Likelihood to Recommend Square POS is by far the easiest POS software to use at events and train additional team members on - even with temporary or first-time employees. It's easy to see how each event is doing in live time. It gives the event manager a real-time view of revenue earned. Its really easy to create/manage/delete users to keep the platform secure.
Read full review 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.
Read full review Pros Mobile transactions (not like from a phone, but in terms of the ability to physically relocate rapidly). Simple setup. Generally uncomplicated pricing. Widespread customer familiarity: because it's so regularly in use in our industry (musicians/entertainment professionals), people know and trust it in a way that you might not with a different provider. Read full review The ability for guest to select a receipt type. Allowing to enter in different types of orders (current in-store orders, future orders, house account orders, and more). The convenience of touch screen use and strong calibration. Ability to swivel tablet from employee to guest. Read full review Cons Too much going on for simple users. There are so many different apps and pages now that I get lost almost every time I log onto Square The high percentage of fees taken from sales The difficulty in changing default settings The layout of the “website” you can create is truly a nightmare Read full review 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. Read full review Likelihood to Renew I don't really foresee anything being able to dislodge Square from our organization—we're not evangelists or anything like that—it's just the best solution we've found for our use case. Being able to quickly handle transactions from customers and then track all of those sales for analysis/bookkeeping later on.
Read full review 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.
Read full review Usability Once set up, Square POS is very easy to use. I feel it is a little too easy. Many other solutions have some layer of complexity to them but Square POS is pretty straightforward and this makes it the ideal POS solution in my opinion. If a solution can remove the barriers to use and allow end users to get on with their tasks without being slowed down, then it is a winner. This is what we were able to achieve with Square POS.
Read full review 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.
Read full review Support Rating An admission - I have NEVER had to use Square POS support. The system is seamless, it just works! I have never had any queries about how the system worked as everything is so clearly laid out. I have never had any problems with payments. If their support systems are anywhere near as good as their software, I think we'll be in good hands.
Read full review Alternatives Considered We only used Square POS while we were getting set up with
Authorize.Net . It isn't as flashy or recognized by the general public, but in our industry, that isn't a priority. We do very large transactions so the higher rates and fees from Square add up insanely quickly making the lower rates and fees from
Authorize.Net the nail in Square's coffin for us.
Read full review 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.
Read full review Return on Investment The opportunity cost of waiting for payments and manually bringing them to a bank means that we don't have to visit our bank branch. That alone saves us several hours each month. We can use ordinary computers and mobile devices with Square instead of paying for expensive software or terminals. Our clients appreciate not having to process payments to us, and anything that helps our clients and makes them happy carries more import than I can explain in this space. Read full review I wish there are a way to permanently delete items from the database instead of just archiving I wish there was a way to remove old locations that are no longer in use for my company completely from view. The system overall is easy to navigate and make changes to. Read full review ScreenShots