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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Lightspeed Restaurant

    Score9.9 out of 10
    N/AThe Lightspeed Restaurant POS, from Lightspeed in Montreal, is a restaurant POS and management system designed to enable users to sync the user's menu with major food delivery apps, manage all orders and and reach new customers.

    $69

    per month 2.6% + 10¢

    Podium

    Score7 out of 10
    N/APodium, formerly Repdrive, is a ratings and review management platform from the company of the same name in Provo, Utah.N/A
    Pricing
    Lightspeed RestaurantPodium
    Editions & Modules
    Lightspeed Restaurant Essentials
    $69
    per month 2.6% + 10¢
    Lightspeed Restaurant Plus
    $189
    per month 2.6% + 10¢
    Lightspeed Restaurant Pro
    $399
    per month custom per purchase rates
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Lightspeed RestaurantPodium
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Lightspeed RestaurantPodium
    Considered Both Products
    Lightspeed
    No answer on this topic
    Podium
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    8 Answers
    58%
    Would buy again
    19 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    7 Answers
    58%
    Delivers good value for the price
    15 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    8 Answers
    64%
    Happy with the feature set
    21 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    6 Answers
    52%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    15 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    7 Answers
    59%
    Implementation went as expected
    17 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Lightspeed RestaurantPodium
    Small Businesses
    Toast Point of Sale
    Score8 out of 10
    Affinity CRM
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Toast Point of Sale
    Score8 out of 10
    Hunter
    Score7.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Lightspeed RestaurantPodium
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (25 ratings)
    6.9
    (43 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    Usability
    8.5
    (3 ratings)
    7.0
    (5 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.9
    (9 ratings)
    9.0
    (13 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Lightspeed RestaurantPodium
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Lightspeed
    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
    Read full review
    Podium
    Podium is well suited for several types of businesses. If you are an entrepreneur or small business owner, Podium would be a great way for you to ask that customers leave you a review online sharing their awesome experience. For medium to large businesses, Podium review invites can be automated through the company's customer management system, allowing the use of Podium to be simple and not timely, even with a large customer base. It may not be appropriate for a large company to manually send out individual review invites
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Lightspeed
    • 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
    Read full review
    Podium
    • Maintains conversations indefinitely, so we are able to go back to confirm details from conversations.
    • Provides the ability for our company to have a 'team' messaging platform where we can communicate with one another via single person to a single person, groups where we can add/subtract members of the group... this is invaluable to our organization.
    • Until today(!), we could 'share' or forward a message to one another; oddly, that feature disappeared just today, so I'm hoping it's a glitch!
    Read full review
    Cons
    Lightspeed
    • 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
    Read full review
    Podium
    • Account manager communications: I had been asking my Podium account manager for integration with our CRM tool for over 8 months before my account manager fell silent. After another 6 months, I proactively reached out only to find out that the integration had been in Beta for months and 8 other companies had already integrated. It was frustrating that my account manager did not remember a key request and make the Beta available to me the minute that it was open.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Lightspeed
    No answers on this topic
    Podium
    Again, Podium has been so wonderful in the year and a half we have been using it, we are able to integrate it with our CRM and use alot of the available features. The most helpful has been getting TONS of reviews on MULTIPLE sites through Podium!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Lightspeed
    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
    Read full review
    Podium
    While giving our clients the ability to leave a review was there, we had much worse results and got fewer reviews through the Podium portal than we did by sending our clients simple email requests, or simply having our service staff ask for a review while still on the clients' job sites.
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Lightspeed
    No answers on this topic
    Podium
    We haven't had any outages or issues whenever we need it over the last few years of use
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Lightspeed
    No answers on this topic
    Podium
    It moves quickly and has no issues with delays. Performance is good as it is a web-based tool
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Lightspeed
    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
    Read full review
    Podium
    I have to send an email to get information. They have a chat system but I end up having to go through my rep for account questions. It was a little frustrating to not have a direct phone number to call with questions. I would like to see a helpline added.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Lightspeed
    No answers on this topic
    Podium
    We only had a hard time getting our technicians to remember to send the review invites.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Lightspeed
    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
    Read full review
    Podium
    We use Digital Air Strike at our two GM dealerships because it is one of a small list of reputation management companies authorized by GM as part of their SFE program. Digital Air Strike surveys our customers and invites them to write a review about our dealership. It is not as effective or flexible as Podium so we have been using Podium at those dealerships alongside Digital Air Strike. We also recently started a trial use of ReplyPro which is a service that monitors review sites and writes customized responses to positive reviews and suggested responses to negative reviews. I'd like to see Podium add this as part of their service so we can consolidate 3rd party vendors and manage every aspect of online reputation management from one place.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Lightspeed
    No answers on this topic
    Podium
    Its easy to scale to different departments as needed. We initially began using it to solve one problem and as new features became available it was easy to scale this and include other departments who could benefit from its tools
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Lightspeed
    • 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
    Read full review
    Podium
    • I am glad there are card readers now, sales team members too often try to just send a request instead of taking payment onsite.
    • It's made capturing messaging leads much easier.
    • It's worth the cost but if it did a few more things it would be worth a lot more to us. Document signatures, surveying after jobs, even geotagging of photos/reviews for SEO
    Read full review
    ScreenShots