Aloha point of sale alternatives: what to check before you renew

A renewal notice has landed and it asks for another term. Before you shop for a replacement, it is worth being precise about what is wrong, because replacing a register that works is one of the more expensive ways to fix a problem that lives somewhere else.

This is a guide to that decision. What Aloha point of sale is today, what a migration genuinely costs beyond the quoted price, how to tell a counter complaint from an ordering complaint, and what you can try first that does not involve unplugging anything.

What Aloha point of sale is today

Aloha is a long-established restaurant register, and it now sits inside NCR Voyix. On the company's own restaurant pages, its point of sale is described as a cloud-connected system built on the Voyix Commerce Platform with Aloha at its core, covering in-store, mobile and tableside ordering.

People search for aloha pos systems in the plural for a good reason. The name covers more than one thing: the on-premise system many restaurants have had for years, and a cloud version sold alongside it. Which one you have changes the renewal conversation completely, so it is the first thing to establish.

Two more facts worth pinning down before you talk to anybody. Who holds your support contract, the manufacturer or the local company that installed it, because renewals usually come from whoever put the terminals in. And what you actually own: the terminals, the printers, the cabling, or none of them.

Why replacing a working register costs more than the quote

A migration quote covers hardware and software. It does not cover the four things that make a switch expensive.

Rebuilding the menu. Every item, every modifier, every price level, every combo rule. Somebody types it, somebody checks it, and the checking is the slow part.

Retraining every shift. Not the managers, who will be fine. The Saturday night server who has muscle memory for a screen that no longer exists.

The printers, screens and cables that do not follow. Printers, kitchen displays, cash drawers, scales, card readers and the cabling behind them. Some carry over, some do not, and the survey happens after you sign.

The switch-over week itself. There is no quiet week in a restaurant. Whatever week you pick, it is a week where service is slower and mistakes cost money.

None of that argues for keeping a system that genuinely fails. It argues for being sure that the register is the problem before paying to move it. The National Restaurant Association publishes its research on how restaurants are operating, and it is a better starting point than a vendor comparison chart, because it describes the business rather than the shortlist.

Telling a counter problem from an ordering problem

Write down the last five things that cost you money in service. Then sort them.

Counter problems sound like this. Terminals rebooting mid-shift. Checks that will not split the way the table wants. A printer the kitchen has learned to hit. Reports that take an hour to reconcile. End of day that runs long. If your list is mostly this, you have a register problem and you should shop properly.

Ordering problems sound different. The phone ringing through a rush with nobody free to answer. A caller asking where the driver is, for the fourth time in an hour. Delivery apps taking their share of a regular's tenth order. A dish that kept selling for forty minutes after the last portion left the line. A guest at table nine waiting to catch somebody's eye.

Nothing on that second list happens at the counter, and no register on the market fixes any of it. That is not a criticism of registers. It is what they are for.

There is usually a third pile too, and it is worth naming so you do not buy software for it. Short staffing on a Saturday, a supplier price rise, a slow kitchen line. Those are real and they are not a technology purchase. Sorting them out of the list makes the other two piles honest.

If you do renew, settle three things first

A renewal is the one moment in the year when you have the vendor's attention, so use it.

Ask what support actually promises. Not that support exists, but how quickly somebody arrives or answers when a terminal dies at seven on a Friday. Get it in the contract rather than in a phone call.

Ask what happens to the hardware you already paid for. If the cloud version is part of the offer, ask whether your existing terminals carry over or become part of a new bill.

Ask how you export your own data. Menu, sales history, customer records. Ask for the file format now, while you are still a customer they want to keep, not in the month you decide to leave.

The question nobody asks at renewal

If your system stores, processes or transmits cardholder data, you are inside the scope of the PCI Data Security Standard maintained by the PCI Security Standards Council. Most operators sign a renewal without asking who is responsible for which part of that. It is a fair question to put to any vendor, old or new: what is on you, what is on them, and what changes if you switch.

It is also why Get Menu is built the way it is. There are no online payments in the system. Guests pay cash or through your own card machine, at the table or at the door, so no card numbers ever enter our side of the picture. There is nothing stored to be stolen, and nothing for us to be careless with.

