Till systems · Restaurant software
Choosing a till system for a restaurant in the UK or Gibraltar
Every till takes payments and prints an end-of-service report. The difference is elsewhere: in what it actually costs over twelve months, in what happens when the connection drops on a Saturday night, and in how the system splits VAT. Here is what we would check before signing anything.
1. The advertised price is not the price
The monthly subscription is the easy part to compare. What changes the yearly total are the lines you find out about later:
- Hardware. A till with its own proprietary terminal means £800 to £3,000 of equipment. Systems running on the team’s own phones avoid that purchase, but then everyone uses their own device — worth discussing with the team beforehand.
- Per-user pricing. Many vendors charge per account. A brigade of six is six subscriptions. In season, that doubles without warning.
- Modules. Table ordering, kitchen display, stock, bookings — each adds a line. The headline price almost never covers what a real service needs.
- The contract term. Twenty-four or thirty-six months with leased hardware. If it does not suit after three months, you still pay for the other thirty-three.
2. What happens when the internet drops
A till that stops taking payments when the connection fails stops the service at the worst possible moment. Serious systems keep recording locally and sync when the network returns. Ask for a demonstration with the wifi switched off. Not a promise — a demonstration. It takes two minutes and it tells you everything.
3. VAT: where it actually matters
In the UK, food and drink consumed on the premises is standard-rated at 20 %. Cold takeaway food to be eaten off the premises is generally zero-rated, while hot takeaway food is standard-rated. The same menu therefore carries different rates depending on how the item leaves the building.
In Gibraltar, the question does not arise the same way: there is no VAT. That single fact changes what you need from a till — you are not managing rate splits, you are managing sales records and stock.
The common mistake in the UK is not picking the wrong rate at the point of sale: it is letting the till post everything at one rate and correcting it by hand at month end. Check your end-of-day report already splits the rates. If it does not, your accountant is doing work the software should do — and you are paying for it twice.
4. The four questions that sort the field
- “What is the all-in total for the first year, for my actual team?”
- “Will you show me an order being taken with the wifi off?”
- “Does my end-of-day report already split eat-in from takeaway?”
- “If I leave in six months, how do I get my data out, and in what format?”
Questions we get asked
How much does a restaurant till system cost in the UK?
Mostly it depends on hardware: £800 to £3,000 for a proprietary terminal, plus the monthly subscription. The figure worth comparing is the all-in total over twelve months, for your real team and the modules you will actually use — not the headline price.
Does a till system need to be certified in the UK?
No. There is no mandatory certification for point-of-sale software in the UK, unlike France or Spain. Making Tax Digital concerns how the restaurant files its VAT returns, not the till software itself.
What about Gibraltar?
Gibraltar has no VAT and no till certification requirement. It is the simplest of the territories we work in: what matters there is keeping clean sales records and stock, not managing rate splits.
What happens if the internet goes down during service?
On a serious system, nothing: sales keep being recorded locally and sync when the connection returns. Ask for the wifi-off demonstration before signing — almost nobody does, and it is the most revealing test.
We sell a till system, so read this knowing that. The four questions hold whichever system you pick — ask them of everyone, including us.