9 Best Restaurant Online Ordering Systems

• Monthly software fee: $0
• Installation fee: $0
• Per-order fee: $1.75 (can be passed on to customers)
• Delivery fee: 12.5%
• Payment processing: $2.75 + 30 cents, except for Clover POS users
• Contract length: Month-to-month

For a custom-quoted price, users can purchase a Menufy tablet and wireless receipt printer to accept online orders. Alternatively, they can download the Menufy Restaurant Console app on any Android tablet running Android 4.4 or later. 

You can also attach an optional Bluetooth-enabled receipt printer to print order tickets. Menufy also integrates directly with popular cloud POS systems like Square, Lightspeed, and Clover to receive orders directly in your POS.

• HungerRush 360 marketing: Menufy offers a marketing suite with graphic design support and customized email and SMS marketing campaigns. For $99 per month — and no long-term contract — users get custom-designed smartphone graphics to promote their brand to customers.
  
  HungerRush 360 Marketing will send automated messages to your online ordering customers to drive repeat business, and all ad campaigns will be designed in the style of your restaurant.

• Menufy platform app: Like Toast, Tock, and DoorDash, Menufy hosts a listing site and affiliated smartphone app to help introduce your restaurant to new customers.
• Pay-as-you-go delivery: Menufy integrates directly with Uber and DoorDash to provide on-demand third-party delivery drivers. For each delivery, Menufy customers pay a 12.5% commission fee. This rate is higher than that of some competitors, but users will only pay for what they use.

• Monthly software fee: $0
• Installation fee: $0
• Per-delivery order fee: $0 for up to 30 days, then 15%–30%
• Using Dashers: $6.99–$10.99
• Using self-delivery: 8%–12%
• Contract length: Cancel anytime with 30 days’ written notice
• Processing fees: 2.9% + 30 cents

You can receive DoorDash Storefront orders via tablet, email, phone, or fax. Alternatively, you can connect it to your POS system to accept orders directly in your order stream.

If your POS is not currently a DoorDash partner, use a middleman or app to connect your systems. However, you’ll only be able to view DoorDash Dashers’ locations from the DoorDash dashboard. So, if you choose to use DoorDash drivers, you’ll still want to keep a tablet handy.

• Customized branding: Unlike a traditional DoorDash online ordering profile, your DoorDash Storefront is white-labeled. This means that customers see your brand and logos, not DoorDash’s. All Storefront sites have a disclaimer in the footer: “Powered by DoorDash Storefront.”
• Delivery driver options: DoorDash is also one of the best food delivery software solutions, so you can route all deliveries to in-house drivers or Dashers. You deliver orders with your staff for a fee of 8% (DashPass deliveries) to 12% (standard deliveries).
  
  You can also set orders outside your delivery hours or range to automatically route to Dashers. DoorDash-delivered items are subject to a $6.99 to $10.99 delivery fee.
• Power of the DoorDash Platform: You can list your restaurant on the DoorDash platform for a commission fee to draw new business. This is not required to use DoorDash Storefront, but it’s a nice option if your sales take a dip or you want to run a promotion.
  
  Commission fees range from 6% for pickup orders to 15% to 30% for delivery orders, depending on your desired delivery range and whether you want access to DashPass users.

• Monthly software fee
  • POS: $0–$69 (Growth plan includes online ordering)
  • Online ordering: $75 or Pay-as-You-Go with an additional .40% in processing fees
• Contract length: Two years

• Payment processing: 2.49% + 15 cents–2.99% + 15 cents

Toast online ordering requires a Toast POS system plan ($0 to $69 per month) and Toast hardware ($0 to $1,034 per terminal). Toast online orders appear directly in your POS order stream and print automatically in your kitchen or on your kitchen display system (KDS). 

Toast operates on Toast-designed touch-screen terminals. You can purchase these terminals outright or pay-as-you-go with higher payment processing fees. Toast also directly integrates with Google, allowing restaurants to accept online orders from Google Search results.

