Restaurant EPOS with kitchen display and online ordering in one system
Plenty of restaurants run a till from one company, a kitchen screen from another and online ordering from a third. It works until the Friday it does not. This guide explains what one joined-up system changes in the kitchen, at the pass and in the office.
- One order queue for every channel
- Menu and sold-out changes made once
- One report, one supplier, one phone number
Written by the Posso team in Leicester · Reviewed by Paul Robinson, Managing Director · Last reviewed
Short answer
A restaurant EPOS that includes the kitchen display and online ordering puts every order, from the till, the table, your website and the delivery apps, into one kitchen queue. Menu changes and sold-out items are made once and apply everywhere, nobody re-keys tablet orders, and takings from every channel appear in one report. Posso combines all three: systems from £499 + VAT, a kitchen display at £399 + VAT and commission-free online ordering.
Key takeaways
- Three separate products mean three menus to maintain and three places for an order to go missing.
- One system gives the kitchen a single queue, in the order tickets arrived, whatever the channel.
- Marking a dish sold out once should pull it from the till, the website and the delivery apps.
- End-of-day reporting is only trustworthy when every channel lands in the same database.
- When something fails, one supplier means one phone call instead of an argument between three.
Takeaway: If an order can reach your kitchen without passing through your till, you are running three systems, not one.
THE PROBLEM
What goes wrong with three bolted-together products
The bolted-together kitchen grows one problem at a time. The till came first. Then the delivery apps arrived, each with its own tablet on the counter. Then a separate online ordering company, with its own printer. Then a kitchen screen from yet another supplier, connected to the till but not to anything else.
Each piece made sense on the day it was bought. Together they create the same failures in almost every kitchen. Orders from the tablets are re-keyed into the till by whoever is nearest, and sometimes they are not. Tickets arrive on different printers and screens, so the kitchen has no single view of what to cook next. A dish runs out and someone has to remember to switch it off in four places. And at the end of the night the takings are spread across several dashboards that never quite agree.
None of this is a software bug. It is what happens when the order, the menu and the money live in separate places. The fix is not a better tablet; it is putting them in one system.
What one system changes
The four practical differences a kitchen notices in the first week.
One order queue
Dine-in tickets, table orders, collection and delivery from your own site and orders from Just Eat, Uber Eats and Deliveroo all arrive on the same kitchen display, in the order they came in. The kitchen cooks from one list instead of reconciling several.
No re-keying
When delivery-platform orders flow straight into the till, nobody types them in again. That removes the most common source of wrong orders and the order that was never entered at all.
One sold-out list, everywhere
Mark an item sold out once and it reflects across the connected channels: the till, your online menu and the delivery platforms. No customer orders a dish you ran out of an hour ago.
One report
Takings, item sales and channel mix come from the same database, so the end-of-day figures are complete. You can see what sold through which channel without exporting and merging spreadsheets.
Three products versus one system
The same Friday night, run two ways.
| Three separate products | One system (Posso) | |
|---|---|---|
| Menus to maintain | One per product | One, used by the till, kitchen display and online ordering |
| Delivery-app orders | Separate tablets, often re-keyed | Straight into the till and kitchen queue, £45/month, unlimited orders |
| Kitchen view | Several printers and screens | One kitchen display queue across every channel |
| Sold-out items | Switched off in each product by hand | Marked once, reflected across connected channels |
| End-of-day report | Several dashboards to reconcile | One report covering every channel |
| Online ordering cost | Varies; some charge commission | No commission; customer pays a 60p service fee |
| Kitchen display cost | Hardware plus a possible monthly add-on | £399 + VAT one-off, covered by the standard software fee |
| Support | Three suppliers, three phone numbers | One UK phone line, Monday to Friday, 9am–9:30pm |
IN THE KITCHEN
How the kitchen display works when it is part of the till
A kitchen display that is part of the EPOS knows everything the till knows. Modifiers and allergy notes arrive exactly as they were entered, because nobody has copied them across. Courses can be held and fired from the floor. Tickets can be routed to the right section, so the grill sees the steaks and the fryer sees the chips.
Because online and delivery orders arrive in the same queue, the kitchen can see the true load. A rush of delivery orders at 7pm shows up next to the dine-in tickets, so the pass can pace the restaurant accordingly rather than discovering the problem when the drivers start queuing.
Posso's 21-inch kitchen display screen is £399 + VAT and is covered by the standard software fee. Kitchens that prefer paper can keep printers; many run screens on the line and a printer at the pass.
