Your restaurant is a bustling hub of activity. With so much to keep track of, it can be difficult to focus on the big picture. That’s where a good restaurant management app comes in: it can help you manage your employees and inventory, schedule your staff, and streamline your supply chain—all while you’re on the go.
Today we’ll be discussing the best apps for restaurant management, so you can pick the best one for your business needs.
Table of Contents
Best Apps For Restaurant Management
40 restaurant management tools and apps designed to improve productivity. Streamline front- and back-of-house operations so you can focus on what really matters.
Restaurant technology should help restaurateurs to succeed and focus on what they love ‒ not create unnecessary complexity. So which is the best for your restaurant?
Advancements are being made every day in restaurant software, technology, and services. Toast’s Restaurant Success Report says that:
Restaurants use an average of three technology vendors to manage back-office operations.
50% of restaurant professionals say that accounting, payroll, and business intelligence software are extremely important to their restaurants.
68% of restaurant professionals regularly review sales reports, 45% regularly review labor reports, and 32% review menu reports.
Technology is also important to your guests. When asked which technologies would best enhance their dining experiences during and after the COVID-19 crisis, restaurant guests called out contactless/mobile payment availability (34%), pay at the table technology (33%), and online ordering (33%).
In other words, technology benefits both your efficiency and the guest’s experience.
Best Restaurant Apps
To help you stay up-to-date, we’ve compiled a list of some of the best restaurant apps and top productivity tools. Use these resources to streamline your operations so you can focus on what matters: your guests, food, and team.
7shifts
7shifts is a mobile, cloud-based scheduling and labor management platform trusted by 250,000 restaurant professionals. It helps you save time with scheduling, effectively manage your labor costs, and streamline workforce communications from anywhere.
Available on Android and iOS | Learn More
Avero
Avero gives restaurateurs invaluable insights into business operations and sales. When integrated with your restaurant POS, you can access a full suite of solutions like server performance tracking, inventory management, labor and food cost tracking, revenue management, and more.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Learn More
BevSpot
Want to make tracking kitchen and bar inventory effortless? BevSpot is a food and beverage program management software that lets you take kitchen and bar inventory on any device and place orders with ease. With BevSpot, you can also gain sales performance insights; helping you make better purchasing decisions and improve your profit margin.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Learn More
BlueCart
BlueCart is a web and mobile platform that allows you to order from all your suppliers and manage inventory right from your phone. BlueCart’s tools work to streamline the ordering process: You can browse their featured network of suppliers (or add your own), do shelf-to-sheet ordering and inventory, and return extra or damaged products.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Learn More
Bonusly
As a tool that helps management recognize restaurant staff, Bonusly incentivizes employees to do their best. Co-workers and managers can send “points,” that staff can redeem for prizes and gift cards.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Start a Free Trial
Buffer
Buffer is an app that helps you manage all your restaurant social media accounts in one place. You can plan and schedule posts ahead of time and measure social media performance right from your phone or laptop.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Learn More
Chowly
Chowly seamlessly combines your third-party online ordering platforms – like GrubHub, Uber Eats, DoorDash, and others – with your restaurant’s point of sale. This way, you can reduce errors and the time spent manually entering orders.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Learn More
Evernote
Evernote organizes all your notes into folders and notebooks, so you can easily see what’s most important to you at any given time. Plus, it allows you to attach photos, PDFs, to-do lists, checklists, and more to each note, so you can more productively manage your day.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Get Started for Free
Feedly
Feedly consolidates all of the publications you want to read ‒ from Forbes to Nation’s Restaurant News to the On the Line ‒ into one easy-to-access format. Because Feedly is connected to millions of feeds and publications, you can find the restaurant-related content you care about in a single place.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Learn More
Food Cost Calculator
Calculating food cost percentage can be time-consuming, and it’s often guesswork. Toast’s free Food Cost Calculator helps you calculate your food cost percentage based on actual data, not a hunch.
The calculator shares the five most popular items (and their price breakdown) on similar restaurants’ menus in your state, then it allows you to calculate each item’s food cost, plus cost per pound and/or cost per cup for each ingredient. It also gives you the ability to create your own custom menu items and determine their ideal price.
