each line item.

Incentivized

• On the KDS, the system will re-fire tickets when we split checks and sometimes when simply closing out.
• On the KDS, when someone adds onto an order that has already been bumped from the screen and doesn't put the new item at the end of the queue. It bumps it to the front and keeps the original time of the original order. This makes it difficult to process the order and determine the priority of which order should be fulfilled.

Incentivized

Upserve is very intuitive. It utilizes a tab system along the left side of the screen for easy access to menu categories. After choosing the tab you want to view (i.e. Food), all the food items and/or sub categories show up instantly on the screen. once your items are chosen, you are a card swipe away from starting the payment process. Very easy. That said, there are a few minor issues with usability. For example, splitting checks is really quite difficult. You have to create new checks one at a time, then have to go searching for the checks to ring guests up. Really not intuitive on this front. Thankfully, it's not incredibly inhibitive

Incentivized

Seriously, if I could give a 12 rating I would. Upserve support is 24/7 and completely free. No extra fees on evenings or weekends and they are fast. You can actually start a chat support straight from your ipad screen. 90% of our support issues have been solved in just a few minutes from the chat screen. That said, I prefer the phone. Calling into Upserve support is just as easy and everyone is always friendly and fast

Incentivized

Our Quickbooks inventory was input incorrectly by a former employee and fixing it would have been more time consuming and less cost effective than to come up with an alternative solution. Katana Cloud Inventory was our alternative solution. Katana Cloud Inventory says that they are working on some of the integration problems with Quickbooks, and once they are fixed, will be a huge help!

Incentivized

Lavu is the worst POS system I have ever encountered. It was the most frustrating part of everyone’s shift. They were never available for customer service, Upserve is. Their system would shut down across regions, Upserve does not. Upserve (at the time Breadcrumb) was highly rated and praised for simplicity.

Incentivized

• So far we are still in the process of counting all of our inventory. We use tens of thousands of parts
• What we do have in inventory already is tracked very well.
• Parts have been in stock as needed since we implemented Katana Cloud Inventory.

Incentivized

• Bestsellers and slower items rise to the top in reporting features, making analysis quicker.
• Dramatically reduced server error
• Posed a challenge to continue face-to-face contact between servers and cooks; the POS tends to end conversations about special orders, special customer requests or restrictions, and generally conveys the nuances that contribute to excellent service. So we have to make a conscious effort to continue talking to each other.

Incentivized