Maitre'D vs. Aloha Cloud

Maitre'd is probably best suited for smaller chains where recurring monthly expenses need to be reduced and a cloud model is not a fit. It would most likely thrive for companies with 8 or less locations. If deployed to multiple locations, I would recommend having an inhouse IT department familiar with the product or a very reliable reseller because the product can be finicky from time to time.

Incentivized

In a fast-paced, high-volume environment, this simple POS is a perfect solution to completing sales transactions. However, for establishments that would like to truly customize what their staff is seeing and ringing in, and what the guests are seeing when receipts are printed, this POS does leave something to be desired.

Incentivized

• Maitre'd allows us to use their Broadcaster module to push product and pricing updates to all five of our regions, simplifying product rollout and updates.
• The program is versatile and allows for integration with loyalty and online ordering systems, however that does require some advanced technical knowledge to properly execute.
• The program is easy to learn from a cashier and management standpoint, new hires can get up to speed quickly which helps minimize required training time and ultimately labor hours.

Incentivized

• User friendly--was easy to train new employees on the system.
• Reliable--rarely had issues or went down.
• Great reporting on sales numbers

Incentivized

• Maitre'D could make better use of pick lists, especially when it comes to the delivery and take-out orders. The interface is out-dated and feels awkward and needlessly cumbersome.
• When a problem (bug) is discovered, I would like to see better and more rapid response from the company.
• Major improvements are slow to happen. I am on the same major version as I started with 7 years ago and I believe there are customers still using the prior version. This seems like too long for a company to allow old versions to live and must force them to support too many different variations. This situation has to detract from the company to develop new and better capabilities.
• Access to raw data is not possible, custom reports are not available. I consider this a major drawback. Entering a lot of new items, or changing a lot of item information is painful. Changes are made item by item, no bulk edits. For example, let's say I want to increase the price of beer by $1 and I have 50 types of beers, I will need to modify 50 individual items, that is easily more than an hour's work.

Incentivized

• Honestly, I have yet to have an issue with any of the functions of Aloha. The only thing that was a little complex was the end-of-day functions, (as we were a 24-hr casino) as if there were any open items, it would just auto-close these and that could get a little troublesome if I was behind in closing out checks. But I am not entirely sure if that was related to how our company itself was set up to run, not the actual Software.

Incentivized

Overall, Aloha POS's usability is phenomenal. The interface is extremely easy to navigate through. All buttons and tabs are easy to add or delete. Having a piece of software that is easy to toggle through creates a much more efficient workplace. I love the ease of use. A brand new employee can jump right into the system and use it with no issues.

Incentivized

There were a lot of instances where I had to call back or a problem wasn't resolved, specifically with Aloha loyalty.

Incentivized

The sales support and service was the deciding factor for me choosing Maitre'D.

Incentivized

Micros POS comes to mind as another point of sale system that I've had a terrible experience with. From bland presentation, unintuitive software, to clunky and malfunctioning hardware. The units would crash, slow, down, and the touch screens were unresponsive. It was a simple order and fire system, lacking the complexities of Aloha's course system and elaborate payment screen.

Incentivized

• My shop needs a POS to operate efficiently. We are too large to go manual, there would be way too many mistakes. Maitre'D is a good choice for our need.
• The Berg liquor pouring control system has a native interface into Maitre'D and our return on investment was 4 or 5 months.

Incentivized

• Clean setup and presentation makes for a much more efficient checkout process.
• Easy to put data into daily reports.
• Increase in revenues.

Incentivized