What an ordering layer adds without touching the register

Here is a Friday night with an ordering layer in place, told the way it actually happens.

A guest opens your menu from a printed code on the table, or from a link you sent. It is your own page on a web address of your own, included from day one, with a layout and colours you chose. Nothing to install. The menu is live, so the price on screen is the price you set this afternoon, and every line is re-priced again at checkout so nothing stale can be sold.

They order from the seat. Because each table has its own printed code, the table number travels with the order automatically. A card designer produced those codes in your colours, and the print pack arrived ready for a printer. If the whole table wants to order, they order into one bill from their own phones.

Within seconds, 3 messages go out. The guest gets a confirmation carrying the estimated time you set and a status page that needs no login. The managers' group gets the ticket. When the order is going out on a bike, the riders' group gets a dispatch note with a GPS pin, and the driver taps a link to mark it delivered without needing an account.

Meanwhile the menu is minding itself. Stock counts fall per item and per option, so running out of one topping does not take a whole dish down, and at zero the item greys itself out with nobody watching. Required choices are enforced, so nothing reaches the kitchen half specified. Opening hours are enforced too.

Delivery orders carry a GPS pin, a building and unit picked from a list, a delivery fee you set per building, and free delivery above a threshold of your choosing.

Afterwards, the guest is still yours. A loyalty stamp was added automatically, without anyone marking anything delivered. The card sits in Google Wallet on their phone and updates itself, styled in a designer you control. Tiers, coupons, bundles and ten kinds of upsell sit behind that, with the best single discount always winning so nothing stacks by accident. Marketing messages travel in a separate queue that cannot delay a real order, capped per customer per week.

None of that required a new terminal, a cutover week, or a single retrained server.

"We were not trying to build a better register. Registers are good at what they do. We were trying to fix the part of the evening that happens on a phone, and that part has never been the counter's job."

— Anzul Aqeel, founder of Get Menu

The honest limits

Get Menu is not a point of sale system and does not pretend to be one. There is no counter terminal, no cash drawer, no check splitting at the register, no card processing, no payroll and no scheduling. If your Aloha terminals are genuinely failing, this does not replace them.

There are no online payments, as above. Cash or your card machine.

It is an ordering page, a menu, live stock, WhatsApp order messages, delivery details, invoices and loyalty. Restaurants generally run it beside whatever they already ring sales into.

A cheaper first move than a migration

If your two lists came out mixed, try the smaller change first, because it is reversible and quick to judge.

Set up the ordering side while the renewal decision waits. Upload the menu from a spreadsheet if you have one rather than typing it. Connect the WhatsApp group your managers already read. Print the table codes. Then run two full weekends and see which of your five problems moved.

The trial is 15 days and starts without card details, so nothing is charged by accident. After that it is a flat monthly price with 0% commission on orders, which means the bill does not grow because your sales did. Most kitchens are taking orders the same day, and briefing the floor takes about 10 minutes.

Whatever you decide about the register, check one thing in every contract on the table: how you get your data out. Menu, sales history and the customer list. With Get Menu the customer list exports to a spreadsheet on any day, including your last, and detailed order contents clear themselves automatically after 120 days while the sales figures stay.

Frequently asked questions

Is Get Menu a replacement for Aloha point of sale?

No. Aloha is a full register. Get Menu covers ordering, menu, stock, WhatsApp order messages, delivery details and loyalty. Restaurants typically add it beside an existing register rather than instead of one.

Can I use both at the same time?

Yes, and that is the normal setup. The register keeps ringing walk-in sales. Phone and table orders arrive as WhatsApp tickets in the group your kitchen already reads.

Do guests pay through the ordering page?

No. Payment is cash or your card machine, at the table or on delivery. No card details are held anywhere in the system.

What happens to my menu if I want to leave?

You keep it. Your menu, your customer list and your order history export to a spreadsheet whenever you ask, including on the day you decide to stop.

How long does setup take?

Most restaurants are taking orders the same day, especially if the menu already exists in a spreadsheet and can be uploaded in one go. The slow part is usually waiting for printed table cards to come back from the printer.