Available on Web | Try It Now
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is another recommended social media management app and platform. It allows you to manage all of your restaurant social media accounts in one place. You can schedule posts, monitor trending topics, measure performance, and more.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Start a Free Trial
HotSchedules
HotSchedules provides a mobile-friendly, cloud-based solution that helps reduce the time it takes for managers to create, communicate, and manage employee work schedules. It helps you schedule the right people at the right time to reduce labor costs — up to 2 percent, according to the app.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Learn More
IFTTT
IFTTT – If This Then That – connects all the apps you know and love and creates “recipes” that help them talk to each other and share valuable information. For example, you can set up a recipe that instantly posts your Instagram photos as native photos on Twitter (rather than links) or one that automatically shares your Facebook status updates on LinkedIn.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Learn More
Incentivio
Incentivio is a cloud-based, mobile-first engagement platform that helps restaurants acquire new customers, drive visits, and increase customer spend, loyalty and engagement. It allows you to launch online ordering, native mobile apps, and digital loyalty programs easily and quickly.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Learn More
LastPass
The more tools you add to your restaurant’s arsenal, the more passwords you’ll have to remember and protect. LastPass is a convenient password manager that gives you access when needed. It also makes it easy to generate a unique password for each account so you’re always protected against hacking.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Get It for Free
Menu Engineering Worksheet
Trying to take your menu to the next level? Decisions about your menu’s pricing, structure, and design should be made not only with care but with data. How much profit is each menu item contributing to your restaurant? What can you do to drive menu items up in popularity? Are your menu items even profitable, or are you spending too much on inventory?
This free menu engineering spreadsheet — complete with intricate menu engineering formulas — is used by restaurant owners to determine areas of strength and weakness within their menu.
Available on Web | Try It Now
MobileDay
Never worry about calling in or scheduling a conference call with restaurant stakeholders again. MobileDay syncs with your smartphone calendar, notifies you of upcoming meetings, and allows you to connect to your calls with one touch. Even if you’re on the road, you won’t need to scramble for a conference line pin or access code.
Available on Android and iOS | Learn More
New Steps of Service ROI Calculator
Ready to change up your service model? The New Steps of Service, powered by Toast Mobile Order & Pay™, is a new service model shaking up restaurants across the country. Use this calculator to learn how it could benefit your business, including estimates of how it can increase monthly revenue and reduce front-of-house labor costs.
Available on Web | Learn More
OpenTable
Want to manage your restaurant reservations from anywhere? OpenTable provides reservation and guest management whether you’re in the office or on your phone. This restaurant reservation software automates table status updates, and allows you to access real-time shift revenue, average guest spend, and more.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Learn More
Order and Pay
Roughly 34% of guests reported contactless/mobile payment availability as the #1 most important technology for restaurants to implement during COVID, according to Toast’s Guide to the Restaurant Guest. Toast Mobile Order & Pay™ makes this easy: it gives your guests the ability to order and pay for their meal from the convenience and safety of their own device.
This tech not only makes your servers’ jobs easier — and allow them to take on a larger section — but it lets them focus on the hospitable parts of their jobs, like helping guests choose the perfect wine or entree — instead of spending time and steps running back and forth to the POS terminal.
Available on Android and Web | Request a Demo
PRODUCTS
Toast Mobile Order & Pay™
Give guests the experience they’re looking for with mobile order & pay – easy access to what they want, when they want it, from their own device.
Outlook and Gmail
Outlook and Gmail are two of the biggest email apps on the market. They allow you to manage all of your email communications on the go. You can also schedule appointments and stay attuned to your calendar using the apps.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Learn More
PourMyBeer
Instead of guests waiting to order and receive their pints of beer, give them the opportunity to pour it themselves. With PourMyBeer’s self-serve bar tap system, you’ll need fewer staff to run your bar and your guests can get their drinks more quickly. They’ll wait less and feel encouraged to buy more.
Available on Web | Learn More
Restaurant365
Restaurant365 is a consolidated back-office solution that helps manage your accounting, inventory, and labor scheduling. It helps forecast sales, better control your food costs, and optimize your staff’s scheduling based on your sales history, timing, and even the weather.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Learn More
Restaurant Floor Plan Templates
If you’re building a new restaurant or remodeling your current one, check out Toast’s Restaurant Floor Plan Templates. They can help inspire you to reimagine the layout of your restaurant. Visualize how employees and guests will move through the restaurant space, and experience how technology has become an integral part of creating restaurant floor plans.
Available on Web | Learn More
Restaurant Productivity Calculator
This free resource from Toast lets restaurant owners and managers identify the gaps in their day and see where they stack up against the average restaurateur.
Enter how many hours per week you spend on tasks like inventory tracking, accounting and reporting, and menu work. The template adds up your time and provides you with concrete restaurant productivity metrics, so you can see just how long you spend in the restaurant each week and how you can become more productive.
