Restaurant technology has revolutionized the way that restaurants are managed - replacing arduous and tedious task management with efficiency, automation, and clarity.
The best restaurant management apps allow you to run your business from anywhere, provide you with valuable insights, empower your team, and let you focus on creating the very best experience for your guests.
In 2022, there aren't many areas in restaurant management that can't be made better with technology. Reservation software keeps your hosts organized, review sites provide you with actionable feedback on your performance, and staff management software keeps your team in sync with auto scheduling.
For better or worse, you have a ton of options when it comes to restaurant management apps - and most of them are a click away on your smartphone. To help you narrow down your search, here are 25 of out favorite restaurant management apps to start using in your restaurant today.
Top Restaurant Management Apps
7shifts
Most managers are familiar (and frustrated) with traditional paper scheduling techniques. 7shifts provides a cloud-based team management and scheduling solution, allowing owners and managers to schedule restaurant employees, approve shift trades, and communicate with staff from one easy-to-use mobile app. The app is also useful for your front and back end staff, giving them the ability to check upcoming shifts, submit availability, request shift trades, and more. Whether you have a single location of 100+ locations, 7shifts can be your team management solution. Try 7shifts for Free
Apple | Android
TouchBistro
Gone are the days of lingering at a restaurant's high-traffic entryway to pay for your meal. TouchBistro - a point of sale (POS) app for iPads - allows servers to take payments tableside, managers to monitor sales activities, and accountants and administrators quick access to valuable performance trends. Their impressive list of features also includes the ability to make real-time menu and inventory changes and to split bills - a task that often produces splitting headaches - with ease.
Apple
Team Communication
The team communication tool from 7shifts solves for the ranging conversations, text threads, and email chains that seem to go nowhere. With Team Communication, you can message individual staff members or the team at large regarding announcements, shift changes, or the sharing of important documents. Staff will automatically be altered to upcoming breaks and newly-published schedules so they can handle their free lives. The app also lets employees take their scheduling changes into their own hands by making approved shift swaps and securely communicating with each other. Try 7shifts for Free.
Apple | Android
ChowNow
As online shopping continues to grow, make sure your restaurant is on board by signing up with ChowNow, a customized online ordering app for restaurants. When you sign up for either the monthly or annual plan, the ChowNow team will build an iPhone app tailored specifically to your business and made available via the iTunes App Store, free for your customers to download and enjoy. They've also configured the software so that your thousands of Facebook followers can browse through mouth-watering product photos and place an order directly from your business page and/or website.
QuickBooks
Accounting software QuickBooks is used across an array of industries - with restaurants among them. Payroll is the bane of many restaurateurs' existence due to its time-sucking nature, and other accounting needs like inventory and budget management aren't exactly easy (or exciting). Software like QuickBooks makes these financial obligations more manageable and more insightful. That way, you can make better decisions about your restaurant, scheduling, and cost structure. Plus, QuickBooks integrates with 7shifts, syncing employee scheduling and attendance with payroll without any added steps. You can quickly export reports and view overtime hours with a matter of clicks.
Apple | Android
OpenTable
As diners flock back to restaurant dining rooms after an extended hiatus, reservations have become more important than ever. OpenTable seats more than one billion diners per year and serves as a reservation provider for more than 60,000 restaurants and venues. It's arguably the go-to platform for diners looking to make a reservation. However, diners can also use OpenTable to search for available reservations at any restaurant near them. For newer restaurants hoping to bring in new customers, this app can be an effective way to get found by area visitors and locals alike.
Apple | Android
Toast Order & Pay
Still short staffed? Look no further than Toast Order & Pay. An extension for restaurants using Toast POS, this feature of the popular restaurant management platform is actually for your guests as much as it is for you. With Order & Pay, guests can scan a QR code at their table and place an order for a round of drinks or a full meal -paying for it on the spot. As a result - according to Toast - ticket sizes can increase by 12% with this app, and that's in addition to the saved labor costs. Once you sign up for this add-on, guests can pay from their phone browser and don't need to download an app.
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RUN Powered by ADP
ADP's RUN is another option for payroll for restaurants. With tax and compliance features built-in, restaurants with strict overtime or fair workweek laws can look at their expenses with certainty - with ⅔ of ADP customers saying the platform keeps them more compliant than their previous payroll provider. RUN also acts as an HR software, connecting payroll to core employee functions like training, record keeping, and onboarding.
