Restaurant management software in the UK: a 2026 buyer's guide

Restaurant management software is the set of tools that runs your business behind the food: the till, bookings, staff rotas, stock, accounts and online orders. Some firms sell it as one all-in-one platform. Most small UK restaurants build a stack instead, often for £50–£250 a month plus card fees. This guide sorts the options by job, with published £ prices, so you can see which pieces you really need.

What restaurant management software covers

Think in jobs, not brands. Here are the seven jobs most UK venues need doing:

A 30-cover café might need three of these. A 120-cover group restaurant needs all seven, joined up.

All-in-one or best-of-breed?

All-in-one platforms (Kobas, Tevalis, Access Hospitality, Lightspeed) put most jobs in one system. You get one login, one supplier and joined-up reports. You usually pay more, sign a longer contract and get a quote, not a price list.

Best-of-breed stacks pick the best tool for each job and link them. You often pay less and can swap one piece without changing everything. The catch is that the tools must talk to each other. Check that your EPOS feeds sales into your accounts software and your rota tool before you buy.

A rough guide (our view, not an industry benchmark): a single small venue usually finds a stack cheaper and simpler. Once you run several sites, an all-in-one platform is more likely to earn its keep.

UK restaurant management software compared (October 2026)

Prices come from each provider's public UK page on 11 October 2026. "Quote" means no public price. Check VAT and contract terms before you sign.

Need more on tills? Read our restaurant EPOS system guide. For bookings, see restaurant booking systems compared.

What a stack costs: three UK examples

These are software costs only, per month, from the published prices above. Card fees and hardware are extra. Your quotes will differ.

1. A 25-cover café, owner on the till

2. A 40-cover restaurant with takeaway

Bookings could come from your EPOS (Tabology Pro includes them) or a free booking plan.

3. A three-site group

At this size, ask Kobas, Tevalis, Lightspeed and Access for quotes, and compare them with a stack. Ask each for the total three-year cost per site, including set-up, hardware, payments and support.

How to choose: 8 questions to ask

1. Which jobs hurt most today? Fix those first. You don't need all seven at once.
2. Does it talk to your till? Sales should flow into stock, rota and accounts without retyping.
3. What's the contract? Month to month, 12 months, or longer? What does it cost to leave?
4. What do card payments cost? Card fees are often bigger than the software bill.
5. Can you get your data out? Ask for a CSV export of sales, customers and stock.
6. Is it built for UK rules? VAT on the bill, tips paid in full under the 2023 tips law, allergen info, and Making Tax Digital links.
7. What's support like on a Saturday night? Ask for UK hours and response times in writing.
8. Can you try it? A free plan or trial beats a sales demo.

Hotel restaurant software and bar management software

Hotels need the restaurant to post charges to a room. That means a link between your EPOS and the hotel's property management system (PMS). Not every EPOS has one, so ask each supplier which PMS it links to before you sign. For room service, a QR menu in each room works well. See Menuthere for hotels.

Bars and pubs need tabs, legal measures, wet and dry sales split, and tronc reports. Read our pub EPOS guide for what to check.

Where Menuthere fits (and where it doesn't)

What Menuthere does:

• Online ordering for collection and delivery on your own site, with 0% commission.
• QR table ordering with no app. Second rounds join the open bill. QR codes are on the Free plan.
• WhatsApp ordering on your own number (Pro).
• Kitchen tickets on thermal printers (food and drinks can print to separate printers), ringing alerts on the partner app, and unlimited staff logins.
• POS-lite (paid add-on, US$10 a month): a till in your dashboard with bills, discounts, UK VAT on the bill and sales reports. For example, Lite US$17 + POS add-on US$10 = US$27 a month.
• Mark a dish as sold out (or one size of it, or a whole category) in one tap.
• Allergens and calories on every dish (all plans, including Free). Tag the 14 allergens, kcal and halal, and customers see them when they open a dish.

What Menuthere does not do:

• No rota, clock-in or payroll. Try our free staff rota maker.
• No recipe costing, and stock control isn't part of Menuthere's plans. See our inventory management guide.
• No accounts or VAT returns. See our bookkeeping guide.
• No linked card terminal, and no ready-made links to UK EPOS systems.

So Menuthere is one piece of your stack: the piece that brings in direct orders without commission.

Start with the ordering piece. No contract, 0% commission. Or.

Create your free ordering pagebook a demo (opens in a new tab)