Coffee Shop POS Review for Lightspeed POS
Lightspeed POS Review for Coffee Shops & Restaurants
Why Does Lightspeed POS take the Top Prize?
Restaurant POS & Coffee Shop POS System Reviewed: 🏆
Coffee Shop POS System Ideal Business Sign-up Benefits
Lightspeed POS is best for:
Coffee Shops & Busy Cafes
Bistros & Delis
Restaurants
Our Coffee Shop POS System Review
Lightspeed Restaurant
Running a coffee shop requires everything to run smoothly. From your espresso machine pulling amazing shots to having enough inventory, each element needs to function correctly.
In today's competitive environment where margins mean everything, having the best coffee shop POS System is more important than ever.
A sound POS system acts as the central brain of your business. It can help streamline essential tasks to manage a coffee business successfully.
If you are operating a coffee shop, small restaurant, café, or bistro, you have many POS options. Among the various POS systems, we recommend Lightspeed Restaurant.
If you want to jump right to it, skip ahead and explore Lightspeed POS.
Next, we'll talk about why we've partnered with Lightspeed POS – and why we feel they'll make an excellent option for your restaurant or coffee shop.
For a Coffee Shop POS comparison, read our related post, The Best Coffee Shop POS Systems.
Is Lightspeed POS right for your coffee shop or restaurant?
A Lightspeed POS Introduction
Lightspeed is the advanced commerce platform powering high-performing retail, hospitality, and golf businesses around the world. This includes coffee shops, restaurants, cafes, and bistros.
Lightspeed POS for cafes and restaurants – referred to as Lightspeed Restaurant – is a cloud-based system uniquely built for the foodservice sector.
Lightspeed Restaurant is primarily for:
- Coffee shops
- Cafes & bars
- Restaurants
- Bistros
- Perfect for multi-location retailers
- Other specialty retailers
Lightspeed Restaurant POS has everything a restaurant or café needs.
A Cafe POS should include:
- Table management
- Inventory management
- Employee management
- Customer management
- Gratuity management
- Payment processing
- Contactless payments
- Mobile ordering & delivery
- 24/7 Customer service
| Coffee Shop POS System | Ideal Business | Sign-up Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| 🏆 |
Lightspeed POS Review for Coffee Shops
The impressive capability of Lightspeed POS is equal to its competitive pricing. Here's a list of top reasons why we like Lightspeed POS for restaurants.
We've analyzed and looked at various restaurant and coffee shop POS systems over the years. Going toe-to-toe with other POS systems, Lightspeed takes the prize for busy coffee shops and restaurants' POS systems – especially those with multi-locations. The functionality, ease of use, reporting features, and customer service coupled with the highly competitive rates make Lightspeed attractive to busy coffee shop owners.
Let's talk about some of the advantages and disadvantages of Lightspeed Restaurant.
Lightspeed POS Review
Advantages of Lightspeed Restaurant POS
Below we list the various advantages of using Lightspeed POS for your coffee shop business. The great thing about Lightspeed POS is that it is constantly getting better. From system updates to the launching of new features, Lightspeed is dedicated to your success.
Affordable pricing- Robust functionality
- Top-notch inventory management capabilities
- Competitive rates & custom quotes
- 24/7 customer support
- Highly-customizable
- Easy-to-use
- Superb Integrations
- Sync with delivery app-based companies
- Excellent table management
- Track pickups and orders still not ready
- Front-of-house management
- Easy menu setup
- Offline technology
- Highly-customizable interface
- Easy to train employees
- Sleek design
- Secure transactions
- Excellent reporting
Lightspeed POS Review
Disadvantages of Lightspeed Restaurant POS
No POS system is perfect for every business. That's not what we should be looking for when deciding on which POS system to go with. However, we did not find many disadvantages with Lightspeed POS. From their monthly cost, POS functionality, to their customer service, we thought they scored very high in our assessment. However, it's important to list any potential disadvantages.
Here's what we determined about Lightspeed POS:
- It's ideal for busy or high-volume cafes
- It may be too expensive for some seasonal mobile food and coffee businesses
In short, Lightspeed Restaurant POS has pretty much everything a busy coffee shop or restaurant needs. While every POS system may offer some preferable features, considering other POS systems out there, Lightspeed should be on the top of your list.
Let's dive into the nitty-gritty with Lightspeed POS. While it has dozens of positive features, let's talk about a few of the crucial elements you might look for.
Skip ahead and visit Lightspeed POS.
Lightspeed POS Review for Coffee Shops
Lightspeed POS Key Features
Affordable Pricing
🏆 Analysis: Excellent
Lightspeed has simplified its pricing structure to the benefit of its consumers. A basic plan starts at $59 per month with annual billing. $69 if you decide to go month-to-month. If you have multiple registers, each will cost about $34 per month.
- For the scale of POS functionality, these prices are excellent and can be highly competitive with other major POS systems
- There are a variety of add-ons that you can get along with your basic features. These add-ons come with their own price points that range from $12 – $39 per month.