Apple | Android
Square POS App
Square is one of several options for a restaurant POS and payments software. While the platform works for restaurants of all sizes, it's most popular with QSRs like cafes, food trucks, and breweries. Square customers can also request to access capital to expand their business. As a 7shifts integration partner, Square can also help create employee schedules based on sales data, ensuring labor planning goes hand-in-hand with revenue forecasts.
Apple | Android
Lightspeed
A restaurant point-of-sale solution, Lightspeed enables quicker service and simplified workflows, as well as clear upsell opportunities for staff to bring in more revenue. Since it's cloud-based, Lightspeed's data and features can be accessed from anywhere - not just at the restaurant. Lightspeed is also a 7shifts integration partner, bringing sales and labor data into one place to cut back on costs and make smarter decisions.
Apple
Eat App
Eat App is a guest experience platform used by thousands of restaurants across the globe. Primarily a solution for reservation management, Eat App's capabilities touch so much more than reservations - payments, email marketing, and streamlined operations all come with this app. EatApp increases profits by helping restaurants retain more customers and providing businesses with actionable data about their guests.
Apple | Android
SpeakAp
Used by many types of business, SpeakAp is a branded employee app to bring staff together in a social media-like tool that provides onboarding, task management, and workplace messaging features. In the restaurant world, it's used by such giants as Domino's to bring team members together during the pandemic. SpeakAp is also a king of integrations and works with plenty of other apps, including 7shifts, to keep your team engaged and productive while on the job. And even when employees are on their own time, SpeakAp can be used to reach them from anywhere to ensure they're kept up-to-date on essential news of their workplace.
Apple | Android
Tenzo
Want more accurate sales forecasts? Look no further than Tenzo, which uses AI forecasting to “create forecasts that are 30-50% more accurate than a typical 4-week average.” More accurate forecasts result in less food waste, more accurate labor costs, and an overall better guest experience. Plus, with data available in real-time, you'll be able to make immediate decisions about your business with confidence (and the numbers to back it up). Tenzo's reporting is robust, but easy to comprehend - so you'll be spending less time analyzing reports and more time acting on them.
Apple | Android
Upserve
Is there anything Upserve's restaurant management software doesn't do? Point-of-sale, inventory, loyalty, online ordering, and marketing software rolled into one app - just to name a few. Upserve's POS software makes it easy to place and send orders to the kitchen, keeping your entire staff productive and improving table turn times. With powerful reporting, Upserve users gain valuable insights to keep their restaurant well-positioned to delight guests time-after-time.
Apple | Android
Clover
Clover is so much more than a point-of-sale solution for restaurants. A customer engagement tool, Clover builds lists of those who opt in to a restaurant's loyalty and marketing programs. This level of engagement fosters long-term relationships with new and existing guests alike through technology, rewards, and special promos. Guests can also provide private feedback to the restaurant to reduce the risk of public scrutiny that comes with online review sites. At its core, though, Clover is primarily a payment solution for restaurants - particularly QSRs. Its ease-of-use is ideal for these fast-paced settings, as it takes and tracks payments, as well as sends digital receipts to guests.
Apple | Android
GoTab
Restaurant commerce platform GoTab puts ordering in the customers' hands. Diners can order through a server or through a smartphone, saving time for your staff and allowing orders to be sent faster. GoTab provides plenty of other resources for your team, such as a manager app, a KDS for your back-of-house staff, and a host display app. GoTab also leans into integrations to make its system work seamlessly with other apps like DoorDash, QuickBooks, and - yes - 7shifts.
Apple
BlueCart
Inventory woes plague every restaurant professional. That's where BlueCart comes in. An online ordering platform for the hospitality space, BlueCart allows restaurants to order all of their necessary inventory from all of their suppliers at once. Printed order forms, email requests, and back-and-forth phone calls are alleviated with this simple app, which keeps kitchens well-stocked. With built-in inventory tracking, re-orders are just a click away on the BlueCart app when stock is low. The value provided to restaurants is hard to ignore, as BlueCart's digital catalog is filled with wholesale food distributors to meet your need for every ingredient.
