In our quest to help your bakery business rise to its fullest potential, we’ve kneaded together a list to help you find the best POS system for bakeries.
A good POS system keeps a sharp eye on your inventory, helps manage your diligent bakers and servers, and even offers insights to create a menu that keeps customers coming back for more.
Just as yeast is essential to a well-risen loaf of bread, choosing a strong point of sale system is crucial to streamline your bakery’s business operations. Below we’ll give you an overview of four top bakery point of sale solutions: KORONA POS, Toast, Lightspeed Restaurant, and Touchbistro.
Key Takeaways:
- KORONA POS: Best for bakeries with less complex food menu
- Toast: Best for integration delivery services
- Lightspeed Restaurant: Best for kitchen display system
- Touchbistro: Best for loyalty programs features
1. KORONA POS: Best For Bakeries With Less Complex Food Menu
KORONA POS overview
The KORONA POS system for bakeries tops our list because of its end-to-end functionality to support the most diverse range of bakery businesses.
This user-friendly POS lets you easily customize your order screens, and the basic system includes billing tools perfect for catering, custom cakes, or bulk orders. Here are the features that make KORONA POS one of a kind.
Pros
- Flat rate with no contracts
- 24/7 In-house support
- Unlimited free trial
- 60-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- Steeper learning curve
- No kitchen display system (KDS)
- Not ideal for complex menus
Korona POS Pricing
Core
$59/mo
- eCommerce store
- Manager functions
- Promotions and gift cards
- Core checkout functionality
- Product database
Retail
$69/mo
- Stock management
- Barcode automation
- Real-time tracking
- Item combination
- Order automation
Add-ons
From $10 to $50
- KORONA Food
- KORONA Plus
- KORONA Invoicing
- KORONA Ticketing
- KORONA Franchise
- KORONA Integration
KORONA POS caters to a variety of businesses, including retail stores, quick-service restaurants (including bakeries and coffee shops), and even niche businesses like museums, theme parks, and wineries.
Developed by Combase USA, KORONA POS is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, and known for its excellent customer support. In addition to its award-winning software, the solution offers merchants transparent pricing, no hidden fees, no long-term contracts or cancellation penalties, and 24/7 in-house customer support.
Below we’ll look at several key features that KORONA POS offers bakeries in particular, the pros and cons of the solution, and an overview of its pricing.
Key Features
- Simple orders and modifiers: Customers at bakeries often have specific requests or changes to their orders. A bakery’s POS system needs to make it simple to input these special orders and ensure smooth communication among all staff members. With KORONA POS, you can reduce order errors, minimize stress, and satisfy loyal customers.
- Native loyalty points system: Having loyal customers is rewarding and vital for the success of a bakery. To build and maintain a strong customer base, bakeries must consistently deliver a passion for the products and service, high-quality baked goods, and exceptional customer service. However, a CRM is also important for this. KORONA POS provides a built-in loyalty points system that rewards regular customers, making them even happier and more likely to come back.
- Combining products and offering discounted prices: Many bakeries provide special deals on product combinations, and KORONA POS can simplify this process for you. KORONA POS allows users to effortlessly create product bundles, adjust prices automatically, apply discounts, and ensure accurate inventory management.
- No fees for using gift cards: Gift cards benefit bakery owners by boosting sales, attracting new customers, and fostering loyalty. However, using gift cards often leads to financial burdens due to fees imposed by most point of sale systems. KORONA POS offers a solution to this problem. Unlike other POS systems that require you to use their gift card module and charge fees for each gift card used, KORONA POS integrates its gift card module into the solution. This integration comes at no additional cost as it is included in your subscription.
- Fast bakery POS transactions: KORONA POS offers the fastest checkout speed among all available point of sale solutions. By providing swift transactions, you can ensure customer satisfaction with shorter lines during your morning or lunch rushes. This keeps customers satisfied and cashiers stress-free.
- Time tracking and payroll assistance: Typically, not all employees in your bakery are paid via salaries; many are paid hourly. KORONA POS allows cashiers to clock in and out of the system. The software then provides a summary report of hours worked, which store owners can use to import into their payroll system to pay cashiers the correct amount. KORONA POS software simplifies employee scheduling, tracking working hours, managing tips or commissions, and helping bakery owners prepare for payroll.
- Flexing payments processing: KORONA POS is not a payment processor. However, it offers the possibility of integrating any processor of your choice. This allows you to negotiate the best rates and gives you greater flexibility in your choices. KORONA POS also facilitates the checkout process by enabling contactless smart card payments, self-checkout kiosks, and more.