Available on Web | Try It Now
Restaurant Scheduling Template
Have you ever had an employee miss a shift, or come in at the wrong time because they didn’t look at the schedule? Toast created this free, simple restaurant scheduling solution. The Restaurant Scheduling Template allows you to easily schedule your staff’s shifts. It can be updated on the go, and employees can access it from home or on their phones.
Available on Web | Try It Now
Restaurant Technology ROI Calculator
Make sure you’re getting the most out of your restaurant technology with Toast’s free Restaurant Technology ROI Calculator. It’s an easy guide for analyzing the success of your restaurant business. It also helps you calculate ROI down to the dollar and presents unique ways your point of sale system can pay you back, based on industry statistics.
Available on Web | Try It Now
ReviewTrackers
ReviewTrackers’ review management software allows you to use customer feedback to act today and predict tomorrow. Collect reviews and use data to gain insights on how to improve your business, all in one easy-to-use dashboard. This app consolidates reviews from Google+, TripAdvisor, Facebook, Yelp, and more.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Sign Up for a Free Trial
Rockbot
With over 16 million songs licensed for your restaurant, Rockbot lets you play the best background music to achieve the mood that matches your brand. Easily manage what’s being played in your restaurant and control the app from any mobile device. Guests can also request songs from your pre-approved library.
The music is customized so you can set playlists to automatically play throughout the day. The best part? You don’t need to worry about restaurant music licensing fees.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Sign Up for a Free Trial
Rooam
Rooam allows guests to pay their bar tab or restaurant bill remotely from their phones. It also includes chargeback protection and gives you a central way to drive customer acquisition and re-engage them with in-app events, targeted digital promotions, and segmented email campaigns.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Learn More
Say2eat
Want to make it easy for your guests to order from you on their preferred channels? Say2eat offers a white-labeled tool that allows your audience to discover your restaurant, connect, and order all within popular marketing and communication channels like Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Slack, and more.
Available on Web | Learn More
Slack
Slack is a channel-based messaging platform that can be organized to fit your team by topics, private groups, or direct messages. Slack is faster and more organized than email, and it makes team communication a breeze.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Learn More
Solink
Protect and monitor your business with Solink’s video surveillance service, linking your security footage with your sales transactions. Have complete visibility into every action and transaction for every location from any device. Solink also offers the tools your team needs, addressing topics such as compliance issues and security concerns.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Learn More
SpeedETab
SpeedETab is an industry leader in native mobile ordering, mobile payment, and analytics solutions for restaurants. It helps you design branded ordering experiences – whether that’s an app, a landing page, or an online-ordering site – that targets both the technology and the channels that your guests use the most.
Available on Android and iOS | Learn More
Sprout Social
Sprout Social allows you to see all your messages in one place, view conversation history, and assign certain tasks or to-do lists from messages. It acts as a social inbox so you can quickly post, monitor, and schedule content across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Sign Up for a Free Trial
Unroll.Me
Do you find yourself inundated with emails that you don’t have the time to unsubscribe from? With Unroll.Me, you can instantly see a list of all your subscription emails, unsubscribe if desired, and consolidate the emails you want to keep ‒ all with a simple swipe.
Available on Android and iOS | Learn More
xtraCHEF by Toast
xtraCHEF by Toast is an automated accounts payable processing and cost management platform built for restaurants. This restaurant inventory management software helps you automate invoice management, which eliminates manual accounting and inventory management tasks. In addition, you can analyze your food costs and improve your purchasing decisions with less effort.
Available on Android, iOS, and Web | Learn More
Zero Hour Health
Zero Hour Health is a crisis management solution that can help your restaurant navigate a multitude of issues — including foodborne illness outbreaks, violent episodes, workforce problems, and countless other crises. Zero Hour Health also offers comprehensive COVID-19 clinical guidance and medical direction, including reopening plans, employee health checks, and operating procedures.
Available on Android and iOS | Learn More
Toast Restaurant Point of Sale & Management System
Toast is a single platform to manage your restaurant. It combines point of sale, point of sale, front of house, back of house, and guest-facing technology with a suite of third-party integrations to help you improve operations, grow revenue, and delight your guests.
Available on Android and Web | Request a Demo
free apps for restaurant owners
From managing social media to scheduling shifts, apps for restaurant owners make it easier than ever to run a business on the go. But with all the apps to choose from, it’s difficult to narrow down exactly what you need. That’s why we compiled this list featuring the 7 best apps for restaurant owners who want to run a more efficient operation. As an added bonus, check out 3 apps that seem like they’re just for guests, but offer hidden benefits to you as an owner.
- Hootsuite
What It Does
This app for restaurant owners (and any social media manager in general) empowers you to manage multiple social media accounts – all in one app.
