Running a restaurant comes with many overhead expenses, including labor, inventory and rent, just to name a few. Because of rising operating costs, restaurants experience low profit margins of between 3 and 9%.
By increasing productivity within your restaurant, you can run the business more efficiently and ultimately grow margins. With more wiggle room in your margins, you can sustain your business longer.
Operators are increasingly using restaurant management apps to automate repetitive tasks, enhance the guest experience, and do more with less. With so many tools on the market, choosing the right ones for your restaurant can be overwhelming.
We’re making the process a little easier by recommending the best 46 restaurant management apps in the industry, organized into the following categories:
1. The Best App for Restaurant Management: SevenRooms
If you can only add one restaurant management tool to your tech stack, make it SevenRooms. This all-in-one guest experience and retention platform helps hospitality operators create exceptional experiences that boost profitability and repeat business.
Features like an AI-powered seating algorithm, direct delivery and pickup, ticketed event management, reservations management tools, a virtual waitlist, and more expand your restaurant’s capabilities and save you time and money while increasing output.
SevenRooms helps boost productivity in several ways. It helps your restaurant manage revenue through book optimization tools. Additionally, SevenRooms’ AI-powered seating algorithm assigns guests to the most advantageous tables automatically so you can make the most of each cover. Each one of SevenRooms’ features is designed to boost profitability and repeat business.
2. Restaurant Management Apps for Delivery & Pickup
In this day and age, diners expect your restaurant to offer online ordering options. Online ordering lets you create an additional revenue stream without clogging up the phone lines. If you only accept takeaway orders over the phone, you can make you miss out on revenue when your lines are busy. With these delivery and pickup tools, you can make more money in less time on off-premises orders.
- SevenRooms: In addition to being an all-around app for restaurant management, SevenRooms also lets you take commission-free online orders and process payments directly through your website, while retaining 100% of your profits.
- DoorDash Drive: This restaurant management tool lets you quickly and efficiently fulfill orders that come to your restaurant via the DoorDash marketplace.
- GloriaFood: This free restaurant management software allows you to accept online orders from your website or Facebook page effortlessly. The solution also comes with an ultra-modern restaurant analytics section that provides insightful reports to aid in better decision-making.
- Drive Yello: Restaurateurs in Australia can simplify last-mile delivery with this logistics partner.
- Orkestro: This last-mile delivery logistics company connects restaurants with on-demand couriers across the UK.
- Olo: Olo is an on-demand commerce platform that helps enterprise restaurants accelerate their digital transformations.
- Deliverect: This suite of omnichannel business productivity apps integrates online orders from various sources with your POS.
- ItsaCheckmate: Manage your online menus in one place and aggregate orders from more than 100 ordering platforms through your POS.
3. Restaurant Management Apps for Payments
When your restaurant can securely accept online payments for takeout, pre-paid meals, and events, you can collect revenue in advance, which makes your business more predictable. With these business productivity apps, you can collect payments without a hitch, so you can spend more time serving guests and less time chasing payments.
- Stripe: This payment processing platform empowers you to manage your restaurant’s payments online.
- FreedomPay: FreedomPay’s commerce platform comes with solutions for business intelligence and secure mobile payments.
- Network International: A payments solution for restaurants operating in the Middle East.
- CyberSource: A global e-commerce company that enables restaurants to accept online payments while simplifying security and reducing fraud.
4. Restaurant Management Apps for SMS & Voice Outreach
Calling and texting guests is a great way to market your restaurant and confirm reservations. However, reaching out to guests manually just takes too much time. These SMS and voice tools automate this tedious-but-important task, helping you be more productive.
- SMSGlobal: Boost customer engagement and optimize marketing operations with this mobile communication management tool.
- Amazon Alexa: Use voice-enabled smart assistant Alexa at your restaurant to personalize everyday guest experiences.
- Twilio: Send and receive SMS, MMS and OTT messages to anyone in the world with this cloud communication platform.
- VoiceMpower: An omnichannel contact center and marketing software solution for restaurants.
5. Restaurant Management Apps for Transactions
Point-of-sale (POS) systems help you process every order and payment that goes through your restaurant and equip you with game-changing data and analytics about your business. Here are our top picks for restaurant POS systems for increased productivity.
- Toast POS: Optimize operations, boost sales and improve the guest experience with this restaurant POS and management system.
- MICROS Simphony: MICROS provides secure, stable and reliable POS systems for the hospitality industry.
- InfoGenesis POS: InfoGenesis’s POS helps run your restaurant without getting in the way of serving guests.
- NCR Aloha: This POS is built for restaurants by industry experts to increase efficiency and guest engagement.