Are payment processors
giving you trouble?
We won’t. KORONA POS is not a payment processor. That means we’ll always find the best payment provider for your business’s needs.
Pros
- Excellent customer support: Running a bakery can get hectic. With KORONA POS’ top-rated support, you can get quick answers to your questions and minimize downtime if any issues arise. This ensures your bakery runs smoothly, especially during peak hours.
- Table management: KORONA POS allows you to visually manage your bakery’s seating. It shows you at a glance which tables are occupied, open, or need cleaning.
- Multiple order printers: KORONA POS has separate printers for dine-in and takeout orders, which helps avoid order confusion and ensures faster service. This is especially helpful for bakeries that receive a high volume of to-go orders alongside dine-in customers.
- Modifiers: KORONA POS lets you offer a variety of add-ons and customizations for your bakery items. This is perfect for cafes that offer different types of milk for coffee drinks or toppings for custom cake orders. Customers can personalize their orders easily, leading to greater satisfaction.
- Graphical table layouts: You can visualize the seating layout of your bakery. This simplifies server table management, especially when working with large or multi-room floor plans.
- Item transfers & check-splitting: KORONA POS easily handles customer requests for splitting checks or transferring items between tables. This is ideal for bakeries catering to groups or families who may want to share their orders.
Cons
- Steep learning curve: While KORONA POS is generally considered user-friendly, it might take more time for staff in smaller bakeries to learn the system compared to simpler POS options.
- Lacks a kitchen display system (KDS): KORONA POS doesn’t offer a built-in KDS, which can be a drawback for bakeries with a separate kitchen or a large food menu. Without a KDS, there’s a higher chance of confusion or delays between taking orders and fulfilling them in the kitchen.
- Less-than-ideal fit for bakeries with a larger food menu and a separate kitchen: If your bakery offers a significant variety of savory items alongside baked goods, and has a separate kitchen space, KORONA POS might not be the best choice. The lack of KDS and potentially complex menu management could serve as obstacles to smooth operations.
Pricing
The pricing of KORONA POS is divided into two main plans – KORONA Core and KORONA Advanced – with several add-on options.
- The Core plan starts at $59 per month and provides access to essential features such as basic inventory management and reporting.
- The Advanced plan is available for those requiring more advanced functionalities at $69 monthly. It includes all the features of the Core plan and offers additional capabilities tailored to meet the needs of growing businesses.
- Add-ons start at $10 to $50, depending on your needs. For Bakeries, KORONA POS provides an Add-on called KORONA Food that offers server management, table management, courses, multiple order printers, modifiers, etc., for $10 per terminal.
2. Toast: Best For Integration Delivery Services
Toast POS overview
Thanks to its durable hardware and flexible software, Toast is an excellent choice for a bakery POS system. The tablets can handle a bakery’s heat, steam, and dust, ensuring they last longer than most other systems.
Pros
- Intuitive user interface
- Cloud-based
- Kitchen display system
Cons
- Frequent hardware malfunction
- Poor quality of hardware
Toast POS Pricing
Starter Kit
$0/mo
- Simple, flat-rate
- Automatic Feature and Software Upgrades
- Real-time fraud monitoring
Point of Sale
$69/mo
- Custom hardware configuration
- Toast Mobile Order & Pay
- Toast Scheduling Pro, Toast Tips Manager
Build Your Own
Custom
- Employee scheduling
- Guest marketing, loyalty, and gift cards
- Easy integrated payroll and tips manager
Toast POS, also known as Toast, Inc., is an American company established in December 2011. Their area of expertise is in cloud-based restaurant management software. This means their target audience is specifically the food service industry, offering an all-in-one POS system to streamline operations. Toast also simplifies billing for events, offsites, and special orders from the POS system.
Key Features
- Restaurant self-ordering kiosks: Toast kiosks reduce waiting times and give customers control over their dining experience, freeing up staff for other tasks. This feature allows customers to order independently and personalize their meals as they wish. Orders are sent directly from the self-service kiosks to the line.
- Kitchen display system: Toast has a special feature called a Kitchen Display System (KDS). This tool helps smooth out the process of running your bakery by linking your front-of-house and back-of-house operations (especially for full-service operations). It’s also smart enough to send orders directly to the correct station, letting you know when food is ready.
- Online ordering: This feature allows bakeries to take and handle online orders without any extra fees. Toast even lets your customers order through Google and provides its own delivery services. Plus, you can change the fonts, colors, and images to match your brand, letting your customers know they’re ordering from their favorite restaurant.
