Choosing a hospitality POS system for your bar, café or club
A good hospitality POS system keeps ordering, payment and stock in one flow during your busiest hour.
Above the GKS threshold it must also be a certified registered till.
Our advice: put the same eight questions to every supplier and compare the answers, not the brochures.
- Start from your busiest hour, not from the brochure.
- Above €25,000 of restaurant and catering turnover a year, your till must be a certified GKS.
- QR ordering only saves work with the same menu, prices and stock as your till.
- Compare quotes line by line, per cost driver.
- Ask who helps you at 23:30 on a Saturday.
This guide is for bar, café and club owners in Belgium. Want to see how we answer those questions ourselves? Our hospitality POS system for bars and clubs page shows it.
Where do you start when you choose a POS system?
With your busiest hour. Picture your bar at its peak, then write down what has to happen: that picture is the brief you send to suppliers.
Take a Saturday at half past eleven. There's a queue at the bar, a group runs a tab at a high table, the terrace orders by phone and the stock of one beer is running low.
Answer four things for that moment:
- Order points: how many places take orders, from the bar and the tables to a terrace or a second bar upstairs?
- Who orders: your staff, or the guest with a QR code?
- Payment: at the bar, at the table, before or after?
- Outage: what happens if the wifi drops for ten minutes?
In 30 minutes we answer the eight questions for your bar, café or club and show you the set-up live.
Which eight questions should you ask every supplier?
These eight questions cover what decides a hospitality POS system in practice, with the answer you want to hear and the one that should worry you. Ask each supplier all eight, in writing, and keep the answers side by side.
| Question | A good answer | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Is it a certified GKS 2.0 till? | Yes, with the certificate and a choice of FDM | "We're working on it" |
| 2. Can guests order by QR in the same system? | Same menu, same stock, straight to the bar | A separate app with its own menu |
| 3. Which payments, and what about cash? | Cards, phone payments and cash in one overview | Cash on a separate till |
| 4. Does stock update live? | Sold-out items disappear everywhere at once | Stock counted after closing |
| 5. How fast can new staff use it? | One screen they learn in a shift | Training per module |
| 6. What do you see after closing? | Reports per revenue stream, export for your accountant | Totals only |
| 7. What if the connection drops? | Backup network and offline buffering | "That never happens" |
| 8. Who helps on a Saturday night? | A named channel that answers in minutes | Office hours only |
1. Is it a certified GKS 2.0 till, and which FDM does it use?
Above €25,000 a year excluding VAT in restaurant and catering services, your till must be a certified registered cash register. Drinks and takeaway don't count (GKS guidelines).
Ask for the certificate, and ask whether the fiscal module runs in the cloud or as a box at the bar. Who must comply, and by when, is in our explainer on the witte kassa and GKS 2.0 deadlines.
2. Can guests order and pay by QR code in the same system?
QR ordering only saves work when it uses the same menu, prices and stock as the till.
Also ask who can open a tab. In our set-up, QR orders are always paid upfront, so nobody walks out, and only a staff member can open a tab for a group.
3. Which payments does it take, and what happens with cash?
Your guests pay with Bancontact, phone wallets and sometimes cash. Ask whether all of those land in one overview, or whether cash lives in a drawer the system never sees.
Our guide to combining cashless payments and cash covers the options, such as cash cards or QR vouchers bought with cash. For the difference between card payments and your own credit system, read open loop, closed loop or hybrid.
4. Does stock update live on the till and the QR menu?
Live stock means a beer that runs out disappears from every screen at once. Without it, staff sell what you no longer have and you find out after closing.
5. How fast can new staff work with it?
Bars and clubs run on students, seasonal staff and volunteers. Ask how long a new person needs before they can work a busy shift alone, and whether every screen looks the same.
"I was sceptical at first, but the system turned out to be surprisingly easy to use," says Didier De Ridder of Het Paviljoen (our café and bar post).
6. What do you see after closing?
You want takings per revenue stream, per bar and per payment method as soon as the night ends. Ask for an export your accountant can use without retyping.
7. What hardware do you get, and what if the connection drops?
Ask which devices you get, how long their batteries last and what happens without internet. Also ask whether you can add devices for a busy weekend.
See our terminals and POS hardware for the range.
8. Who helps you on a Saturday night?
A till fails at the worst moment, so ask how support works at 23:30 on a Saturday.
Our service and support includes live WhatsApp support, and you choose how much help we give on site.
What drives the cost of a hospitality POS system?
The price comes from a handful of choices you make, so compare quotes line by line.
| Cost driver | What to ask |
|---|---|
| Number of order and payment points | Which devices do I need for my busiest hour? |
| Buying or renting hardware | Can I rent extra devices only for peaks? |
| Software | Is QR ordering included, or an extra module? |
| Payment fees | Which payment partner, and what does each transaction cost? |
| Fiscal module | Cloud or physical box, and who installs it? |
| Service level | What is included remotely, and what costs extra on site? |
At Bar Provisoir, we rely on Beyond Ordering for flexible service. We seamlessly switch between QR table service and self-service at the bar. The support team is responsive and always helps us identify new improvements. A reliable partner that we're very happy to recommend.
In practice: Muziekclub N9
The event: a stable, fixed bar for its club concerts most of the year, and big outdoor summer events such as Huymanshoeve and Helden in het Park.
The challenge: buying enough terminals for summer would have meant expensive overkill in the club the rest of the year. Too few in summer would mean queues and lost bar takings.
The setup: a compact, fixed set-up of all-in-one terminals in the club, and extra mobile terminals N9 rents for the summer.
The result: staff and volunteers use the same screens in winter and summer, which the story says cuts training time to zero. All sales data and price lists sit in one back office for both the club and the park.
Also with Beyond Ordering: Bar Provisoir, Het Paviljoen and Bar Bernaar.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a hospitality POS system without a subscription?
For the hardware, yes: with us you can rent or buy it, and rent extra terminals for a busy weekend.
The software is always a licence for as long as the agreement lasts, with a minimum of one year for a permanent bar (our terms and conditions). With any supplier, ask what you own, what you rent, and what you still pay when the bar is closed for the season.
Can one system handle table service and the bar?
Yes, if it's built for both. The terrace can order by QR code at the table while guests inside order and pay at the bar, and both flows land in one system.
At Bar Bernaar, they combine online QR orders with waiter orders through the all-in-one terminal (our software page).
Can I rent extra terminals for a busy weekend?
With some suppliers, yes. We rent extra mobile terminals for weekends, events or the season, with temporary price lists if you need them.
What does POS mean?
POS stands for point of sale: the till, the terminals and the software where an order becomes a payment.
Put the eight questions to us
Send us your busiest hour and your eight questions. We answer each one for your bar, café or club.
In a 30-minute demo we show you the set-up live. Rather ask a question first? Get in touch.
Put the eight questions to us
In 30 minutes we answer them for your bar, café or club and show you the set-up live.
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Ordering via QR code in your bar or restaurant: how it works
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Hospitality VAT in Belgium: 12% on served food, 21% on every drink you serve, 6% on food and soft drinks to take away. With a worked bill.
How to organise a fuif: the bar, the till and no more drink tickets
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