The terminal and software where a restaurant rings up orders, sends them to the kitchen, takes payment, and records every sale.
Point of Sale (POS)
The terminal and software where a restaurant rings up orders, sends them to the kitchen, takes payment, and records every sale.
A point of sale (POS) is the central system where a restaurant enters orders, fires them to the kitchen, processes payment, and logs every transaction. It is the operational hub the rest of the stack plugs into — kitchen display, online ordering, payroll, inventory, and accounting all read from or write to the POS.
Modern restaurant POS runs on fixed terminals plus handheld tablets, so servers send orders from the table instead of walking to a station.
- What it records: item-level sales, modifiers, voids, comps, discounts, and tenders — the raw data behind every sales and labor report.
- Common restaurant platforms: Toast, Square for Restaurants, TouchBistro, and Lightspeed Restaurant.
Because the POS owns the order and payment flow, switching it is the highest-stakes technology decision most operators make.