- Third-party delivery integrations: Toast’s third-party delivery manages the delivery tablets and order entry. Orders are transmitted directly to the kitchen. This feature solves the chaos of missing, delayed, or incorrect orders.
Pros
- Diverse integration with delivery services: Toast integrates with popular delivery services like DoorDash and Grubhub. These third-party integrations allow the bakery to reach a wider audience. Additionally, Toast streamlines the bakery’s operation by managing all orders (in-store and delivery) from a single platform, reducing errors and simplifying fulfillment.
- Self-ordering kiosk: Toast offers self-ordering kiosks, which can reduce wait times and improve customer experience during peak hours. Customers can browse pastries, customize orders, and pay quickly, allowing staff to focus on baking, order preparation, and customer service.
- Payroll and team management: Toast’s integrated system simplifies payroll tasks. The bakery can track employee hours, manage wages, and generate reports efficiently. Toast also improves team communication and scheduling by offering features for creating staff schedules, assigning tasks, and facilitating internal communication.
- Kitchen display system: Toast offers a real-time kitchen display system (KDS). Orders automatically populate on the KDS, ensuring bakers see all details and prioritize tasks. This reduces confusion and wasted time by eliminating the need for manual order communication between staff.
Cons
- Lack of efficient customer support solutions: Some users report difficulty reaching Toast’s customer support or experiencing long wait times.
- Limited suitability for complicated menus: While Toast POS works well for many bakery menus, it might struggle with highly customized offerings or a large variety of baked goods with intricate descriptions.
Pricing
Toast POS offers a tiered pricing structure with varying plans to suit different bakery needs. Here’s a breakdown:
- Starter Kit (Free): This plan is ideal for single-location bakeries with minimal needs. It includes basic POS functionality on one terminal (additional terminals incur charges). There are no upfront hardware costs, but you might need to purchase your own device. However, it has limited features compared to higher tiers.
- Toast Point of Sale (Starting at $69/month): This option is ideal for bakeries seeking core functionality with a flat-rate processing fee. It allows you to choose your own hardware and includes features like menu management, inventory tracking, and basic reporting. However, it may not be scalable for bakeries with complex needs.
- Toast Build Your Own (Custom Pricing): This is ideal for bakeries seeking a fully customizable solution with advanced features. You choose the features you need, such as online ordering, loyalty programs, payroll integration, and more (each feature incurs additional fees). This option offers the most flexibility but can be the most expensive.
Additional Considerations:
Toast charges processing fees on every transaction (2.49%-3.69% per transaction, depending on whether you purchase hardware upfront or pay monthly). Hardware costs are separate from the software subscription and can vary depending on your needs.
3. Lightspeed Restaurant: Best For Kitchen Display System
Lightspeed Restaurantoverview
Lightspeed Restaurant is the counterpart to Lightspeed Retail. It is a modern POS system that operates through the cloud and offers essential features specifically designed for restaurants, bakeries, and coffee shops.
Pros
- Multiple locations
- QR code ordering
- Kitchen display system
Cons
- Limited inventory management features
- Poor customer service
- No free trial
Lightspeed Restaurant Pricing
Starter
$69/mo
- Take-out and delivery
- Customizable POS
- Menu manager
- Floor plans
Essential
$189/mo
- Multi-location management
- Advanced inventory management
- Lightspeed Live app
- Contactless ordering
Premium
$399/mo
- Multiple revenue center support for hotels
- Raw API access
Enterprise
Customize
- Personalized software and hardware package
- Dedicated support team and customer success manager
This is a software company founded in 2005 that provides POS and eCommerce solutions for businesses. It caters to restaurants and retail businesses. It helps businesses manage inventory, take payments, and gain insights into their sales. Some of its features include convenient tools such as integrated payment processing, precise inventory management at the ingredient level, and basic functions for managing employees and customers.
Key Features
- Easy customization: This system is particularly beneficial for bakery businesses that have busy lines. One of its standout features is the ability to customize it according to specific needs. For instance, it provides speed order screens that simplify the ordering and payment process by combining both functions on a single screen, making it more efficient for cashiers.
- Kitchen display system (KDS): The kitchen display system for bakeries includes a display that tracks how long it takes to complete any given order. The orders are also color-coded, making it simple to see which ones are currently being prepared and which ones are ready to be served. This feature helps to streamline your bakery operations and reduce waste, minimize mistakes, produce production data, and keep order management efficient.
