Lightspeed Restaurant: the ePOS and payments platform for restaurants

Modern hospitality technology should give your team back the hours lost to manual tasks, so they spend less time on admin and more time with guests. Lightspeed, the unified ePOS and Payments platform for hospitality, is built around that principle, and Lightspeed Restaurant is the product that delivers it for restaurants.

This article tours Lightspeed Restaurant and its modules, and shows how they connect across the floor, the pass and the back office. You will see how the restaurant ePOS handles everything from taking an order to settling the bill and reading the numbers the next morning.

The essentials

• Lightspeed Restaurant is Lightspeed’s flagship iPad-based ePOS for hospitality. It is the current version of the restaurant platform.
• It brings ePOS, payments, ordering and reporting into one platform. You take orders on the floor, online and by QR code, process payments and read live performance data without stitching separate systems together.
• Lightspeed Payments is built in. Card, contactless, mobile-wallet and QR payments sync straight to your ePOS, so takings and reports reconcile without manual entry.
• The system runs on iPads. You add a payment terminal, a kitchen display screen, printers and a cash drawer as your venue needs them.
• UK plans start from £79/month for your first terminal. Subscriptions are flexible, and payments and hardware are quoted to your setup.

On this page

• What is Lightspeed Restaurant?
• Master table service with a mobile point of sale
• Harness powerful tools for menu engineering
• Contactless and online ordering with Order Anywhere
• Speed up service with Lightspeed Payments
• Make smarter decisions with Advanced Insights
• Take orders anywhere with Lightspeed Tableside
• Get every order on one screen with the Kitchen Display System
• Track performance live with Lightspeed Pulse
• Compare your venue with Benchmarks and Trends
• Fund growth with Lightspeed Capital
• What hardware does Lightspeed Restaurant run on?
• How much does Lightspeed Restaurant cost?
• Who is Lightspeed Restaurant for?
• Your next step
• Frequently asked questions

What is Lightspeed Restaurant?

Lightspeed Restaurant is Lightspeed’s iPad-based unified ePOS and payments platform for hospitality. It combines point of sale, payments, ordering, kitchen coordination, inventory and real-time reporting in one cloud-based system.

Master table service with a mobile point of sale

Among Lightspeed Restaurant’s many features is its functionality as a mobile point of sale. That means staff can move freely between tables, sending orders to the kitchen and processing payments on the spot.

A mobile point of sale with that kind of mobility can do wonders for your table service.

When staff have to make fewer trips across the dining room floor, they gain more time and peace of mind to deliver the kind of customer service that sets your restaurant apart.

Apart from giving staff greater mobility, other features include:

• Easily splitting customers’ orders into courses.
• Giving customers the option to order by course or by seat.
• Editing orders quickly in Edit mode.
• Responding to sudden changes by assigning orders to different tables or seats.
• Personalising guests orders with product sequences.
• Creating and managing floor plans from a single system.
• Taking fast payments and splitting bills by Item, Cover or Seat. 

Harness powerful tools for menu engineering

Things can change quickly in the restaurant industry. That’s why it’s essential to have an ePOS system for restaurants to quickly adapt menus to changing circumstances and shifting demands.

With Lightspeed Restaurant ePOS, you can quickly make menu changes without having to get a support team involved. This means that you can add and edit menus across many locations using just one system. Here’s how you can make easy menu changes from Lightspeed’s back office.

• You’d like to access a new revenue stream and decide to implement a food delivery service into your existing business model. Great idea!
• You already have a menu set up in the back office, and want to offer your in-house dining menu for delivery—but you’ll need to make a few adjustments. Some of your menu items don’t travel well, or can’t be packed easily for delivery.
• Go into Lightspeed’s back office and click on the Menus section. You see a clear overview of all your existing menus. In the drop down menu, there’s an option to Create a new menu.

• You don’t want to think up a whole new menu, and luckily that won’t be necessary. Select your menu, then select the Duplicate menu from the drop down menu.
• Now that you’ve duplicated your menu, you can rename it and remove the items that aren’t suitable for delivery, and add any new dishes that are.
• Sync your new delivery menu with Deliverect so that it can be easily added to third party delivery apps like Deliveroo and UberEATS.
• Now customers can find your menu easily, and any orders made from these third party apps will be sent straight to your ePOS.

Contactless ordering with Lightspeed Order Anywhere

With Lightspeed Order Anywhere, you can successfully meet these new expectations with an advanced mobile ordering platform that lets customers access your menu from any device using a link or QR code, without even having to download an app.