- Lightspeed will work up a customizable quote for your coffee shop or restaurant business if there is a unique situation
- The price for Lightspeed POS includes a robust backend network that is stored in the cloud.
Like other POS systems, Lightspeed charges a fee for each sale, so it remains in the same league as other POS systems. Nevertheless, Lightspeed rates are very competitive. The cost is 2.6% plus .10 cents for transactions that are swiped, tapped, or inserted. For manually keyed transactions, the rate is 2.6% plus .30.
If you have an existing POS system and are interested in Lightspeed, they may try to beat your current pricing. Consider signing up here for a free price quote.
Get your free Lightspeed POS quote.
Highly Customizable
🏆 Analysis: Excellent
Lightspeed POS was made to fit your coffee shop or restaurant needs with a whole host of unique as well as industry-standard features. Lightspeed was designed with customizable settings in mind. Whether you want to check inventory right down to your ingredients or create a menu or floor plan, Lightspeed can easily be formatted for your business.
Drag and drop tables or café or restaurant features to ensure proper table configurations.
- Need to split receipt tickets? Easy.
- Need to create group discounts? Done.
- Need to divide the tips for your staff? Easy-peasy.
Lightspeed POS Review for Coffee Shops
Other benefits of Lightspeed POS:
- With a few taps and you can quickly send table orders right to your kitchen or backhouse or bar too!
- You can build out your menu – offer combo plates or offer substitutions, discounts, or special ordering – such as allergy restrictions.
- Time events are a feature that you'll love – for example, if you have happy hours or special promotions – you can include time events to reflect special pricing or menu options.
Many different integrations seamlessly work with Lightspeed to conveniently perform certain functions that you might want or need. For example, they have integrations for marketing, employee scheduling, and reservations.
Table Management
🏆 Analysis: Excellent
- Setting up your table and floorplan is a cinch with Lightspeed. Additionally, you can mark off which tables are available or which are full too.
- Need to change your layout for a big party or event quickly? Easy.
- Managing tables and ensuring that all your customers have a seat and your staff can clean, cook, and serve each customer quickly is essential.
Inventory Management
🏆 Analysis: Excellent
Managing your inventory – from your coffee to your bags of flour – having an intricate but not cumbersome system to track everything will help you manage your inventory.
- If your POS system is too difficult to use, you probably won't use it. Fortunately, Lightspeed makes everything very easy.
- With a bird's eye view, you'll be able to see what's selling and what's not across your entire business. From the bar, restaurant, or your mobile food truck unit – all in one place. You can view by tables, order-type, order status, among others.
Customer Management
🏆 Analysis: Very Good
Whether you want to email or text customers a receipt or send coupons or promotional dates to customers, you can do it with Lightspeed.
- With a few taps, you can send all of already registered customers coupons or discounts that generate loyalty without bugging them.
- With competition so high and customer attention challenging to keep, having an easy way to reach them through your POS system will prove vital.
Gratuity Management
🏆 Analysis: Excellent
- Managing the tips your employees get is hugely important. Having a straightforward way to divide and allocate gratuity will be essential for your employees.
- Lightspeed Restaurant makes dividing up and allocating tips a cinch. In addition to tipping staff, you will be able to see the hours worked by every employee.
Payment Processing
🏆 Analysis: Excellent
- Having secure, no-hassle payment processing is often taken for granted until there is a problem. Lightspeed's unique payment processing software takes the worry of successfully processing transactions.
- Sometimes people will need to split the bill – occasionally. Other times, people may pay in cash, credit, debit, or gift card – all on the same ticket!
- Lightspeed Restaurant makes splitting tickets or paying in multiple ways.
Contactless payments
🏆 Analysis: Excellent
- One of the lessons in 2020 is that restaurant and coffee shop owners need a safer way to pay. Both customers and staff may prefer to have payments be contactless.
- In today's market reality, having contactless payment is not only intelligent but safer.
- Lightspeed makes it super easy to pay in a contactless manner. You customers can also order from your table and send their requests right to the kitchen and bar.
Delivery Apps (like Uber Eats and DoorDash)
🏆 Analysis: Very Good
Whether you run a small café with excellent cakes or a restaurant with complete meals, the ability to sync your POS system with services like Uber Eats and Door Dash is beneficial.
- Some restaurants are surviving with their App-based orders. Having the ability to take orders, communicate with your kitchen or staff, and get paid – is all-important today.
- Seamlessly integrate Lightspeed with a delivery app and have customer orders directly pushed to your kitchen.
Side note: Lightspeed also has its own online ordering platform so that customers can order directly from you. You can skip the third-party fees.
Multi-Location Capability
🏆 Analysis: Superb
If you look under the hood at Lightspeed Restaurant's robust engine, it shines when there are multiple retail locations. For example, if you have one, two, or more coffee shops
- Keeping tabs on all your locations right from your phone is a snap.