- Online ordering: Lightspeed has a feature known as Lightspeed Order Anywhere, which accepts online orders like Toast. It allows you to adapt to your customers’ new habits and meet them online. You can offer a contactless ordering option for eat-in or takeaway meals.
- Lightspeed delivery: With Lightspeed Delivery, you can take your menu on the road, synchronize it with leading food delivery apps, and grow your business with easy-to-implement delivery integration. The feature lets you receive orders from UberEats, Skip The Dishes, or DoorDash directly at your point of sale and consolidate online orders on a single screen.
Pros
- Great design: Many users find Lightspeed Restaurant to be very user-friendly, with a simple and intuitive interface. The UX is absolutely straightforward and intuitive, you hardly even need the manual from set up to production.
- Great reporting features: Lightspeed POS provides comprehensive reporting capabilities that allow bakery owners to track sales, inventory, and employee performance.
Cons
Using Lightspeed Restaurant may come with some drawbacks:
- Cost: Lightspeed Restaurant can be pricey for small businesses, especially with the add-on features.
- Limited inventory management: While it works for basic inventory, it can be cumbersome for businesses with a large or complex inventory. There’s no automatic reordering based on stock levels.
- Support issues: Some users have reported difficulty getting in touch with customer service or getting helpful answers.
- Limited reporting: While it offers basic reporting, it may not be sufficient for businesses that need in-depth data analysis.
Pricing
Lightspeed Restaurant also employs a tiered pricing structure with plans catering to various restaurant sizes and functionalities. Here’s a glimpse into their options:
Software plans
- Starter: This plan is priced at $69/month. It is a basic package with essential features to keep your restaurant running smoothly.
- Essentials: The Essentials plan costs $189/month. It offers a comprehensive set of features designed to meet the needs of most restaurants.
- Premium: The Premium plan is $399 and includes advanced features and functionalities to support larger or more complex restaurant establishments.
- Enterprise: The Enterprise plan is available by requesting a custom quote. It offers a high level of customization and tailored software and hardware solutions to meet your bakery’s unique requirements.
Payment processing
For the Starter and Essentials plans, Lightspeed Restaurant charges a payment processing of 2.6% of the transaction amount plus an additional 10 cents per transaction. Opting for a third-party payment processor results in Lightspeed increasing your monthly rates.
4. Touchbistro: Best For Loyalty Programs Features
overview
TouchBistro is a fantastic choice for bakeries because it’s budget-friendly, simple to operate, and easy to handle complicated bakery orders. If you’re a bakery looking for a modern tablet-based system that keeps your data secure right on your premises, TouchBistro is a solid iPad POS option.
Pros
- Touchscreen kitchen ticket management
- Mobile POS features
Cons
- A bit expensive
- Poor customer service
- Software not intuitive
Touchbistro Pricing
Front of House
$69/mo
- Menu Management
- Floor Plan & Table Management
- Reporting & Analytics
- Staff Management
- Tableside Ordering
Back of House
From $19 to $330/mo
- Kitchen Display System
- Profit Management
Guest Engagement
From $25 to $229/mo
- Online Ordering
- Reservations
- Loyalty
- Marketing
TouchBistro is a company that develops a restaurant POS system specifically designed for iPads. Founded in 2010, it has been around for over a decade. The software offers features such as a customer-facing display, online ordering, loyalty programs, reservations, gift cards, and a Kitchen display system.
Key Features
- Online Ordering: TouchBistro’s online ordering solution helps you reach locals by selling food and related products through your website and the TouchBistro Dine discovery platform. With no commission fees, you keep 100% of the profits.
- Reservations: TouchBistro makes it easy to accept reservations, manage capacity, and give every customer top-notch engagement and treatment with TouchBistro Reservations – the comprehensive reservations and customer management platform.
- Various payment methods: Whether you wish to accept cash or cards, Touchbistro provides bakery owners with the latest trends in the most popular payment methods, both on the premises and online.
- Loyalty: Touchbistro POS offers loyalty programs by registering with whatever type of program you choose. Online order integration allows customers to earn and redeem rewards for every online or in-store order.
Pros
- Great mobile POS features: A robust mobile POS system can be extremely beneficial for bakeries. With Touchbistro’s mobile POS, bakery staff can take orders and process payments from anywhere in the store or at pop-up locations. This can streamline the ordering process, reduce wait times, and improve the overall customer experience.
- Great loyalty program features: Bakeries often rely on repeat customers and building a loyal customer base. Touchbistro’s loyalty program features can help bakeries create and manage effective loyalty programs, rewarding customers for their repeat business and encouraging them to return more often.
