5 LEADING POS SYSTEMS FOR BAKERIES

From efficient sales management to streamlined inventory tracking, these 5 POS solutions offer the essential features to elevate your bakery operations.

Key takeaways

• Bakeries require specific POS systems that meet their particular needs, such as real-time inventory management, menu customization, efficient order processing, detailed sales reporting, etc.
• Bakery owners can utilize Shopify POS as a great assistance to run their businesses due to its robust functionalities of accurate inventory tracking, omnichannel selling, diverse customization options, and board integrations.

Unique characteristics of bakeries

The significance of local flavors

From the famous sourdough bread in the United States to Brötchen in Germany, products that embrace the local flavors not only cater to customers’ taste preferences but also contribute to the preservation of cultural heritage. With the ability to customize menus and manage recipe consistency, the POS system empowers bakery owners to maintain authenticity in a world of culinary diversity.

Inventory Management: Ensuring Freshness and Availability

One of the challenges bakeries face is managing inventory with many perishable ingredients. For short-expiry products like Pain au Chocolat in Canada or Tarta de Santiago in Spain, POS enables bakers to track ingredient quantities, monitor expiration dates, and receive real-time notifications about the existing stock. Moreover, a POS system can create item codes or unique identifiers for each bread batch or item to track efficiently.

Customizable Menu and Pricing: Showcase Flexibility

A bakery’s menu is not fixed. It evolves to cater to customer preferences and seasonal demands. A POS system enables quick updates to the menu, making it effortless to add local favorites such as Soda Bread in Ireland or Pavlova in New Zealand, ensuring that customers are always presented with the freshest and most relevant offerings.

Additionally, it empowers bakery owners to offer flexible pricing options, including deals, discounts, and combo offers based on inventory tracking. So they can minimize the risk of overstock or understock, upsell and increase revenue.

Order Management: In-Time and Preference Responses

In the fast-paced bakery environment, efficiency in order management is crucial.

A POS system enables bakery staff to take customizable orders directly from customers, whether in person or through integrated online ordering platforms. With the centralized database, POS allows for accurate order entries that meet the customers’ specific requirements about the order, such as item selection, quantity, color, ingredients, or delivery time. 

Reports and Analytics: Gaining Insights Into Your Business

Understanding sales patterns or determining the best-selling items are essential for bakery owners to make informed business decisions. A bakery POS system is expected to deliver valuable insights by specifically analyzing those activities. For instance, by tracking the sales trends of Mince pies during the Christmas season in the UK, bakery owners strategized their production and marketing efforts accordingly, which led to huge profitability due to customers’ demands.

Top 5 POS systems for bakeries

Shopify POS

Shopify is the first name on the list due to its powerful POS system, hopefully bringing a comprehensive solution for bakeries’ operations.

Pricing 

Shopify POS offers reasonable pricing plans as below:

• Software fees: Start at $0/month
• Hardware fees: From $39 to $399
• Processing fees: Start at 2.4% + 0¢ 

What makes Shopify POS suitable for bakeries?

• Accurate inventory management: Shopify POS offers robust inventory tracking capabilities to monitor stock levels accurately in such a mass-produced industry. The system provides real-time updates on ingredient quantities, notifies the status, and automatically adjusts inventory as sales are made. This functionality helps bakeries maintain optimal stock levels and ensure the freshness of their baked goods across all locations.
• Empowered Omnichannel Selling: Embracing omnichannel selling with Shopify POS opens up new avenues for customer engagement in the bakery industry.
  • With its integration into multiple sales channels, the system allows customers to place orders and make payments whether they are in-store, on the bakery’s website, or on social media.
  • Shopify POS allows customers to pick up their purchases at any physical store or have it shipped directly to their doorstep. The system also emails virtual carts to shoppers who prefer browsing in-store and ordering online.

What features are missing?

• Ingredients Tracking: While Shopify POS provides basic inventory management, it may lack more advanced functionality for tracking specific ingredients, their quantities, or allergen information, which are essential for the bakery industry.
• Product Selling and Workflow: A restricted feature in Shopify POS is production scheduling and workflow management, which makes bakeries complex in their production schedules with various products requiring different preparation and baking times.

Who is Shopify POS best for?

• Boutique Bakeries
• Artisanal Bakeries Shops
• Bakery Cafés and Coffee Shops
• Online-First Bakeries with Physical Stores

What do customers say about Shopify POS?

According to Capterra, customers’ opinions and feedback about Shopify POS are generally positive. Shopify POS is a fantastic POS software that has revolutionized business. It is not only beginner-friendly but also an advanced piece of software. With Shopify POS, customers can have online stores without hassle. It is also a good entry-level POS system for small businesses, etc.

The system has received 4.6/5 overall stars.

Toast

Toast is a comprehensive POS solution specifically designed for the food service industry, offering a range of features tailored to meet the unique needs of bakeries.