ONLINE
How online ordering works when it is part of the till
When online ordering shares the till's menu, there is nothing to keep in sync. A new dish added at the till appears online; a price change applies everywhere; a sold-out dish disappears from the website.
Orders from your branded site land in the same kitchen queue as everything else, and the payment is reconciled in the same report. Hosting is free and Posso takes no commission: a 60p service fee is added to each web or app order and paid by the customer, so the business pays only card processing.
The delivery platforms remain useful for reaching new customers. Bringing their orders into the same system means you keep them without the counter full of tablets.
Integrated is not the same as one system
Some suppliers describe two products connected by an integration as one system. Ask what happens when the connection between them fails, whether the menu is genuinely shared or copied across on a schedule, and who you call when an order goes missing between the two. If the answer involves another company, it is two systems.
What to test before you buy
Run these on any demo that claims till, kitchen display and online ordering together.
Place an order from each channel
One at the till, one from the online ordering page, one from a delivery platform test order. Check all three arrive on the same kitchen screen in order.
Mark a dish sold out
Do it once at the till, then check the online menu and the delivery platforms.
Change a price
Change it once and check the till, the online menu and the kitchen ticket.
Add a modifier and an allergy note
Check it reaches the kitchen exactly as entered from every channel.
Lose the internet
Unplug the router and keep ringing in orders. Ask what keeps working and what syncs later.
Read one report
Ask to see the night's takings broken down by channel and payment type in a single view.
Ask who you call
If an online order does not reach the kitchen, is it one supplier's problem or three?
COST
Does one system cost more?
Usually it costs less over three years, because the separate products each carry their own monthly fee and, sometimes, their own commission. But do the sums rather than taking anyone's word for it, including ours.
For Posso: a POS system from £499 + VAT, software from £25 + VAT a month, a kitchen display at £399 + VAT one-off, delivery-platform orders into the till at £45/month and commission-free online ordering. Card processing through Posso Pay is from 1% + 10p, quoted on your turnover. Setup (menu build + configuration) is free; on-site installation for larger sites is priced on application.
Write down what you pay each of your current suppliers per month, add any commission on online orders, and multiply by 36. Compare that with the joined-up system's 36-month total.
Related guides
Related guides
Kitchen display system
Posso's kitchen screens: routing, course firing and what the kitchen sees.
Read the guideOnline ordering
Branded, commission-free ordering on your own site, synced with the till.
Read the guidePosso EPOS system
The full system: till, kitchen display, ordering, kiosks and payments.
Read the guideKitchen display system cost
What a kitchen screen costs to buy and run, and what to compare.
Read the guideBest EPOS for independent restaurants
The buyer's guide for single-site and small-group independents.
Read the guideThis is one part of the Posso EPOS system — the same till, kitchen display, ordering and card payments, set up for your type of venue. Every one-off and monthly cost is on the EPOS pricing page.
EPOS with kitchen display and online ordering — frequently asked questions
What does a restaurant EPOS with kitchen display and online ordering cost?
With Posso, a POS system starts from £499 + VAT, software from £25 + VAT a month and a 21-inch kitchen display is £399 + VAT one-off. Online ordering on your own site has no commission: the customer pays a 60p service fee per order and you pay card processing.
Can delivery app orders go straight to the kitchen display?
Yes. With Posso, Just Eat, Uber Eats and Deliveroo orders flow into the till and onto the kitchen display alongside dine-in and online orders, for £45/month with unlimited orders. Nobody needs to re-key them from a tablet.
If I mark a dish sold out, does it come off the online menu?
On Posso, yes. Mark an item sold out once and it reflects across the connected channels, including your online menu and the delivery platforms, so customers cannot order something you have run out of.
Can I keep kitchen printers as well as a screen?
Yes. Many kitchens run screens on the line and keep a printer at the pass or for a particular section. The system should let you route each ticket to a screen, a printer or both.
What happens if the internet drops during service?
Posso is offline-first: the till keeps taking orders, cash payments continue and receipts print without a connection, and everything syncs when it returns. Online orders naturally need a connection to arrive, so ask any supplier exactly what keeps working offline.
Is an integrated system the same as one system?
Not always. Two products from different companies joined by an integration can still mean two menus, two support lines and orders lost between them. Ask whether the menu and the order queue are genuinely shared, and who you call when something goes wrong.
Who do I call if an online order does not reach the kitchen?
With one system, one supplier. Posso's UK phone support is on 0808 175 3956, Monday to Friday, 9am–9:30pm.
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