- Touchscreen kitchen ticket management: Efficient kitchen operations are crucial for bakeries, especially during peak hours. Touchbistro’s touchscreen kitchen ticket management system can help bakeries streamline the order preparation process, ensuring that orders are accurately communicated to the kitchen staff and reducing the risk of errors or delays.
Cons
Customer reviews indicate several cons of using Touchbistro:
- Difficulty in canceling contracts: Bakeries often operate on tight margins. If your bakery needs to switch POS systems due to unforeseen circumstances, being locked into a lengthy contract with Touchbistro can be a financial burden.
- Lack of support for multi-units: If you own multiple bakeries, managing inventory and operations across locations can be complex. Touchbistro might not offer robust features specifically designed for multi-unit bakery operations, making it difficult to centralize data or streamline processes.
Pricing
Touchbistro POS utilizes a two-pronged pricing structure: a base monthly fee for the core POS system and additional monthly fees for optional add-on features.expand_more
Core POS System:
Starts at $69 per month. This base package includes features like order management, table management, and basic reporting.
Optional Add-on Features:
These cater to specific functionalities and come with varying monthly costs:
- Online ordering: Starting at $50 per month, allows customers to order directly from your bakery’s website or app.
- Reservations: These are not typically relevant for bakeries, but they are priced at $229 per month for businesses that take table reservations.
- Loyalty program: $99 per month to implement a program for repeat customers.
- Marketing: $99 per month provides tools for automated marketing campaigns.expand_more
- Gift cards: $25 per month enables you to offer gift cards.
Payment Processing:
Touchbistro offers its own payment processing solution, Touchbistro Payments, but you can also choose a third-party processor. In essence, you can build your own custom plan by adding features to the base plan, and each feature you add will change the total monthly price.
How To Choose the Best POS Systems for Bakeries
Here are some key factors to consider when selecting the best POS system for your bakery:
- Industry-specific features: Look for a POS system designed specifically for bakeries or food service businesses. It should offer features like ingredient-level inventory tracking, recipe management, allergen tracking, and the ability to handle complex orders and customizations.
- Inventory management: An efficient inventory management system is crucial for bakeries to track ingredients, monitor stock levels, and avoid waste. Look for a POS system that integrates with your inventory management processes and provides real-time updates on stock levels.
Learn how to manage your inventory effectively with this free eGuide.
- Reporting and analytics: A good POS system should offer comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities. This will help you analyze sales data, identify best-selling products, track employee performance, and make data-driven decisions to improve your business.
- Customer management: Consider a POS system that allows you to create customer profiles, track purchase history, and offer loyalty programs or special promotions. This can help you build stronger relationships with your customers and encourage repeat business.
- Integration capabilities: Ensure that the POS system can integrate with other software or tools you use, such as accounting software, online ordering platforms, or customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
- Mobility and offline functionality: If you plan to offer mobile ordering or sell at farmers’ markets or events, look for a POS system that supports mobile devices and can operate offline in case of internet connectivity issues.
- Payment processing: Consider the payment processing options offered by the POS system, including support for various payment methods (cash, credit/debit cards, mobile payments, etc.) and the associated transaction fees.
- Customer support and training: Evaluate the customer support and training resources provided by the POS vendor. Reliable support and comprehensive training can help ensure a smooth implementation and ongoing efficient use of the system.
Best POS systems for Bakeries: Wrapping Up
The selection of the best point of sale system for bakeries depends greatly on the specific needs and constraints of the business.
- While KORONA POS boasts numerous useful features, its lack of a Kitchen Display System (KDS) makes it less suitable for bakeries with a separate kitchen.
- Toast, on the other hand, offers KDS and online ordering options, but its simplicity may limit its effectiveness for more complex menus, and its customer support could be improved.
- Lightspeed Restaurant, with its customizable interface, online ordering, and KDS, is another strong option; however, the relatively poor customer service, limited employee management capabilities, and higher-priced inventory subscriptions could be potential drawbacks.
- Touchbistro Point of Sale stands out with its varied payment options and loyalty programs, but the difficulty in canceling contracts and lack of support for multiple units could be significant cons for some businesses.
KORONA goes beyond just processing transactions, offering features like table management for cafes, customizable courses to categorize your baked goods, and multiple order printers to ensure efficiency during peak hours.
You can easily accommodate special requests with modifiers, while the KORONA Menu allows for clear product presentation. Visualize your bakery’s layout with graphical table layouts and facilitate group dining with item transfers and check-splitting. Click below to get started with KORONA POS.