Why You Need It
According to PEW Research Center, 75% of high-income adults online use Facebook. And almost half use Instagram. Then there’s Twitter, Snapchat, and LinkedIn (for recruiting) to consider. Although nearly all of these platforms can be managed on mobile devices, that’s a lot of social media apps for restaurant owners to keep track of. Fortunately, Hootsuite is one of the most effective apps for restaurant owners to manage their social media accounts.
The Benefits
Easily schedule posts: Instagram. Twitter. Facebook. You name it. Every major social media account can be integrated into your Hootsuite account. From there, you can schedule posts days, weeks, even months in advance! Apps for restaurant owners that empower advance planning…that’s a big win.
Gather data about your messaging: Apps for restaurant owners are most beneficial when they provide information that you can use to your advantage. And Hootsuite doesn’t disappoint. With analytics to track engagement and the ability to monitor conversations about your business, you can easily track information to guide future messaging for your restaurant.
Stay on brand (no matter who’s managing your account): It’s not uncommon for restaurant owners to pass social media responsibility to their staff members. Sometimes it’s a seasoned manager. Sometimes it’s a server that speaks fluent SnapChat. Whatever the case, Hootsuite allows you to view messages from multiple account managers to ensure posts are approved quickly and consistently on-brand.
- SnapSeed
What It Does
Some apps for restaurant owners, like SnapSeed, have very specific
purposes. This one is all about making your food photos pop!
Why You Need It
For restaurants, food photos on social media aren’t just for good looks. They’re for business…and the 86% of millennials who want to try a new restaurant after seeing food-related content online!
So you need apps for restaurant owners that can beef up your photography game. That’s why SnapSeed made this list. It’s a mobile photography app that showcases your signature dishes in their best light.
Benefits
More Features than Your Average Platform: Instagram is considered one of the main social media apps for restaurant owners who want to display their dishes like art. But while Instagram primarily provides filters and basic modification options, Snapseed offers 29 tools to get just the right settings for your photos.
Intuitive User Experience: Most people shy away from photo apps because they can be complicated. But with a simple design and user-friendly interface, Snapseed is easy to use for everyone – from professional photographers to your mid-shift line cooks.
Easy Sharing: You just adjusted your latest photo to perfection. Now what? With Snapseed, you can simply download the finished product and share it on multiple social media apps for restaurant owners – including Instagram and Facebook.
- ReviewTrackers
What It Does
The best apps for restaurant owners give you super-human powers,
like the ability to know what everyone is saying about you – at all times.
Why You Need It
In the restaurant world, reviews are kind of a big deal. After all, 92% of consumers read reviews before deciding where to dine. A lot is riding on how many stars your guests give you. However, there are so many sites where customers can leave their thoughts: from Yelp to Google, Reddit to Facebook. Are you supposed to track every review? Let apps for restaurant owners, like ReviewTrackers, do the work:
Benefits
Track all your reviews in one place: The name pretty much gives away this app’s biggest benefit. ReviewTrackers combines over 100 review sites into one, easy-to-digest platform so you can monitor review sites in one place.
Respond quickly to guests: With the ability to automate your review collection, you can easily check reviews and respond when necessary. Thank guests for their raving feedback. Address issues with a customer who had a less-than-stellar experience. Rather than chasing down different review apps for restaurant owners, you can do it all in ReviewTrackers
Better understand your customer experience: Using machine learning, ReviewTrackers can analyze the customer experience that’s trending for your restaurant. You can easily pull insights about what’s working for your business – and what’s not.
HOW TO CREATE A WINNING CUSTOMER REWARDS PROGRAM
The ultimate guide for owners & managers.
- 7Shifts
What It Does
Apps for restaurant owners that reduce the stress of scheduling? es, please! Introducing 7Shifts
Why You Need It
Juggling the schedules of 20+ people is enough to make any person go mad. But that’s just an average day for restaurant managers and owners. Wish things could be easier? So do the creators of several apps for restaurant owners. That leads us to 7Shifts – a scheduling tool that streamlines shift-making and staff communication.
Benefits
Factors in all the details: A lot goes into making a schedule. And some scheduling apps for restaurant owners don’t take all those variables into account. But 7Shifts can automate a schedule or allow users to implement custom templates that fit weekly shift requirements and staff availability, while also tracking overtime and regional labor laws.
Simplifies shift sharing and communication: It’s a fact. Staff schedules change. There are no apps for restaurant owners to solve that! But 7Shifts at least makes it easier to communicate about shift changes. Employees can receive their schedules via text, app, and/or email so they never miss a shift. And with a messaging and group chats, they can easily communicate if they need to switch or find a replacement.