• Toast TakeOut app: Toast subscribers are featured in the streamlined customer-facing Toast TakeOut smartphone app. This searchable app allows customers to find your restaurant based on location, cuisine, or mealtime preferences and is available from Google Play and the App Store.

• Automated customer alerts: Your Toast system will alert customers — and your staff — when an order is marked as complete on your KDS screen. This stops short of comprehensive delivery status updates but is automated and incredibly user-friendly.

• Customer arrival notification texts: Toast’s Arrival Notification text allows you to text a link to your customers when they place curbside pickup orders. When they arrive, customers open the link on their smartphones, and a check prints in your restaurant, containing their name and order information. Your team never has to guess which orders to bring out.

• In-house and third-party delivery options: Toast’s built-in basic delivery functions operate a lot like Tock’s. Restaurants can assign orders to in-house drivers and use Google Maps to set custom delivery areas and fees.
  
  Toast allows you to manage your drivers’ sales with the same detail as you would a waiter in your dining room, logging sales and tip information for easy payroll reporting. Toast users can route delivery orders to third-party drivers from DoorDash Drive for an additional per-delivery fee.

• Monthly software fee: $0 (for online ordering; reservations and events features have additional fees)
• Installation fee: $0
• Per-order fee: 3%
• Payment processing: Varies by processor (Braintree and Stripe)
• Contract length: No long-term contract

You don’t need any specialty hardware to operate Tock, though most users operate the order dashboard on a dedicated tablet or computer. Tock recommends the iPad Pro 11-inch, iPad Pro 12.9-inch, and the eighth-generation iPad. It also recommends Chromebooks like the Google Pixelbook and the 10.5-inch Galaxy Tab S6. Using Toast or Lightspeed as your POS, you can integrate Tock directly into your POS order stream.

• Controlled order flow: Tock’s online orders are organized by time slot, similar to a table reservation. This feature lets you decide how many orders you accept in a given time frame and bump additional orders to more convenient times. You can allow a la carte ordering or only sell pre-fixed meals or meal kits.

• On-demand third-party drivers: Tock includes essential driver dispatch functions if you manage an in-house team. If you prefer to outsource your delivery operations, Tock integrates directly with DoorDash and Uber to hail third-party drivers on demand.
  
  Tock customers pay a flat fee for these drivers, and the fees are tacked on to your customer checks. So, you get the convenience of third-party delivery without the high commission rates.

• Two-way SMS messaging: In-app SMS messaging lets your team communicate directly with customers. You can send preset text messages for order status updates, or custom messages for order detail confirmation or alerts. If you expand into delivery, your drivers can also text your customers.

• Platform Business Listing Site: You can share your Tock order link with customers on your restaurant’s social media and website. Tock also includes all Tock restaurants on its searchable website.
  
  Customers in your city can search the website for pickup and delivery options at their preferred mealtime and discover your restaurant. Tock restaurants include the most celebrated independent restaurants in the country, so you’ll be in good company.me and discover your restaurant. Tock restaurants include the most celebrated independent restaurants in the country, so you’ll be in good company.

• Monthly software fee: $0
• Installation fee: $0
• Per-order fee: $0
• Per-delivery fee:
  • Using third-party drivers: $1.50 + $6.99 (DoorDash) or $4.50 + 95 cents/mi (Uber or Postmates)
  • Using in-house drivers: 50 cents
• Payment processing: 2.9% + 30 cents
• Contract length: No contract required

You don’t need any special equipment to run Square Online. You can access your order dashboard from any internet-enabled device, and Square also sends you an email for every new online order. So you can see new orders as they arrive, even from a smartphone.

• No long-term contracts: Square Online does not charge annual or monthly fees; restaurants only pay processing fees on online purchases. Even seasonal restaurants and micro-operations like sugar shacks and beachside concession stands can easily expand into online ordering and pay-as-you-go.