Pricing

• Software fees: Start at $0 (Quick start bundle)
• Hardware fees: From $0 to $1479
• Processing fees: 2.49% + 15¢

What makes Toast suitable for bakeries?

• Streamlined Ordering Process: With Toast, your staff can take orders efficiently and customize items according to customer preferences through your website or mobile app. The system allows easy modifications and substitutions, ensuring accurate order fulfillment and minimizing errors.
• Kitchen management: Toast assists kitchen staff in modifying and tracking order tickets as needed, like adding special instructions, making adjustments, etc. This functionality allows for efficient communication between front-of-house and back-of-house. Moreover, Toast alerts staff when items are ready for pickup or delivery.

What features are missing?

• Additional Costs: Besides the higher fixed cost that users have to pay monthly, the owners still have to pay additional fees associated with specific loyalty programs or marketing tools
• Limited Offline Mode: Toast heavily relies on an internet connection to operate effectively. In the event of an internet outage or unstable connection, the system’s functionality may be limited or temporarily unavailable.

Who is Toast best for?

• Bakery Cafés
• Specialty Bakeries
• Bistro Sections
• Online Bakeries that offer custom designs

What do customers say about Toast?

Customers from Capterra have expressed various opinions and feedback about Toast. Some claimed that Toast was a great addition to a business for which they did consulting work. Toast POS works exactly how it’s supposed to and meets every functional need they’ve had. On the other hand, some problems still bother them about the fee, update notifications, technical support, etc.

Toast has gotten a 4.2/5 overall rating.

Square for Restaurants

Square is another name on this POS system list due to its targeted customer segment: food service businesses, including bakeries.

Pricing

• Software fees: Start at $0 
• Hardware fees: From $49 to $1439
• Processing fees: Start at 2.6% + 10¢

What makes Square for Restaurants suitable for bakeries?

• Menu Customization: Bakeries can easily create and modify their menus with Square. They can add new items, categorize products, and customize pricing. This flexibility enables bakeries to adapt to seasonal changes, introduce new offerings, and tailor their menus to meet bread lovers’ preferences.
• Integrated Payment Processing: Square provides seamless payment processing, allowing bakeries to accept various payment methods, including credit cards, mobile payments, and gift cards. This feature ensures convenient and secure transactions for customers.

What features are missing?

• Ingredient-Level Inventory Tracking: Square offers inventory management but may not provide granular ingredient-level tracking for complex bakery recipes. This could be a limitation for bakeries that require precise ingredient management.
• No built-in reservation management: The absence of built-in reservation management capabilities is challenging for bakeries that rely on reservations to manage their seating capacity and optimize customer flow. They must integrate third-party reservation software to handle bookings effectively.

Who is Square best for?

• Small to Medium-sized Bakeries
• Bakeries with Simplified Production Needs
• Quick-Service Bakeries
• Pop-up bakeries

What do customers say?

The majority of customer feedback from Capterra regarding Square for restaurants is quite good. Many customers appreciate the simplicity of Square’s hardware and software setup, making it easy to get started quickly. The intuitive and straightforward design of the system receives praise for its ease of use, allowing customers in the F&B field to navigate menus, process orders, and manage payments with minimal training.

Square for Restaurants has a rating of 4.6/5 overall.

Lightspeed Restaurants

Lightspeed Restaurants is another POS system that can specifically meet the requirements of the food business.

Pricing

• Software fees: Start at $69/month (billed annually)
• Hardware fees: From $99 to $429
• Processing fees: Start at 2.6% + 10¢ 

What makes Lightspeed Restaurant suitable for bakeries?

• Tableside Ordering and Payment: Lightspeed Restaurant offers tableside ordering and payment capabilities, allowing bakery staff to take orders and process payments directly at the table or on the line. This feature enhances the dining experience, improves order accuracy, and enables prompt customer service.
• Delivery services: Lightspeed Restaurant integrates with various delivery partner platforms to enhance the delivery process. Based on defining customers’ demands and delivery zones, the system can set a suitable delivery method and provide real-time order tracking for both staff and customers to follow the progress actively.

What features are missing?

• Advanced Sales Report: Implementing and configuring advanced sales features in Lightspeed Restaurant’s report, such as customized pricing, discounts, or promotions, can be complex and time-consuming.
• Advanced Production Management: The system may not offer advanced production management features that are essential for bakeries with complex production processes.

Who is Lightspeed best for?

• Bakeries with Dine-In Options
• Bakeries with Multiple Locations
• Retail bakeries
• Bakeries Coffee

What do customers say?

Lightspeed Restaurants brings overall positive experiences to its users, as stated by Capterra. They have appreciated the system’s ability to integrate with other essential restaurant technologies, such as online ordering platforms, kitchen display systems, and loyalty programs. The most prevalent issue is the learning curve associated with certain advanced features.

The system has a rating of 4.4/5 from Capterra. 