Tracks employee engagement: Wish there were apps for restaurant owners that could track employee performance? 7Shifts can do that, too. heck the staff leaderboard, which showcases your most and least engaged employees. Track your staff no-shows and late arrivals. And send out automated surveys to get your team’s feedback on the regular.
- BevSpot
What It Does
Breeze through inventory like never before, thanks to inventory
apps for restaurant owners like BevSpot.
Why You Need It
Inventory isn’t easy. Whether you’re behind the bar or behind the line, you have to track everything from produce to bottles to garnishes. And it’s a major pain point for the 51% of restaurant owners who listed high operation and food costs as their biggest challenges. Fortunately, inventory apps for restaurant owners can be a real budget saver. We like BevSpot because it’s a solution that covers both the food and beverage portions of your restaurant.
Benefits
Interactive inventory calculator: Move over, paper and pen. BevSpot lets you take inventory directly to any mobile device. Can’t get a good mobile connection in your walk-in? No problem. Cloud-based apps for restaurant owners like Bevspot include an offline mode that let’s you keep counting, then uploads data when a connection is available.
Customized tracking options: Keep your data as accurate as possible with flexible units and settings that match your reporting needs.
Usage reports and analytics: BevSpot provides regular reports so you can see what ingredients are being used and where you’re wasting money.
- FreshBooks
What It Does
If you think this sounds similar to Quickbooks, you’re right. Like
Quickbooks, FreshBooks is one of the top accounting apps for restaurant owners…
Why You Need It
There is a lot to keep track of when it comes to restaurant expenses. Cashflow. Payment. Invoices. And to do it all manually could lead to costly errors. It helps to have financial apps for restaurant managers that automate most of your accounting tasks. Which is why we love FreshBooks.
Benefits
Save time with automated accounting: Mundane accounting tasks can take up a lot of your time. Fortunately, FreshBooks can automate most tasks, like tracking expenses, time, and reports. Just configure your settings and let the software do the hard work.
Track expenses on-the-go: Sync your business bank account and credit card to FreshBooks for more automated tracking. If you wind up paying for something with petty cash, just snap a pic of the receipt and upload it with a simple click.
Set up payments for employees: With the FreshBooks Gusto app, you can schedule regular staff payments that automatically deduct taxes on the federal, state, and local levels. That way your team doesn’t get any unpleasant surprises when tax season arrives.
- Feedly
What It Does
Know what’s up in the bar and restaurant industry at all times
with news-focused apps for restaurant owners.
Why You Need It
Gone are the days when you’d get an industry mag in the mail once
a month. Today, restaurant biz news is coming at you all day, every day on
thousands of websites and industry publications.
That’s why you need apps for restaurant owners like Feedly. It sorts
through the industry-related headlines, so you don’t have to. You get a
personalized digest emailed to you in an easy-to-read format.
Benefits
Monitor industry news: Set up keywords alerts to monitor the latest news about the restaurant industry, your business, or even your competitors.
Track your favorite publications: Keep all of your favorite industry news sources in one place by selecting the blogs and publications you read religiously.
Follow your favorite influencers: Add YouTube Channels and Twitter accounts of industry thought leaders so you can scroll through daily inspiration without having to switch between different apps for restaurant managers.
BONUS: 3 Apps for Restaurant Owners (Disguised as Apps for Guests)
Buzztime
Benefit for Guests: Once guests download the Buzztime Entertainment app, they can play trivia at thousands of bars, restaurants, and breweries nationwide. This app keeps guests entertained through every phase of their experience, and keeps ‘em coming back.
Benefit for Owners: While it may seem like pure fun and games to guests, Buzztime offers so much more than just entertainment apps for restaurant owners. You also get access to digital signage to promote specials on your own TVs, the ability to host your own live events, and more.
Open Table
Benefit for Guests: Streamline the reservation process for customers so they can more easily book a table at your restaurant, using one of the most popular reservation apps for restaurant owners.
Benefit for Owners: Give your team a heads up on big parties and your numbers for that night. Your team can take notes on guest preferences to elevate their experience for their next visit.
Tap Hunter
Benefit for Guests: If you offer a wide range of brews or wine, consider partnering with Tap Hunter. This app lets users track when and where their favorite boozy beverages are available – along with events and specials at their favorite spots.
Benefit for Owners: Promotional apps for restaurant owners can help put you on the radar for guests seeking specific brands or great deals. This app does even more: helping with back-end work, like updating your menu, taking inventory, and preventing loss.
…and that’s a wrap on apps for restaurant owners! Have a favorite
app you use? Let us know in the comments!
Conclusion
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
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