EPOS with online ordering: how to get counter and online orders in one place

A POS system with online ordering puts your counter sales and your website orders on one menu, one set of reports and one kitchen flow. In the UK there are three ways to get there: an all-in-one EPOS with its own online ordering (such as Square), an EPOS plus a separate ordering platform linked by an integration, or an ordering system with a light till built in. Menuthere is the third kind: commission-free online, table and WhatsApp ordering, with POS-lite billing as a paid add-on (US$10 a month). This guide shows which set-up fits your business, and what each really costs.

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" orders; thermal printer printing a ticket; separate card reader beside it)

Why owners want EPOS and online ordering together

When online orders live on a separate tablet, three things go wrong:

• Two menus. You change a price on the till but forget the website.
• Sold-out items still sell online. The last portion of lasagne goes at the counter, then someone orders it online.
• Split figures. Sales reports never match, so it is hard to see what each channel is worth.

An EPOS ordering system fixes this by sharing one menu, one stock count and one set of reports across every channel.

Three ways to combine EPOS and online ordering

Option 1: an all-in-one EPOS with online ordering

Square (UK). Square Online has a free plan (£0), with paid plans from £20. Online card payments cost 1.4% + 25p for UK cards. Square says online orders appear on your Square POS and kitchen printer or kitchen display, and items and stock sync with the POS. It supports collection, local delivery with your own staff or a courier, and QR table ordering.

Epos Now. Epos Now Online Ordering is an app for Epos Now tills. Epos Now states a rate of 2.00% + 10p per delivery. It supports collection, delivery, pre-orders and QR or link ordering, and updates stock in the EPOS. The till itself is sold on a subscription from £54 a month (12 months) with hardware bundles advertised from £299. Read more in our Epos Now alternatives.

Others. Toast, Lightspeed and Flipdish also sell POS and online ordering together. Toast's UK plans start from £80 a month, with online ordering as an add-on at no published price. Lightspeed and Flipdish quote. Our restaurant EPOS buyer's guide compares UK EPOS prices in detail.

Choose this if you want one supplier, a card terminal linked to the till, and a kitchen display.

Watch out for contract length, hardware you rent rather than own, and whether the online shop looks like your brand or the EPOS company's.

Option 2: keep your EPOS, add an ordering platform

If you like your current EPOS, an ordering platform can feed online orders into it through an integration. Some platforms build their own links to EPOS systems. Others use middleware that connects many apps to many tills.

Ask before you buy:

1. Does the integration support your exact EPOS and version?
2. Does the menu sync from the EPOS to the website, or the other way round?
3. Do sold-out items update in real time?
4. Who do you call when an order doesn't reach the till on a Friday night?
5. Are there monthly fees on both sides?

Choose this if your EPOS works well and you mainly want better online ordering.

Watch out for two suppliers blaming each other when something breaks.

Option 3: ordering-first, with POS-lite (Menuthere)

Menuthere starts from your online orders and adds a light till for the counter (a paid add-on, US$10 a month). Everything shares one menu.

What you get:

• Online ordering for collection and delivery on your own website, with 0% commission. See our online ordering system.
• QR table ordering, where repeat orders join the open bill. See QR code ordering.
• WhatsApp ordering on your own number, with automatic order updates (Pro).
• A browser till (paid add-on, US$10 a month) for counter and phone orders, with percentage, flat and buy-X-get-Y discounts, extra charges, order notes and rounding.
• Kitchen tickets that print automatically for accepted online orders, plus separate bills. They print to any printer your PC or browser can print to. The Windows app prints with no print dialog; in a browser, keep the dashboard open on the printer's device. Food and drinks can print to separate kitchen and bar printers. See kitchen printing.
• Table orders taken by staff on the dashboard, with unlimited staff logins.
• UK VAT on bills: 20% or 0% per item.
• Payment records: mark each bill as cash or card.
• A sold-out switch: mark a dish, size or category as sold out and it disappears from your online and QR menus at once.
• Allergens and calories on every dish (every plan, including Free). Customers see the 14 allergens and kcal when they open a dish online.
• Reports: revenue by hour, top items, categories, order types and the cash and card split. Download them for your accountant.

The in-store till (POS) is a paid add-on at US$10 a month, not a plan feature. For example, Lite US$17 + POS add-on US$10 = US$27 a month. Online card payments through your own Stripe account start on Lite.

What Menuthere does not do

• No linked card terminal. Your card machine (SumUp, Dojo, Teya, Square or a bank terminal) works on its own. Staff record the bill as "card".
• No caller ID.
• No kitchen display screen. Kitchen orders are printed tickets. See our guide to kitchen display systems.
• No merging of Just Eat, Deliveroo or Uber Eats orders.
• No ready-made links to UK EPOS systems such as Epos Now or Square.
• No stated offline mode. It runs in a browser, so keep a backup connection, such as a 4G router.

Choose this if most of your orders come from phones (website, QR codes, WhatsApp), you already have a card machine you like, and you want no contract.

What it costs: a year-one example

A café-takeaway takes £6,000 a month in online orders (300 orders at £20), plus counter sales. It already owns a tablet. This compares the software and online-order costs only. In-store card fees apply in every case and depend on your card provider.

Prices come from each provider's public UK pages on 11 Oct 2026 and change often. Menuthere plans are billed in US dollars; your bank converts it. Get a written quote. The bigger saving for most venues is moving orders off the delivery apps. At Uber Eats' 13% own-delivery rate plus VAT, £6,000 a month of orders costs £936 a month in commission.

Checklist: questions to ask any EPOS with online ordering

1. Is online ordering included, or a paid add-on? Is there a per-order fee?
2. Do online orders print in the kitchen automatically, or show on a kitchen screen?
3. Does a sold-out item go offline everywhere at once?
4. Can customers order collection, delivery and at the table from one menu?
5. Does the online shop carry your brand and your domain?
6. Who owns the customer data, and can you export it?
7. Does it handle 20% and 0% VAT on one bill (hot and cold takeaway food)? See our VAT on takeaway food guide. Menuthere bills can show 20% and 0% VAT per item.
8. What is the contract length and exit fee?
9. Does the till work offline?
10. Can it take WhatsApp orders on your own number?

Which set-up fits your business?

• Busy restaurant with table service, several tills and kitchen screens: an all-in-one EPOS (option 1).
• Takeaway that takes most orders by phone call: a full takeaway EPOS with caller ID, plus your own ordering. See EPOS for takeaways.
• Pizza shop with heavy delivery: strong online ordering first. See our online pizza ordering system.
• Café, small takeaway or dark kitchen where phones bring the orders: ordering-first with POS-lite (option 3). See café EPOS.
• Happy with your EPOS: add an ordering platform through an integration (option 2), or run Menuthere alongside it for online and WhatsApp orders.

Not ready to sign an EPOS contract? see how many orders you can move online first.

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