Quick Service Restaurant EPOS UK: What to Look For

A quick service restaurant (QSR) EPOS has one job that a table-service system does not: keep a queue moving at the counter. Judge it on how few taps a typical order takes, whether the kitchen gets each line at the right station, how it handles meal deals, hot versus cold takeaway VAT and delivery platforms, and what card fees do to a small ticket. Software price comes last, because at a £9 average payment the card fee can be a bigger line than the monthly subscription. For general costs and contract traps, see our restaurant EPOS system guide.

What a quick service EPOS has to do differently

At a counter in the lunch peak, a slow tap is repeated across every customer in the queue. That changes what matters: order entry speed, several channels feeding one kitchen, routing and timers, a clear way to collect, small-ticket card economics, and tax that differs by item and order type. The same checks apply to a cafe or a food truck, with different weighting. The table turns them into a checklist by format.

Counter speed: modifiers, combos and meal deals

Speed at the till is mostly menu design, and the EPOS either helps or fights you. Test with your own menu, not the vendor's demo:

1. The top ten orders. Time yourself entering your ten most common orders with their usual modifiers. If a burger meal takes many taps, it costs queue time every day.
2. Meal deals. A meal deal asks the customer to choose a main, a side and a drink, then prices it once. Check that each choice can carry its own upcharge, that the kitchen ticket is clear, and that reports break the deal back into its parts so you can see what sells.
3. Removals and changes. "No onion" should be obvious on the ticket.

TablePort uses reusable option groups for modifiers and meal deals. Groups are typed (add-on, removal, size, variation, cooking instruction or bundle), carry minimum and maximum choices, and can give a chosen option its own price. A new meal deal is a single item with bundle-type groups, one per slot, and groups sit at business level so they can be reused across items and sites.

Check combo margins before launch. Price the parts and apply the discount with our menu price calculator, then read the gross profit guide. If you lack ingredient costs, start with the food cost calculator.

Self-service kiosks and order numbers

A kiosk takes order entry off the counter, so one person can help customers while others make food. It earns its place when the queue is long at peak, the menu browses well in pictures, and you have floor space and a supported payment device. Check:

• Hardware. A tablet you can buy and replace, or a proprietary unit you rent?
• The same menu. A separate kiosk menu doubles your admin and invites price mismatches.
• Allergens. Can a customer flag allergies before ordering and see warnings?
• Payment. Which readers and providers work, and what are the offline limits?
• Reset and exit. An abandoned order should clear itself, and staff should exit with a PIN.
• The order number. The customer needs a clear number or name, and the counter needs a way to call it.

On TablePort, the kiosk runs on a supported iPad or Android tablet in kiosk mode and uses your POS menu. Settings per device include whether to offer dine in, takeaway or both, a tip screen, idle and confirmation timers, a receipt print or email option, optional name and email capture, menu language, an allergy picker and a card provider (Stripe or PayPal (Zettle)). The confirmation screen shows the customer's order number, which staff match to the ticket. Kiosk mode is part of the Pro plan; see the kiosk page for the product detail.

Do not assume a customer-facing "now serving" board comes with the till. Ask each vendor what it shows, on which device, and with what hardware.

Kitchen display and order routing

If counter, kiosk and online orders all print in one place, the pass becomes a bottleneck. Routing sends each line to the station that makes it: grill, fry, assembly, drinks. Ask:

• How are items assigned to stations? By category is easiest to maintain.
• Is there an expo view for the person bagging, showing every station's progress on one ticket?
• What do timers do? A late ticket should look different without anyone reading a clock.
• Can a wrong bump be undone?
• What is the fallback if a screen fails? Printers should still work.

TablePort's kitchen display has a station view and an expo view, with a configurable warning and alert time per station, a choice of bump behaviour (simple, swipe or progression), an all-day count of items waiting and station links to printers. Stations are assigned item categories, so a menu change in a category flows through to routing. Kitchen display screens are included on Starter and Pro; check the pricing page for what each plan includes. The quick service page shows the same workflow for a counter.

Online ordering and delivery platforms

Delivery orders arrive when the counter is busiest. The goal is one queue, not three tablets at the pass.

