One location, about 15 employees and $30,000 a month in sales: a published price for one location, a short commitment and setup you can do yourself matter most.
Weigh more here than in the overall ranking: 12-month software cost (reference restaurant), initial term, sells to a single location, and setup help included. Weigh less here: purchase orders to suppliers and paying suppliers (AP).
The ranking
BevSpot
By BevSpot
Inventory, ordering and recipe costing built around bars and beverage programs, with bottle weights for partial counts. The Standard tier, the cheapest with recipe costing, has a published annual price, on an annual term that renews automatically with 60 days' notice.
RTC SCORE
8.0
#1 for Independent restaurants
Pros
- Built around bars: bottle weights for partial counts and recipe costing for drinks and dishes.
- Unlimited users on every published tier.
- Free POS connection with Lightspeed, Square, Toast and Upserve, and a file upload for any other POS.
Cons
- Annual term that renews automatically unless you cancel at least 60 days ahead, by booking a call; fees are not refunded.
- Variance against POS sales and AI invoice processing are on the Pro tier, which is quoted.
- The pricing page shows only annual prices, food and beverage are priced separately, and the length of the free trial is not published.
- Initial term
- 12 months
Strongest on 12-month software cost (reference restaurant), sells to a single location, and inventory counts. Weakest on actual vs. theoretical food cost.
MarketMan
By MarketMan
Inventory and purchasing software with published plans from $249 a month: Starter includes inventory counts, recipe costing, actual vs. theoretical reporting and 50 invoice scans a month. The subscription agreement sets a 12-month commitment that renews unless you give 60 days' notice.
RTC SCORE
8.0
#2 for Independent restaurants
Pros
- Published plans: Starter at $249 a month already includes inventory counts, transfers, recipe costing, actual vs. theoretical reporting and purchase orders.
- Connects with Toast, Square, Clover, Shift4 POS, Lightspeed and TouchBistro, among others, with no MarketMan fee to integrate.
- Phone support seven days a week, plus chat, email and WhatsApp, and onboarding included in every plan.
Cons
- The subscription agreement sets a 12-month commitment even on monthly billing, renews for the same term and needs 60 days' notice to stop the renewal.
- If you leave early, the rest of the 12 months is still due.
- Starter caps invoice scanning at 50 a month; unlimited scanning starts on the higher Growth plan.
- Initial term
- 12 months
Strongest on 12-month software cost (reference restaurant), sells to a single location, and inventory counts.
reciProfity
By reciProfity
Recipe costing and inventory control with purchase orders, variance reporting and POS sales imports by file, at $119 a month billed monthly on the Operations tier (less on an annual plan), plus $10 a month per extra user.
RTC SCORE
7.8
#3 for Independent restaurants
Pros
- Published prices for every tier, billed monthly or yearly, with a 30-day free trial.
- Operations includes inventory counts, variance against ideal usage, purchase orders emailed to suppliers and menu engineering.
- Imports sales from any POS that exports a sales mix file, with a list that includes Toast, Square and Shift4 POS (as Harbor Touch).
Cons
- No published terms of service: term, renewal and the cost of leaving early are not published.
- One user included; each extra user is $10 a month, and integrations such as the accounting export are $10 a month each.
- No invoice scanning of its own and no direct POS connection for restaurants: invoices and sales come in by hand or by file.
- Initial term
- Not published
Strongest on 12-month software cost (reference restaurant), sells to a single location, and inventory counts. Weakest on supplier invoice capture.
MarginEdge
By MarginEdge
Food cost software at one published price of $350 a month per location, with inventory, recipe costing, unlimited invoice processing and bill pay included, month to month unless you choose annual billing. With Toast you also pay Toast's own fees.
RTC SCORE
7.7
#4 for Independent restaurants
Pros
- One published price, $350 a month per location, with inventory, recipe costing, theoretical usage reports, unlimited invoice processing and bill pay in the same plan.
- Month to month on monthly billing, with no cancellation fee, and 12 months of access to your account after you cancel.
- Connects with a long list of POS systems, including Toast, Square, Clover, Shift4 POS, Lightspeed and SpotOn, with no MarginEdge fee to connect them.
Cons
- With Toast you also pay Toast $50 a month per location for its Restaurant Management Suite, plus a Toast API fee whose amount is not published.
- Onboarding packages are sold separately and their price is not published.
- Support is by email or ticket on weekdays, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern; there is no phone line you can call.
- Initial term
- Month to month
Strongest on 12-month software cost (reference restaurant), POS integrations, and sells to a single location.
meez
By meez
Recipe software for kitchens that also counts inventory from the Pro plan, with a published monthly price and a lower one on an annual plan. POS sales and invoice processing come only on higher plans.
RTC SCORE
7.6
#5 for Independent restaurants
Pros
- Month-to-month billing on published plans, a 14-day free trial and no setup fee on Pro.