• Integrates with Square business tools: The Square platform hosts many intuitive software tools to handle everything from customer loyalty programs to gift cards, marketing solutions, payroll, and invoice management. Square expands its built-in functions with more than 100 integrated third-party apps, covering everything from employee scheduling to accounting and tax compliance.

• Delivery options: You can add a delivery option to your Square Online ordering site and manually manage a driver team. You can also expand into Square for Restaurants POS, which integrates directly with third-party delivery apps. Postmates and DoorDash integrations allow you to hail third-party drivers for on-demand, flat-rate delivery. Alternatively, you can dispatch your drivers for 50 cents per order.

• Monthly software fee
  • Basic: $55 per month, paid annually
  • Premium: $79 per month, paid annually
  • Enterprise: $159 per month, paid annually
• Per-order fee: $0
• Payment processing: Varies by processor; Restolabs integrates with over 30 providers
• Contract length: Month-to-month or annual subscriptions available

When a new order is placed, it will appear in your Restolabs dashboard and be sent to you via email. Customers will automatically be notified via SMS that their order has been sent. 

You can integrate Restolabs with your POS via the middleman app ItsaCheckmate or Deliverect. However, Restolabs can build a custom POS integration for enterprise-level customers if your POS brand can be integrated.

• Customizable menu templates: Restolabs strikes an excellent balance between templated and customizable tools. The Restolabs team will create your primary online menu. You can customize and update it from there in Restolabs’ easy-to-navigate site editor.
  
  Restolabs’ online ordering sites are template-based but provide lots of room for customization with your restaurant logo and colors. The menu templates are robust enough to support highly modified menu items like build-your-own pizzas and family-style combo deals.

• Delivery options: You can manage a team of in-house drivers via a Tookan integration, or route deliveries to third-party drivers on the DoorDash, Uber, or Postmates network.
  
  However, extra fees will be applied by these third-party providers. Tookan pricing ranges from $99 to $249 per month, according to third-party sources. DoorDash, Uber, and Postmates rates range from $6 to $9 per delivery, with no underlying monthly subscription fees.

• Payment flexibility: Restolabs users can easily configure their online menu to accept online, cash, and mobile wallet payments, or request a card upon delivery (though, you’ll want to be sure you have a mobile card reader to process them).
  
  It’s as simple as ticking a few boxes in the Restolabs dashboard. You can use the system to accept cash only, or add one of the more than 30 supported payment processors.

• Monthly software fee: $0-$29.99
• Installation fee: Starts at $674
• Per-order fee: $0
• Payment processing: Varies by processor; Revel Advantage is custom-quoted
• Contract length: 3 years

Revel Systems is a POS that operates on iPads (like competitor Square for Restaurants). Though unlike Square, which lets customers use hardware they already own, Revel users must purchase their hardware directly from Revel.

Revel sends the iPads to customers who are pre-configured with the POS software. The iPads themselves can be used as POS terminals, KDS screens, self-service kiosks, customer-facing displays, or tableside order and payment devices.

The Revel team offers guided support, creating your online ordering site from the menus loaded into your POS. This takes a bit more time than building your own website via a setup wizard, but it can be a lifesaver for a restaurant owner with limited administrative bandwidth.

For pricing, you’ll need to contact Revel Systems directly. But whatever the price, the fact that using Revel’s online ordering tools requires a full Revel POS system to operate means that this solution has a higher upfront cost than any other solution on this list. But before you dismiss Revel on price alone, look at the online ordering features.

• Integrated orders: Orders from your Revel online ordering site appear directly in your POS order stream. There are no middleware plug-ins and no custom-built API integrations.
  
  Revel’s online ordering seamlessly integrates with the underlying POS, as with Toast. You also get the same support team for online ordering as your POS, and you can use the same payment processor for in-person and online transactions.

• Driver management: Revel includes Delivery XT Dispatch, a live, maps-based driver management app. If you manage a team of in-house delivery drivers, Revel shows you their live locations on a dispatch map. You can assign orders based on proximity directly from the map and manage driver reimbursements based on mileage.