Apple | Android
Social Media Apps
It goes without saying that your restaurant needs apps for social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok - but what about apps to manage your social media presence and performance? Some popular options to monitor your mentions and post engagement include:
- Buffer (Apple | Android): Lauded for its ease-of-use, it's the best option for getting started with social media content.
- Hootsuite (Apple | Android): For more seasoned social media users, it's a more powerful option for publishing and reporting.
- Later (Apple | Android): If your restaurant's main presence is on Instagram, Later's your best bet.
Google My Business & Bing Places
Hours change for holiday weekends. Menu items might not be available. Maybe you have a new online ordering solution. For all these reasons, you need to have the right apps to manage your presence on search engines. Diners don't want to head to your restaurant only to find that you're closed and your hours haven't been updated. Conversely, if you are open and Google doesn't reflect it, you might be losing out on business. Getting set up on these pages is one thing - but maintaining your presence is another thing. For those reasons, make sure you download the following apps for quick access when needed. Also, learn how to add your restaurant to Google Maps. The app version of Google My Business is no longer supported, but their website is located here.
Manager Log Book
How often do you find yourself making a point to take a note of something - only to forget what it was before it's too late? That's where having an electronic manager log book comes in handy. Synced with 7shifts employee management software, a log book is the perfect place to take shift notes on-the-go and centralize them in one place. Whether it's kudos for an employee's job well done or a reminder to restock for tomorrow's shift, this app is the solution for those slightly more forgetful among us. Plus, these notes can be shared with other managers so that everyone has the context they need when on the floor. Try 7shifts for Free
Apple | Android
Revel
POS system Revel is beloved by thousands of individual units, small chains, and enterprise restaurant businesses. One of Revel's strong suits is its open API, which allows for third-party app integrations (like 7shifts) and tailored solutions for key digital elements like loyalty and online ordering. The app also extends to other important areas of your restaurant, like self-order kiosks and drive-thru management - all while offering flexible payments. For managers, the app provides cloud-based insights on the entire business's performance -enabling decisions based on real-time data.
Apple | Android
Otter
Delivery and online orders have seen massive growth in the past few years and even as eaters return to dine in person, delivery continues to grow. Otter helps restaurants track and manage these channels by integrating orders with point of sale and syncing menus across platforms. Once you sign up for Otter, the team will ship you tablets with the apps preloaded or work with you to set up the software and integrations on existing devices. Designed to simplify and grow your delivery business, thousands of restaurants use Otter to increase sales, save time, and deliver better.
Rezku
The final POS software to call out on this list is Rezku, and it's ideal for restaurateurs who want their point-of-sale and restaurant management software equipped with reservation and waitlist management capabilities. Detailed floor plans, menu costing, automated inventory, and more also come with Rezku, making its place worthy in the discussion for the right restaurant POS software for your business. Rezku is also an integration partner for 7shifts, helping you draw the connections between labor and sales.
Apple | Android
Yelp
Yelp is the world's largest user-generated review site and it's important to stake your restaurant's claim online. Having the app on hand allows you to monitor and respond to customer reviews in real-time and check out your competitors to see how they rank compared to you. Best of all, the app and database is 100% FREE - no strings attached.
1Password
Forgot your password? Not anymore. Trusted by more than 100,000 businesses, 1Password is the key (no pun intended) to all of the apps listed in this article. Data-encrypted and compliant with security standards, 1Password makes it effortless to sign in to the apps you need to manage your restaurant. As the role that technology and software apps play in efficient restaurant management increases, this app makes logging in and using these apps safer and easier.
Apple | Android
Other Restaurant Technology Resources
Get The Right Apps For Your Restaurant
These restaurant management apps are some of the best ways to keep yourself organized, your staff productive, and your guests satisfied. Each one can positively contribute to your bottom line and profit margin thanks to added efficiency, insights into data, and integrations with other software.
While most of these apps require an account and cost money to use to their full extent, they all have the potential to help you better manage your restaurant. Many of the entries on this list have free trials or demos, so if any caught your eye, check them out and see if they're as good a fit for your restaurant's tech stack as we think they are.
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AJ Beltis
AJ Beltis is a freelance writer with almost a decade of experience in the restaurant industry. He currently works as a content manager at HubSpot, and previously as a blogger at Toast.