- Lightspeed: Lightspeed is a powerful-yet-simple, all-in-one, cloud-based POS system.
- Silverware POS: This cloud-based POS system is designed to meet the needs of the hospitality industry.
- TISSL: ePOS software, hardware and aftercare, created to serve a variety of hospitality operations.
- Salido: This POS can help your restaurant streamline processes, save time and drive profit.
- Bindo POS: Bindo’s iPad-based POS is your one-stop-shop for more efficient operations.
- Everyware: This Hong Kong-based cloud POS system is designed to meet the unique needs of restaurants.
- Eats365: Eats365 is an intuitive, iPad-based POS that simplifies running your restaurant.
- Xn protel: ePOS software that’s easily customizable for bars, restaurants, and other hospitality venues.
- Revel Systems: Revel’s cloud-based POS helps diversify your revenue streams, improve customer service and scale your business.
- H&L: This easy-to-use, customer-focused POS has innovative features, like analytics, for the hospitality industry.
- OrderMate: Australia’s leading hospitality POS helps restaurateurs run better businesses.
- Tevalis: Tevalis’ ePOS technology suite’s flexible, reliable restaurant management tools are tailor made for the hospitality industry.
- Squirrel Systems: This POS system provides solutions for restaurants, hotels, bars and other foodservice operators.
- QuadraNet: An integrated ePOS delivering reservations and inventory control solutions to restaurants.
- Focus POS: A POS and restaurant management system that transforms complex workflows into simple, streamlined processes.
- OrderCounter: OrderCounter specializes in cloud-based POS systems for multi-unit restaurants.
- Infrasys: This cloud-based, enterprise-level POS is equipped with flexible hardware, offline capabilities and a fast and intuitive UX.
- MyCheck: MyCheck provides payment and integration solutions for the hospitality industry.
6. Restaurant Management Apps for Marketing
Creating a memorable restaurant experience is only half the battle when it comes to getting customers to come back. Helping people discover your restaurant and keeping them coming back for more is an ongoing challenge. These business productivity apps can automate tedious tasks and generate repeat business.
- SevenRooms: With SevenRooms’ marketing automation tool, you can send customers highly targeted emails in just a few clicks.
- Mailchimp: Communicate with existing and potential customers with this all-in-one email marketing platform.
- Emma: Emma’s automation, personalization and segmentation tools simplify digital email marketing.
7. Restaurant Management Apps for Hotel Integrations
If you operate a restaurant inside of a hotel, you know that doing so comes with obstacles that independent restaurant owners don’t face. With these business productivity apps, you can integrate your restaurant with the rest of the hotel’s systems.
- Cendyn: Cendyn offers revenue strategy, sales and CRM solutions for the hospitality industry.
- TravelClick: Maximize revenue with TravelClick’s cloud-based, data-driven solutions that are tailor-made for hotels.
8. Restaurant Management Apps for Events and Experiences
Whether your venue hosts exclusive wine tastings, 300+ guest weddings, or small, private dinners, running a successful event boils down to the details. Poor execution can lead to unhappy guests and damage your restaurant’s reputation. The event apps listed below help event planners, and your restaurant staff, better manage logistics so they can spend less time chasing missing details and focus on delivering exceptional experiences.
- Tripleseat: Tripleseat is a sales and event management platform that streamlines the event planning process and helps increase bookings for restaurants, hotels, and special venues.
- IVvy: IVvy is a cloud-based event management software for venues of all shapes and sizes. Originally started in Australia, they operate in the US, UK, and New Zealand.
- SevenRooms: As an integrative solution, SevenRooms’ event management software streamlines the event planning process. Create and market special experiences while managing bookings, payments, tickets, and reservations all in one place.
Wrapping Up: 46 Restaurant Management Apps
When you run your restaurant like a well-oiled machine, you can save money, dedicate resources where they matter most, and do more with less. Restaurant management apps, like those that automate marketing, streamline online orders, or help you process payments, can boost your team’s output and set your restaurant up for long term success.
SevenRooms comes with a full suite of restaurant management tools designed to improve the guest experience and keep guests coming back for more. Book your demo today.
FAQs About Restaurant Management Apps
1. What Does Productivity Mean?
Productivity is a measure of economic performance that compares the amount of goods and services produced (output) with the amount of inputs used to produce those goods and services.
2. Why Is Productivity Important to a Restaurant?
Measuring productivity is important for business owners and managers to do because the results indicate whether the restaurant is working productively and turning a profit.
3. How Can Restaurants Increase Productivity?
Restaurants can increase productivity by transforming operations with apps. Apps can automatically perform tasks, track data and provide insight into where efficiencies can be made.