• Driver smartphone app: Revel includes a free driver app, Revel Delivery XT Agent, that syncs with your dispatch system. Drivers are notified in their app about new delivery assignments, updated delivery information, and real-time turn-by-turn directions. This driver app gives you Uber-like control over your delivery fleet. It’s an excellent fit for restaurants like pizzerias with a high volume of deliveries.

• Monthly software subscription fee
  • Starter: $0
  • Standard: $39 per store
  • Enterprise: $299 per store
• Per-order commission fees: $0
• One-time Installation fees: $0
• Processing fees: Varies based on processor; choose from Stripe, PayPal, CardConnect, Gravity Payments, checkout.com

CloudWaitress recommends using Windows tablets and PCs, but you can receive CloudWaitress orders on tablets or even print orders directly to a Wi-Fi-connected printer. You can set up your ordering site using a CloudWaitress menu template and start taking orders for pickup or delivery entirely free. 

Like Square and Toast, CloudWaitress supports on-site QR code ordering via your online store. You’ll need to upgrade to a paid subscription once you hit 100 monthly orders on the free plan. But you can pay your subscription fees monthly and cancel any time; there are no long-term contracts.

• Customer-facing mobile app: Yes, Zuppler also offers a customer-branded mobile app, but no one offers a mobile ordering app at a price as low as CloudWaitress. For a one-time fee of $399, you can get a branded iOS and Android customer-facing mobile ordering app.

• Delivery integrations: Like Restolabs and Square, CloudWaitress integrates with third-party apps to support in-house driver management. CloudWaitress integrates with Tookan and Shipday.
  
  Unlocking either of these integrations gives you an Uber-like driver dispatch portal to track your deliveries in real time. However, unlike every other system on this list, CloudWaitress doesn’t currently integrate with on-demand third-party driver apps like DoorDash Drive.

• Open-door communication: CloudWaitress actively monitors user feedback and encourages member restaurants to request new features. If a feature request is popular, you can actively track its progress through the CloudWaitress workflow. This level of transparency helps CloudWaitress develop tools that restaurant owners want and helps CloudWaitress users feel heard.

• Monthly software fee: Custom-quoted (previously listed at $129 to $149 per month)
• One-time installation fees: Custom-quoted based on menu type
• Processing fees: Varies based on processor; choose from Braintree, PayPal, Worldpay, First Atlantic Commerce, TaxJar, or Sabrix. Zuppler Payments rates are 2.75% + 25 cents
• Contract length: One year

Pro tip: Zuppler tends to offer promotional pricing via its software partners. For example, they ran a lower-price subscription to Gravity Payments customers during COVID-19. If Zuppler interests you, check with your vendors or other software providers; there’s a chance they could get you a deal on this software.

As the only custom-quoted system on this list, Zuppler may be a bit out of budget for very small independent restaurants. 

Previously listed fees for this system ranged from $129 to $149 per month, which definitely puts Zuppler at the higher end of the systems on this list. But Zuppler’s main focus is on growing your online orders and increasing sales; it now declares itself to be in the “growth services” business.

• Delivery options: For a custom-quoted fee, Zuppler includes some delivery management functions like the ability to create delivery zones, assign zone-based delivery fees, set delivery hours, and throttle delivery orders.
  
  Alternatively, Zuppler integrates with DoorDash, Uber Eats, and others to provide on-demand third-party drivers. You can also manage in-house drivers with Shipday, Onfleet, First Delivery, or Dragontail Systems integrations.

• Branded mobile app: For a custom-quoted fee, Zuppler users can get a fully branded mobile ordering app. This is a great option for multilocation restaurants with a loyal base of regular customers.

• Customer Connect order status updates: Via Zuppler’s Customer Connect tool, your customers can receive text updates as their orders move through your restaurant. Automated messages and a live track bar show customers when their order is received, prepared, ready for pickup, or out for delivery. This can save your team from answering numerous phone calls about an order.