Best Restaurant Technology Software for UK Restaurants
What Is Restaurant Technology Software?
Restaurant technology software is what a restaurant uses to take orders, take payment, run the kitchen, talk to customers and see how the business is doing. Ideally that's one system. In a lot of restaurants it's five systems that don't talk to each other.
For UK operators, the options go from a basic card terminal on the counter to full platforms with online ordering, kiosks and AI phone ordering built in. An independent takeaway and a 20-site group want very different things.
What UK Restaurants Actually Need from Technology
Anyone running a restaurant in the UK will know these:
- Just Eat, Uber Eats and Deliveroo take a big cut of every marketplace order
- Labour keeps getting more expensive, so there's pressure to run front of house with fewer people
- Customers want to order quickly, whether they're sitting in the venue or on their phone at home
- Multi-site operators want to control menus and pricing centrally but still let each site do its own thing
Good software should help with all of them. Most of it only helps with one or two.
Best Restaurant Technology Platforms for UK Restaurants
1. Flipdish - Best Complete Restaurant Technology Platform
Flipdish covers more ground than anything else available to UK and Ireland operators: POS, online ordering, kiosks, branded apps, payments, loyalty, marketing and AI tools.
The main products:
| Product | What it does |
|---|---|
| Restaurant POS | Takes orders and payments in the venue |
| Online ordering | Direct orders through your own branded website |
| Branded mobile app | Your restaurant's own iOS and Android app |
| Self-service kiosks | Customers order in the venue without queuing at the counter |
| Kitchen display system | Sends orders to screens in the kitchen |
| AI Phone Agent | Answers the phone and takes orders |
| AI Marketing | Sends campaigns to bring lapsed customers back |
It all runs on the same data. A customer who orders through the app shows up in the POS. Phone orders land in the same kitchen queue as walk-ins. Marketing pulls from every channel, not just one.
If you're trying to move customers off Just Eat or Deliveroo, this is the part that matters. Flipdish gives you your own app, website, kiosk and phone ordering, and none of them charge commission.
2. Lightspeed
Lightspeed is a POS and payments platform used in both restaurants and retail. It does table management, inventory and reporting. Its online ordering, branded apps and AI tools don't go as deep as Flipdish's.
3. Epos Now
Epos Now is a UK POS provider that a lot of small restaurants and takeaways use. You get cloud POS and basic reporting. There's no native online ordering, branded app or AI, so you'd be relying on third-party integrations to fill those gaps.
4. Square for Restaurants
Square is cheap to get started with and is aimed at smaller operators. It doesn't have the multi-location management, branded apps or AI tools a growing group will need.
5. Tevalis
Tevalis is a UK hospitality tech provider aimed at enterprise and multi-site operators. It sells POS and EPOS systems. Its online ordering, AI and customer engagement tools are a lot narrower than Flipdish's.
Restaurant POS Software for UK Operators
A restaurant POS is where orders get taken and paid for in the venue. For a UK restaurant, check that it's:
- Cloud-based, so you can log in from anywhere and updates happen on their own
- Connected to your online ordering
- Able to run a kitchen display system
- Able to report across multiple locations
- Compatible with UK payment providers
Flipdish POS was built for restaurants from day one. It isn't a retail till with a menu bolted on.
Online Ordering: Direct vs Marketplace
Marketplace orders cost UK restaurants 20–35% in commission. Ordering direct through your own website or app usually costs a fixed monthly fee or a small per-transaction rate.
Take a restaurant doing £10,000 a month through marketplaces. That's £2,000–£3,500 a month gone in commission. Put the same orders through Flipdish online ordering and you pay a fraction of that.
See Flipdish online ordering pricing →
Self-Service Kiosks for UK Restaurants
Self-service kiosks mean fewer staff on the counter and bigger orders. Kiosk orders usually come in 15–30% higher than counter orders. People say yes to the upsell prompt when there's nobody standing in front of them waiting.
In UK QSRs, cafés and fast casual spots, kiosks are standard kit now. They don't set you apart anymore.
What to Look for in UK Restaurant Technology
A single-site takeaway needs:
- Direct online ordering, so the channel is yours and not a marketplace's
- A POS that connects to the delivery printer
- Some basic loyalty
A café or QSR needs:
- Self-service kiosks to keep the queue moving
- A branded app so regulars can pre-order
- A kitchen display, which cuts down on wrong orders
A multi-site group needs:
- One place to manage menus for every site
- Reporting per site and for the whole group
- A single customer database across locations
- AI tools for marketing and phone orders
Flipdish covers all three from the same platform.
Why Flipdish Is the Right Choice for UK Restaurants
A UK restaurant needs a platform that handles ordering in the venue and online, works across multiple sites, and doesn't charge marketplace-style commission on direct orders.
Flipdish was built for this market. Hundreds of restaurants in the UK and Ireland use it, and it's designed around the things that make running a UK restaurant hard: labour costs, Friday night rushes, getting customers off Just Eat and keeping several sites in line.
