Buying an iPad point of sale system: what goes wrong in service

An iPad point of sale system runs your counter on a tablet instead of a fixed terminal. You buy or reuse the tablets, add a stand, a card reader and a printer, and pay a monthly fee for the software.

It is a genuinely good option for a lot of restaurants. This guide covers why operators pick it, what goes wrong once it is in daily service, and what to check before signing.

None of what follows is an argument against tablets. It is the list of things that only show up after the demo, when the room is full and nobody has time to be careful with a piece of glass.

Why UK operators keep choosing tablets

The appeal is real and it is mostly about starting.

A fixed terminal is a purchase and an installation. A tablet is something you may already own, and if you do not, it is a shelf item. That changes the decision from a project into a purchase. It also changes the room: a tablet moves, so an order can be taken at the table rather than shouted toward the counter.

Software companies like it too, which is why so many hospitality pos systems are tablet-first now. Fewer hardware variations to support means faster releases.

What goes wrong once it is in service

None of these are software problems, which is why demos never show them.

• The battery. Apple's own specification for the base iPad is up to 10 hours of Wi-Fi use. A dinner service plus a lunch is longer than that, so a tablet on a stand needs permanent power, and permanent power means a cable somewhere it can be pulled.
• The glass. A screen in a kitchen environment gets touched by hands that are not clean. Staff start wiping before touching, which is fine, and it costs seconds every time.
• Drops. A terminal is bolted down. A tablet is carried. Budget for replacements rather than being surprised.
• Updates. The tablet's operating system updates on its own schedule, and occasionally a POS app is briefly unhappy about it. Ask the supplier what their policy is on deferring.
• Wi-Fi coverage. A fixed terminal has a cable. A tablet needs a signal in every corner of the room, including the one behind the bar with the metal shelving.

Ask any supplier what happens when the connection drops mid-order, and get the answer in minutes rather than adjectives.

The card question

Anything taking card payments falls under the PCI Data Security Standard, and on a tablet setup it is worth asking exactly where card data goes. A good answer is that the card reader handles it and the tablet never sees it. Anything vaguer deserves a follow-up.

"Tablets are the right call for a lot of small restaurants. The mistake is treating the tablet as the whole system, because the tablet only ever serves the person standing in front of it."

— Tanzeel ur Rehman, co-founder of Get Menu

Where a browser already does the job

Here is the part worth thinking about before you buy more tablets. If the reason you want tablets is so orders can be taken away from the counter, the customer's own phone is a device you do not have to buy, charge, clean or replace.

That is a different layer, running beside your counter software, and it needs no hardware:

• Discounts that behave: coupons with exclusions and expiry dates, upsells, bundles, and never two automatic ones at once.
• An ordering page under your name, with 12 page layouts to choose from so the menu reads as you intend, not as a template decides.
• Change a dish in a minute, with options and add-ons priced on their own and required choices that reach the kitchen complete.
• Every line is priced at checkout from the menu as it is now, which is what stops an open tab from ordering at yesterday's price.
• The confirmation reaches the customer the moment they order, the ticket reaches the kitchen, and the rider gets a link with the pin dropped at checkout. 3 messages, about 2 seconds, nobody typing.
• The stock counts down by itself on items and on options, and a dish at zero disappears before anyone can order it.
• Loyalty stamps, and tiers your regulars grow into, each with its own automatic discount, the card kept in the phone's wallet through Google's loyalty card format with no app to install.
• Invoices with your registration number, as a PDF the customer can download without any login.
• The window and every table get a QR that looks like the restaurant, because the designer makes it so.
• The table is the address. The code knows which table it is, so nothing else has to be typed.
• The card carries your logo and colours, chosen in the designer, and refreshes on the phone whenever a stamp is added.

Payment stays where it is: cash or your own card machine. There are no online payments in the system, so no card details sit in it, and old order details clear automatically after 120 days.

The maths of buying fewer tablets

Count the devices you were about to buy for taking orders away from the counter, then subtract the ones the customers are already holding.

A table ordering for itself does not need a tablet, a stand, a charger or a replacement when it is dropped. It also does not need training. That is not an argument for buying none, because your staff still need one at the pass, but it is usually an argument for buying fewer than the quote assumes.

What to check before you sign

Ask for the two year total including the tablets, the stands, the readers, the printers and the software. Ask what happens when a tablet dies in month four and who pays. Ask whether you can use tablets you already own, and which models are actually supported rather than which are theoretically supported.

Then ask the two questions that matter most later: how do I export my sales history and my customer list, and what does leaving in the middle of the term cost. Our own pricing sits on the pricing page rather than in this guide, and our trial runs 15 days with no card.

Frequently asked questions

Is Get Menu an iPad point of sale system?

No. It does not run a cash drawer, a card reader or your end of day, and it needs no tablet at all. It is the ordering, menu, stock and loyalty layer that runs beside whatever counter system you use.

Will a tablet counter system keep taking orders if the internet goes down?

That depends entirely on the supplier's offline mode. Ask for the limit in hours, and ask what happens to the orders taken while it was offline.

How do customers pay if the ordering system holds no card details?

They pay you at the table or the door, in cash or on your own card machine. Holding no card details is deliberate, and it means there is nothing in the system for anyone to steal.

Can I use the iPads I already own?

Often yes, but check the supported models list rather than assuming, and check the operating system version too. An older tablet that cannot take the current OS will eventually be dropped.

What does an iPad point of sale system cost in the UK?

Too variable for a number here to be useful. Ask each supplier for a two year total with the hardware counted, and compare those.