For your own ordering page, check whether customers can choose a collection time and whether you can limit intake when the kitchen is busy. See our pickup and delivery page.

For marketplace orders, ask which platforms connect, what the integration costs, and how menu changes and sold-out items reach the platform. Controls matter more than the headline. TablePort connects to Deliveroo and Uber Eats, and per platform you can pause new orders for a set time, switch auto-accept on or off and hold preparation, depending on what the platform allows. Delivery integrations are part of the Pro plan.

Marketplaces charge commission under your own contract with them, so cost a delivery order with the commission you actually pay and compare it with your direct-ordering margin.

Hot versus cold takeaway VAT

This is the part of a QSR setup that goes wrong most quietly. Under HMRC VAT Notice 709/1, food eaten on the premises is standard-rated, and so is hot takeaway food. Cold takeaway food is generally zero-rated. Whether takeaway food counts as hot depends on the tests in the notice, such as whether it was heated to be eaten hot, heated to order, kept hot, supplied in heat-retaining packaging or advertised as hot. Some cold items are standard-rated whatever the setting, including confectionery, crisps and many drinks, so do not assume a cold takeaway basket is zero-rated line by line. Our restaurant VAT guide walks through examples.

The EPOS needs tax set by item or category, because a cold sandwich, a toastie and a hot coffee in one bag can carry three treatments. It also needs a reliable eat-in or takeaway record: check how the system captures that choice for counter and kiosk sales and whether it changes the rate applied. Finally you need sales reports by VAT rate that your accountant can use.

TablePort's tax rules can target order type (seat, pickup, delivery, counter or kiosk), category and item. Because a counter sale is one order type, test how your eat-in versus takeaway mix is handled during the trial, with your accountant, before you rely on it. Whichever system you pick, agree the VAT treatment of your menu with your accountant first.

Card fees at low ticket sizes

A fixed fee per payment bites hardest on small tickets. The table below uses TablePort's published UK card rates, as of November 2026, in person, standard cards (1.6% plus 18p), at several average payment sizes. It is a worked example, not a quote, and it excludes reader rental and any tax on fees.

At a £9 average, 3,000 card payments a month is £27,000 of card sales and £972 in fees. If a kiosk upsell or a better meal deal lifts the average to £11, the same rate works out at about 3.2%. Other card types cost more. TablePort's published rates for premium and international cards are 2.7% plus 18p in person, and online payments are 1.9% plus 20p (standard) and 3.2% plus 20p (premium), so at £9 those come to about 4.7%, 4.1% and 5.4%. A kiosk paired with a different supported provider is priced by that provider.

To compare any quote, do the same sum: percentage times your average payment, plus the fixed fee, divided by the payment. A flat percentage can beat a lower percentage with a fixed fee once the ticket is small. UK interchange on domestic consumer cards is capped by regulation at 0.2% for debit and 0.3% for credit, but the total you pay depends on your provider's margin and card mix, so always compute from the actual terms.

Multi-site menus, offline and reliability

With more than one site, the test is the second site. Ask how a price change or new item reaches every site and how long a new opening takes to set up. TablePort keeps menu items and option groups at business level, and multi-location management works on every plan, priced per location; groups can ask for custom pricing and card rates. Ask in the demo how per-site pricing works for your menu.

The counter must keep trading when the internet drops. Ask what works offline (orders, ticket printing, card payments) and what waits for a connection. TablePort's point of sale keeps taking orders through an outage and syncs on reconnection. Tickets for a printer that is offline wait on the tablet and print when it is back. Card payments depend on your reader and its offline limits, so test on site. Opening your first site? See our guide to opening a restaurant.

A short trial plan

TablePort has a 30-day trial, and most providers offer a trial or demo. Use it for tests that reflect your peak hour:

1. Enter your ten most common orders and time them.
2. Build your most complicated meal deal and check what the kitchen sees.
3. Send test orders from every channel into the kitchen display.
4. Run hot and cold, eat-in and takeaway items through the tax set-up and review the receipt and report with your accountant.
5. Take a small card payment and work out the effective fee.
6. Unplug the internet and see what still works.
7. Get exit terms and data export in writing; our EPOS guide lists the questions.

For TablePort, see the point of sale page and quick service page. QR ordering is on the order and pay page.