Here’s how it works:

• It’s a sunny day, and a lot of customers are looking to eat on your terrace. You’re a little understaffed in front of the house, but luckily you’re using Lightspeed Order Anywhere, and all your customers need to do is scan the QR code that you printed for each from the Order Anywhere back office.
• Your hungry customer scans the QR code from their phones, and immediately gains access to your menu, where they can browse.
• After browsing your menu and deciding what they’re going to order, the customer simply adds their chosen products to their cart then taps Go to checkout to place their order.
• At the checkout screen, they enter their payment details, as well as their email address to which they can receive their digital receipt. At the checkout screen, they can add tips, and pay with credit and debit card.
• Now they’ve entered their email address and payment details, they complete their order by tapping place order.
• The order has been sent to your kitchen, just like it would with any other type of order, except your customer has experienced a digital and totally contactless ordering process.
• The only part your servers has to play in all this is bringing the customer their food or drinks once it’s been prepared. With less tables to attend to, they can focus on fulfilling customer personal requests and bring that irreplaceable human touch to service.

Off-premise ordering with Lightspeed Order Anywhere

But wait, that’s not all. Lightspeed Order Anywhere also facilitates takeaway, allowing guests to order straight from your website, cutting out third-party middlemen and saving you the commission fees.

Here’s how Order Anywhere works for off-premise ordering.  

• A customer is sitting in a local park with friends, and decides that they’d like to order some food from you.
• They go to your website, where they see a redirect link on your landing page.
• Now they have access to your menu, and can select items directly from your menu, just like they would with dining in.
• When it comes to checkout, the customer has two options for how they’d like to receive their order. They can either select an option for pick-up as soon as possible or place an order at a later date. From Lightspeed Order Anywhere, they’re able to select specific days and times to collect their orders.

And just like that, you can easily set up your takeaway service, and take advantage of a new revenue stream with Lightspeed Order Anywhere.

Speed up service with Lightspeed Payments

With Lightspeed Payments embedded into your ePOS, you can speed up service and improve the guest experience.

Lightspeed Payments lets you handle high volumes with no monthly transaction limit, and you can stay on top of bookkeeping with in-depth accounting tools. 

Here are more of the benefits of Lightspeed Payments Pay at Table:

• Settle payments fast: select any table number among all open tables.
• Instantly sync payment status: get real-time communication between your terminal and ePOS.
• Simple bill-splitting: split bills among groups and let customers pay at different times.
• Save your staff time: collect tabs and pre-authorise payments at the bar. 

Lightspeed customer Mildreds and Mallow reap the rewards of Lightspeed Payments as it helps them prioritise the guest experience. “We’ve implemented Lightspeed Payments and that’s really helped give waiters an extra 2 minutes with every single guest.” Said Dominique Fernandes, Head of Operations at Mildreds and Mallow.

For another Lightspeed customer, Silo, Lightspeed Payments has improved service. “Lightspeed Payments has just sped up service so much, and made it so much easier. Less mistakes, less chance of fraud, less possibilities of things going wrong because it’s speaking directly to the ePOS.” said Tim Dennis, General Manager, Silo.

Make smarter decisions with Lightspeed Advanced Insights

The power of Lightspeed Payments doesn’t end there. When you transact on Lightspeed Payments you ave access to Advanced Insights, a product that turns data into actionable steps that help you grow revenue.

Bring all your consumption, payment, staff and sales data together in one place to make smarter decisions.

With Lightspeed Advanced Insights you can:

• Get a detailed breakdown of your menu performance and feature your best dishes more prominently.
• Access server reports to identify top-performers and uncover coaching opportunities.
• Track how often customers are coming back, how much they spend and which menu items they order most.

Take orders and payments from anywhere with Lightspeed Tableside

Ready to simplify how you process orders and payments? Turn your (and your team’s) iPhones into compact ePOS and payments systems with Lightspeed Tableside. You’ll be able to take orders and payments from the table, the counter, the patio… anywhere in your restaurant.

With Tableside, you can:

• Save time running back and forth to a central ePOS
• Get menus and allergen information right in the palm of your hand
• Connect front and back of house instantly with an integrated solution
• Power up with Mobile Tap for seamless payment options

Empower your staff with Tableside, giving them the tools they need to succeed while you get the tools you need to increase efficiency, reduce operating costs and scale your restaurant. Of course, Lightspeed Tableside alongside Lightspeed Payments for a complete view of your business and insights that will help you deliver the best service and boost revenue.

Get every order on one screen with Lightspeed Kitchen Display System

Streamline communication and minimise mistakes with Lightspeed’s Kitchen Display System. This intuitive tool brings all your orders, both onsite and online, onto one screen so you can manage all your orders at a glance.

Kitchen Display System will let you:

• Replace paper tickets and kitchen printers with a digital solution
• Route every dish right to your KDS
• See the status of every single order
• Stay up-to-date and connected with a powerful offline mode

Since the Kitchen Display System is designed to optimise order accuracy and reduce turnaround times, you’ll always know which dishes need to be cooked when, and what the preparation status is of each dish.