TouchBistro

TouchBistro offers a range of specialized tools designed to cater to the unique requirements of bakery businesses. 

Pricing

• Software fees: Start at $69/month (billed annually)
• Hardware fees: Quote-based
• Processing fees: Start at 2.6% + 10¢ (through Square Payments)

What makes Touchbistro suitable for bakeries?

• Menu Customization and Special Orders: TouchBistro offers robust menu customization capabilities, allowing bakeries to easily modify menu items, add special instructions, and accommodate customer preferences or dietary restrictions.
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM): TouchBistro’s CRM features allow bakeries to build customer profiles, track order history, and manage loyalty programs. To enhance customer engagement and loyalty, bakeries can use this information to offer personalized promotions, rewards, and targeted marketing campaigns.

Missing features

• Advanced Recipe Management: The system may lack advanced recipe management features specific to complex bakery recipes, including recipe scaling, detailed ingredient tracking, etc.
• Production Planning Tools: TouchBistro may not offer specialized production planning tools that are crucial for bakeries with complex production processes.

Who is Touchbistro best for?

• Bakeries with Dine-in
• Bakeries in Café-like Sections
• Bakeries with a Focus on Customer Engagement

What do customers say about Touchbistro?

Capterra has recorded that the exceptional customer support provided by the TouchBistro team is frequently mentioned as a strong point by their users. The ease of use and functionality of the system is also great. However, many users had negative experiences with merchant services, losing orders, connectivity problems, etc.

Touchbistro has reached a rating of 4/5 stars on the Capterra platform.

How Did We Reach Our Verdict?

We started by conducting extensive market research to identify the best POS systems available for bakeries. We considered essential features specific to the bakery industry, such as menu customization, online ordering, inventory management, CRM capabilities, and integration options.

By reviewing customers’ feedback for each POS system, we gained insights into the strengths and weaknesses of each system and understand how well they cater to the needs of bakeries.

The 5 best POS for bakery: FAQs

Which POS works best for a home bakery?

When it comes to selecting a POS system for a home bakery, several options can work well depending on your specific needs.

• Shopify POS: Shopify POS is another excellent choice for home bakeries. The seamless integration with Shopify’s ecommerce platform is an outstanding feature allowing bakery owners to manage both online and offline sales in one place.
• Square: Square is famous for home-based businesses, including home bakeries. It offers a user-friendly interface, easy setup, and affordable pricing. Those features make it a convenient option for small-scale operations.
• Lightspeed Retail: Lightspeed Retail is suitable for various businesses, including home bakeries. With Lightspeed’s intuitive interface and robust reporting capabilities, you can efficiently manage your products, sales, and customer data.

What makes a bakery successful?

A successful bakery results from various factors creating a thriving business. Here are some key elements that contribute to the success of a bakery:

• Quality Products: One of the most crucial factors is consistently offering high-quality bakery products. Baked goods’ taste, texture, freshness, and presentation play a significant role in attracting and retaining customers
• Unique and Specialized Offerings: Differentiating your bakery from the competition can greatly contribute to success. 
• Effective Marketing and Branding: Developing a strong brand image and implementing effective marketing strategies are essential for attracting customers.
• Exceptional Customer Service: Providing excellent customer service is vital in building a loyal customer base to drive sales.
• Strategic Location: Choosing the right location can significantly impact a bakery’s success. Consider factors such as visibility, accessibility, foot traffic, parking availability, and proximity to target customers.
• Strong Financial Management: Successful bakeries have a solid financial foundation. This involves effective budgeting, pricing strategies that consider costs and profitability, monitoring expenses, managing cash flow, and having a clear understanding of the business’s financial health.

As a beginner bakery, do I need a POS to run my business?

As a beginner bakery, implementing a POS (Point of Sale) system can significantly benefit your business, although it may not be an absolute necessity from the start.

• Sales Management: A POS system can help you efficiently manage your bread sales transactions. It provides a streamlined process for accepting various payment methods, generating accurate receipts, and tracking sales data.
• Inventory Management: Inventory tracking becomes increasingly important as your bakery expands. A POS system can help you monitor ingredient levels, track product usage, and receive alerts when items need restocking.
• Order and Customer Management: A POS system can assist in handling orders and customer information. This becomes especially valuable as your bakery receives more orders or introduces customizations and special requests.
• Reporting and Analytics: POS systems provide detailed reports and analytics on sales, inventory, and customer data. These insights can help you make informed business decisions, identify trends, and understand your bakery’s performance.
• Streamlined Operations: A POS system can automate tasks, reduce manual errors, and streamline your overall operations. While these efficiencies are beneficial, you can initially manage with manual processes if your bakery operates on a smaller scale.

Bottom Line

The five POS systems selected above specifically meet the criteria of the bakery industry. Shopify POS has various standout features, it could be the best suitable point-of-sale system for your business.