- Recipe costing on every plan, with built-in yields and unit conversions.
- Inventory counts in any unit of measure from the Pro plan.
Cons
- No POS connection below Enterprise, so Pro cannot compare actual and theoretical food cost from your sales.
- Invoice processing starts on Premium; on Pro you enter costs by hand or by spreadsheet.
- No bar inventory by weight or pour is documented.
- Initial term
- Month to month
Strongest on 12-month software cost (reference restaurant), sells to a single location, and initial term. Weakest on POS integrations.
WISK
By WISK
Inventory, recipe costing and invoice scanning for bars and restaurants, sold per location on an annual or quarterly term: $299 a month on the quarterly Food plan for one venue, with a published $750 setup fee and Bluetooth scale counts for partial bottles.
RTC SCORE
7.5
#6 for Independent restaurants
Pros
- Published per-location prices for one to ten outlets, including the one-time setup fee.
- Partial bottles are weighed with a supported Bluetooth scale in the mobile app.
- Lists more than 50 POS integrations, including Toast, Square, Clover, Shift4 POS and Lightspeed, with no extra charge to connect.
Cons
- No month-to-month option: the shortest term is a quarter, and fees already billed are not refunded.
- A one-time $750 setup fee for one venue, and the single-venue plan caps AI invoice scanning at 75 a month.
- Food and beverage are separate products; tracking both means the bundle, which costs more than either one.
- Initial term
- 3 months
Strongest on 12-month software cost (reference restaurant), sells to a single location, and initial term.
Yellow Dog Inventory
By Yellow Dog Software
Inventory, recipe costing and actual vs. theoretical food cost for food and beverage operations, with a published single-restaurant plan at $295 a month on a two-year contract that includes setup, one POS connector and unlimited scanned invoices.
RTC SCORE
7.4
#7 for Independent restaurants
Pros
- Published price for one restaurant: $295 a month with implementation, one POS connector and unlimited scanned invoices included.
- Inventory counts, recipe costing and actual vs. theoretical food cost, with purchase orders, transfers and commissary tools.
- Long list of POS connectors, including Toast, Square, Clover, Shift4 POS, Lightspeed and PAR Brink.
Cons
- The single-restaurant plan carries a two-year contract, and the software agreement (renewal, notice and early exit) is not public.
- Restaurant POS connectors are 1-way, and only one is included in the published plan.
- Live help desk is weekdays only, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern; nights and weekends are emergency support.
- Initial term
- 24 months
Strongest on 12-month software cost (reference restaurant), sells to a single location, and inventory counts.
Restaurant365
By Restaurant365
Back office suite with restaurant accounting, inventory, recipe costing, AP automation and scheduling. The Operations page lists Professional at $489 a month per location billed annually, while the pricing page only offers a custom quote; the contract runs for the term on the Order Form and renews automatically.
RTC SCORE
7.2
#8 for Independent restaurants
Pros
- Accounting, AP automation, inventory, recipe costing and scheduling in one system, with actual vs. theoretical food cost reports.
- The Operations page publishes a per-location price for the Professional plan ($489 a month billed annually).
- Integrates with a long list of POS systems, including Toast, Square, Clover, Shift4 POS, Lightspeed and SpotOn.
Cons
- The pricing page only offers a custom quote, so the published $489 may not be what you are quoted; billing is annual or quarterly, not monthly.
- You cannot cancel or downgrade during the term: the whole subscription term is owed, and it renews automatically unless you email notice 60 days before the end.
- A paid implementation and a one-time POS setup fee per location are required, with no published amounts.
- Initial term
- Quote only
Strongest on POS integrations, sells to a single location, and inventory counts. Weakest on published pricing.
xtraCHEF by Toast
By Toast
Toast's back-office add-on for Toast restaurants: the Pro plan at $279 a month per location adds inventory and recipe costing to invoice automation; the $179 Essentials plan covers invoices and accounting sync only.
RTC SCORE
6.4
#9 for Independent restaurants
Pros
- Published price per location: Pro at $279 a month with inventory and recipe costing, or Essentials at $179 for invoices only.
- Built into Toast: sales come from your Toast account and recipes connect to your Toast menu without a separate connector.
- Invoice scanning in both plans with no monthly cap published, plus ordering from your vendors.
Cons
- Works only with Toast POS; if you use another POS, it is not an option.
- Inventory and recipe costing are only in Pro; Essentials does not count inventory or cost recipes.
- The term is not published, and the only published terms (from 2020) make you pay through the end of the term with no refunds.
- Initial term
- Quote only
Strongest on 12-month software cost (reference restaurant), sells to a single location, and inventory counts.
This is general information about published contracts, not legal advice: read your own contract and check with a lawyer before you sign.
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