- For example, within seconds, you can know what your sales are doing at each location, how much inventory you have at one site, and who has clocked in and out at another business location. Again, all right at your fingertips.
- Having all your receipts, orders, and analytics for all of your locations is extremely helpful.
The data and analytical data you get with Lightspeed Restaurant will help you keep tabs on your operations and make better managerial decisions.
Easy-to-Use
🏆 Analysis: Above Average
While some POS systems might be cumbersome to set up, I have found that Lightspeed Restaurant is pretty straightforward and easy to set up.
- Naturally, it will take time to familiarize yourself with the settings and all the functions.
- Depending on the complexity of your coffee or restaurant business, it could take time to set up multiple locations, inventory items, ingredients, menu items, discounts, table configurations, and other settings.
Still, the care taken in setting up your POS system should not be confused with being difficult.
The more complex the brain, the more time it will take to build it out. My advice is that you take your time and build out your POS after signing up.
The folks over at Lightspeed made sure that there was consistency on platforms – whether you are using an iPad, iPhone, or another device – you can easily learn and train your staff to use Lightspeed quickly and seamlessly.
There are extensive permission-setting to give to your employees – or groups of your employees such as your baristas, hosts, bartenders, and managers.
Add-on (Increased Functionality)
🏆 Analysis: Robust Functionality
Lightspeed Restaurant has opened up its system to other third-party providers that can add an extra dimension to your POS system.
These additional Add-ons can help to streamline your business goals.
There are so many add-ons that we won't bore you with listing all of them. However, they do range in price (currently $12 – $39) per month.
- Customer-facing display
- Kitchen display system
- Advanced reporting
- Self-order table menu
- Accounting
- Loyalty
- Loyalty app
- Self-order kiosk
- Delivery integration
- Order ahead
Sign up through our unique Lightspeed page and receive your free card reader and free add-on.
POS Offline Capability
🏆 Analysis: Very Good
At times, we all lose connection to the internet. When this happens, Lightspeed has got your back. With its offline mode, you don't have to worry about losing valuable information like customer credit cards or inventory data.
Reporting & Analytics
🏆 Analysis: Excellent
- Generating multi-dimensional reports is where Lightspeed sets itself apart from other POS systems out there.
- Quickly pull up reports that allow you to see how your sales numbers are going. What inventory items you need to address pull off the shelves.
- Quickly analyze staff reports and understand who has the highest sales numbers and how many hours each staff member worked. Look at customer habits and behaviors and learn how to modify your staff scheduling, inventory, and menu.
- The data can also sync seamlessly with your accounting software and help you generate the financial reports you need to make better decisions.
POS Hardware
🏆 Analysis: Very Good
Lightspeed offers a hardware kit that has a sleek design but is also durable. Their hardware kit includes:
- Cash drawer
- Lite Server
- LAN receipt printer
- Lightspeed iPad stand
- Kitchen printer
It does not come with an iPad. They sell their hardware as an entire kit, individual elements of that kit.
If you already have a POS setup and are looking to upgrade, you might not need to purchase hardware. You may be able to use your existing hardware. Connect with a Lightspeed specialist.
Customer Service
🏆 Analysis: Excellent
Lightspeed Restaurant knows that its business relies on customer support.
The good people over at Lightspeed know how it feels to be left hanging.
That's why they have an excellent customer service team – offering live chat, live phone support, and videos. They aren't around on holidays, but you might not be open on Christmas either.
Lightspeed POS Review for Coffee Shops
Our Lightspeed POS Analysis:
5 Star-Rating
Sign-up for Free & Explore Yourself
Lightspeed Restaurant takes the top prize in analyzing various POS systems for coffee shops, cafes, or restaurants.
With its abundance of features, competitive rates, and excellent customer support, Lightspeed POS should be at the top of your list.
We’ve mentioned why we’ve liked them, but these are the few points that stand out:
Lightspeed POS excels in:
- Table management
- Inventory management
- Employee management
- Customer management
- Gratuity management
- Integrations
- Mobile ordering & Delivery options
- Customer service
- Competitive monthly costs
Lightspeed Restaurant has simplified everything you need to do to manage your coffee shop or restaurant well. We encourage you to explore Lightspeed POS for yourself. Check out their wide array of POS features and robust functionality, by signing up.
Lightspeed POS Review for Coffee Shops
| Coffee Shop POS System | Ideal Business | Sign-up Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| 🏆 |
Coffee Shop Startups
Based in Seattle, Washington, USA, Coffee Shop Startups is dedicated to providing you with the most relevant information on how to start a coffee shop business successfully. Over the last 11 years, we've helped thousands of aspiring coffee business owners worldwide. We harness the experience, wisdom, and knowledge of many successful coffee shop owners to help you increase your chances of success and profits. We support business owners who want to start a coffee business by providing them with valuable information on starting their coffee business successfully.
