How Much Do Restaurant POS Systems Cost?

This post originally appeared on Restaurant Insider by Brad Bortone

I want to start out this post with a nice, big number: 48.
Forty-eight percent, to be more specific. That’s how much an independent research agency, Nucleus Research, determined Upserve’s cloud-based POS, Breadcrumb POS by Upserve, saves customers, on average, over restaurants that implement on-premise POS solutions.
Now, we all know that once implemented, a restaurant POS system can recoup its cost-of-entry in relatively short order, as the workflow efficiency and business insights offer numerous ways to improve the bottom line.
But cost remains the biggest barrier to restaurant adoption of POS systems, simply because so many restaurateurs rely on older, more proprietary technology with years of data and sunk costs built into their consideration.
Cloud-based technology not only offers more than double the ROI of a traditional POS, but it also lowers the cost of entry, allowing more businesses to take advantage of these benefits.

Let’s see how Upserve’s cloud-based platform can bring more people to the party.
Hardware costs.
Let’s start with the obvious — Upserve is well-known for its low upfront cost structure. Rather than charging well over $10K for on-premise systems, all necessary hardware is included in Upserve’s Prix Fixe pricing (currently as low as $349/month for a 1 terminal complete setup and around $100/month per each additional terminal). Want to save money on the upfront costs? Upserve has an answer for that too with a Prix Fixe monthly payment option.
If you’ve noticed a parallel with the mobile phone industry, you’re not mistaken. Most of you would feel faint if you knew the actual cost of that iPhone or Samsung you just dropped on the bathroom floor. Incorporating pricing into the overall subscription allows users to better space spending, and better spec their restaurants when first signing up.
On average, our customers spent just $2,000–10,000 for a full slate of hardware and software, depending on the size of their restaurants. We won’t be unprofessional and name other companies’ pricing schemes, but as a little spoiler alert: That’s a lower onboarding cost than most other POS brands.
Service and support.
Once implemented, the heavy spending should be over, and your restaurant POS should be completely focused on MAKING money. However, there are always ongoing service and support costs that need to be factored into a POS investment.

The problem is, very few POS system customers actually pay for ongoing support contracts from their vendors. As much as we want to believe Upserve products and services are completely fail-proof, sometimes things go wrong. That’s why we include support and software upgrades for the life of the product, included in the subscription fee.
And, just as a nice nod to our team, Upserve’s subscription — including all support and upgrades — is still lower than most companies’ service costs alone.
Alone.
The POS cost savings come from one simple reason — the cloud-based design. Thanks to real-time, on-demand connectivity, our support team can gain instant access to customer systems without having to wrestle with on-premise concerns, outdated technology, or pricy service calls. We just set things straight and get you back in the business of serving customers.