Track performance live with Lightspeed Pulse

If you’re always on the move, either taking meetings or going between your different restaurant locations, you should always have access to the insights you need. Lightspeed Pulse gives you that access, and helps you keep your finger on the pulse.

Here’s how Lightspeed Pulse can help you stay on top of your business performance:

• Even if you aren’t on site, you’ll get live sales numbers synced straight to your phone from your ePOS.
• Stay on top of your daily operations from anywhere, too, with live data on revenue, covers, open orders, table turn time and more.
• Understand your venue performance against previous periods with a snapshot of revenue, then track fluctuations so you can make informed decisions, fast.
• Monitor overall performance and see how each of your locations contributes to your total revenue, all in one view.
• Monitor how much your team is voiding, discounting, and refunding to stay ahead of potential losses.

Outperform the competition with Lightspeed Benchmarks & Trends

An essential part of running a successful restaurant is comparing your performance to the businesses you’re competing with. Lightspeed Benchmarks & Trends can help you do that with benchmarks that go beyond general industry averages.

You’ll have a better understanding of your sales, your menu and your competitors so you can make better decisions and drive results. You’ll also learn how your service compares and where you can improve through data that captures hourly sales and other key performance benchmarks.

Benchmarks & Trends will help you to stay agile, capitalise on trends, and plan for sustainable growth with:

• Personalised your benchmarks. Compare your restaurant to similar restaurants in your local area with meaningful and actionable insights.
• Identify new opportunities. See your untapped potential and take action, whether it’s adjusting your menu, pricing, hours or training programmes.
• Streamline your operations. Gather key performance metrics and compare them with your competitors to boost efficiency, cut costs and improve your guests’ experience.
• Make data-backed decisions. Don’t leave it to chance, and instead leverage insights to make truly informed decisions.

Grow your restaurant with Lightspeed Capital

So your restaurant is thriving and you’re ready to expand. Introducing Lightspeed Capital, the flexible funding that lets you grow your restaurant, maintain cash flow and finance new projects. Unlike traditional loans, Lightspeed Capital lets you use your cash advance on your own schedule for any business expense, and pay it back as you go, only when you make sales.

What hardware does Lightspeed Restaurant run on?

Lightspeed Restaurant runs on iPads. You add the hardware your service needs: a payment terminal, a kitchen display screen, receipt printers and a cash drawer.

Because the setup is modular, a small café can start with an iPad and a terminal, while a busy kitchen adds KDS screens and printers. You can size and expand your restaurant hardware as the venue grows.

How much does Lightspeed Restaurant cost?

Flexible subscription plans start from £79/month for your first terminal. Payments and hardware are quoted to your setup, so your total depends on your venue and the modules you choose. You can check current options on the pricing page.

Key point: Lightspeed Restaurant plans start from £79/month for your first terminal, with payments and hardware quoted to your setup.

Who is Lightspeed Restaurant for?

Lightspeed Restaurant is built for ambitious hospitality operators. It suits casual dining, pubs and bars, cafés, quick service, hotels, fine dining and multi-site groups.

You can configure menus, screens and floor plans to match how each venue runs, from a single café to a group with many sites. Multi-site operators keep menus and reporting in sync across every location from one back office.

Your next step

With Lightspeed Restaurant, you can turn tables faster, lift average spend and use live data to plan your next move. One platform connects ordering, payments, the kitchen and reporting, so your team spends less time on admin.

If you want to see how it would work in your venue, the quickest route is a walkthrough built around your menu and service. Our team can map the modules to your setup and answer your pricing and hardware questions. Want to find out more? Let’s talk.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lightspeed Restaurant?

Lightspeed Restaurant is Lightspeed’s iPad-based unified ePOS and payments platform for hospitality. It combines point of sale, payments, ordering, kitchen coordination and reporting in one system.

How much does Lightspeed Restaurant cost in the UK?

Lightspeed Restaurant plans in the UK start from £79/month for your first terminal. Payments and hardware are quoted to your setup.

Does Lightspeed Restaurant have built-in payments?

Yes, Lightspeed Restaurant has built-in payments through Lightspeed Payments. Card, contactless, mobile-wallet and QR transactions sync straight to your ePOS and reports.

What hardware do I need?

Lightspeed Restaurant runs on an iPad. You add a payment terminal, a kitchen display screen, printers and a cash drawer as your service requires.

Does it work offline?

Yes, Lightspeed Restaurant works offline. It keeps taking and sending orders when your connection drops, then syncs the data once you are back online.

Can it manage multiple locations?

Yes, Lightspeed Restaurant manages multiple locations from one back office. Menus, pricing and reporting sync across every site.

Which venues is it built for?

Lightspeed Restaurant is built for cafés, pubs and bars, casual and fine dining, quick service, hotels and multi-site groups. You can configure menus, screens and floor plans to match how each venue runs.