Best processing for a restaurant, which is really a question about systems.
You do not choose a restaurant processor; you choose a point-of-sale system and the processing comes attached. Which makes the published rate — where there is one — a secondary consideration behind a decision you will live with for years.
What this page settles.
Three questions, in the order most people ask them.
The question underneath the question
Restaurants do not shop for processors. They shop for point-of-sale systems, and the processing arrives attached to whichever one they pick.
That is the single most important fact on this page, and it reverses the usual order of operations. By the time you have built your menu, trained your staff and wired your kitchen printers, your processing rate is no longer a decision you can revisit. It is a four-year commitment made as a side effect of a software choice.
So the right sequence is: work out what each system’s processing costs at your own volume, then choose the system. Almost nobody does it that way, and it is where most of the money is.
The second fact worth knowing before you start: of the four systems most restaurants consider, only two publish a processing rate. Clover publishes one for direct purchases and SpotOn publishes two. Toast and Lightspeed publish none. Who publishes and who does not.
What each of the four actually costs
Take a one-station restaurant doing $60,000 a month at a $35 average check — 1,714 transactions.
Clover, bought direct. 2.3% + 10¢ card present on all three restaurant plans, software $89.95 to $129.85 a month, hardware $1,799 to $4,447 outright (or $179 to $354 a month over 36 months). Processing: $1,380 + $171.40 = $1,551.40, plus $89.95 software. $1,641.35 a month, an effective rate of 2.74%.
The caveat that dominates Clover: most Clovers are sold by ISOs at their own rates and terms, and the published figures do not apply to those. If you are being quoted a Clover, compare the quote, not this page.
SpotOn POS Essentials. 2.45% + $0.15 card present (Amex 3.19% + $0.15), $55 a station, Station 15 at $750 plus implementation, month-to-month. Processing: $1,470 + $257.10 = $1,727.10, plus $55. $1,782.10 a month, or 2.97%.
SpotOn All-In. 2.79% + $0.20, $0 a station, hardware included, processing minimums and a two-year minimum term. $2,016.80 a month, or 3.36%. The $235 a month difference against Essentials is what the free hardware costs, and SpotOn prints the trade on its own page, which is more than most of this category manages.
Toast. Software published at $0, $69 a month, and $69 plus $9 per employee. Processing rate not published. Hardware not published. Contract term not published. On the $69 plan the software is cheaper than Clover’s — and the processing, which at this volume will be roughly twenty times the software fee, is the number you cannot see.
Lightspeed. Restaurant plans priced separately from its retail schedule; the Lightspeed Payments rate is not published either.
Square for Restaurants sits below all of them on software — a genuinely free tier, and paid tiers at $49 and $149 a month per location — at 2.6% + 15¢. On the same volume: $1,560 + $257.10 = $1,817.10, or 3.03%, with $0 of software on the free tier. It does not do coursing, kitchen display or deep labour management, which is the whole reason the others exist.
Where restaurant money leaks, which is not the rate
Four things cost restaurants more than the gap between any two of those rates.
Tips are volume. A $45 check with a $9 tip authorizes $54, and you pay processing on $54. A restaurant doing $30,000 in food with 18% tipping runs about $35,400 through the account, and the tips alone cost roughly $140 a month at a 2.6% effective rate. Unavoidable, and worth knowing so your effective rate does not confuse you. Restaurant processing.
Tip adjustment that settles late. If the tip is added at close and the batch does not clear the authorization window, transactions downgrade — roughly half a percent to a full percent each. On 1,700 transactions a month, a persistent problem here costs more than any rate negotiation. Batch cutoff times.
Hardware financed over 36 months. Clover’s $354 a month for 36 months is $12,744 against $4,447 outright. SpotOn’s free hardware is two years and 0.34%. Both are financing; the total is the number to look at. Buy or lease.
Implementation. Menu build, install, training, a messy week of two systems. Toast names it as a variable cost, which is honest; the others do not mention it. Every system has one.
The clause that decides your cost for four years
Ask this before anything else, of every vendor: can I use my own processor, now or later, and at what cost?
For restaurant point-of-sale the answer is almost always no, which is precisely why the processing rate has to be settled as part of the system decision rather than after it. A restaurant at $80,000 a month in card volume would save a meaningful amount on interchange-plus — and cannot, because the system owns the processing.
That is not an argument against buying a good system. It is an argument for pricing the processing before you commit, which costs you one question and an afternoon.
The other four to get in writing: the contract term and what leaving costs, every monthly fee named individually, the full hardware and implementation total, and the funding timetable. Agreement red flags.
What we would tell a restaurant
A cafe, bar, food truck or quick-service counter. Square for Restaurants, or SpotOn Essentials if you want more. The complexity the others sell does not apply to you and you would be paying $90 to $130 a month for features you will not open. Square against Toast.
A full-service restaurant with a real kitchen workflow. Toast is the better system and it is not a close argument — coursing, kitchen display, multi-area service, handhelds, delivery. The question is only what its quote says, and you should not sign until it says it in writing. Clover against Toast.
A full-service restaurant that wants a published price. SpotOn Essentials, or Clover bought direct. Both publish rates and SpotOn publishes its term, which at this end of the market is worth something.
Any restaurant that cannot fund hardware. SpotOn All-In is an honest version of the free-equipment deal — the rate premium and the two-year term are printed. That is better than a lease dressed up as a gift. Escaping a lease, if you already took one.
Any restaurant above about $80,000 a month should at least find out what interchange-plus would cost before locking into a bundled rate, even if the answer is that the system is worth the premium.
What we charge
Interchange + 0.50% + 10¢ in person, interchange + 0.75% + 25¢ keyed, with no contract, no monthly fee, no monthly minimum and no termination fee.
We do not sell a restaurant point-of-sale system, which means we have nothing to gain from steering you toward one. What we will do is take the processing terms attached to whichever system you are considering and tell you what that rate costs you a month at your own covers and average check — including when the answer is that the bundled rate is fine.
While we are on the subject
Which restaurant POS has the cheapest processing?
Of the ones that publish, Clover bought direct at 2.3% + 10¢. Toast and Lightspeed publish no rate, so they cannot be compared without a quote.
Can I use my own processor with a restaurant POS?
Almost never, and that is the clause to settle before choosing the system rather than after. The processing rate becomes fixed for the life of the system.
Is Square good enough for a restaurant?
For a cafe, bar, quick-service counter or simpler full-service operation, yes, and at much lower software cost. For coursing, kitchen display and multi-area service, no.
Do I pay processing on tips?
Yes. The tip is part of the authorized amount, so it is volume and it is priced the same as the food. On 18% tipping that is 18% more volume through your account.