Your POS and your payment processing should be one system. When they aren't, you reconcile two sets of numbers every night, and when something breaks on a Friday you call two support lines that blame each other. I've installed restaurant systems since 2012, and the owners who sleep best are the ones who chose one system and one person to call.
Here are the six things I'd check before you sign with anyone, whether you're opening your first restaurant or running five locations.
Ask the question directly: "When a card runs, does it land in the same reports as the order?" With a fully integrated system, every sale, tip and refund shows up in one place, and your end-of-night close takes minutes. With a bolted-on processor, you're matching two reports and chasing the differences.
Shift4 Dine runs orders, payments, kitchen routing and reporting on one platform, so there's nothing to reconcile at close.
This is the question most owners forget to ask, and it's the one that matters most at 7 p.m. on a Saturday. Find out whether you'll get a ticket number, a chatbot, or a person who already knows your setup.
Shift4 Dine includes 24/7/365 in-house support. On top of that, my clients have me: the same person who installed the system, built the menu and trained the staff. You don't re-explain your restaurant every time you call.
Ask for the list in writing. With Shift4 Dine, marketing and loyalty, reservations and waitlist, QR code order and pay, and a website builder come with the system, along with onsite installation and a lifetime hardware warranty. Online ordering and gift cards are add-ons, and I'll walk you through exactly what each one costs on a call, so there are no surprises later.
If you run more than one store, you need one back office: menus, sales, labor and payments for every location in one place. If you have to log into a separate portal per store, you'll spend hours a week stitching reports together. Read more on our multi-location page.
Some providers ship you boxes and a login. Find out who builds your menu and modifiers, who sets up the hardware, and who trains your staff before go-live. Shift4 Dine installs are done onsite by certified technicians, and I stay involved from menu build through your first busy weekend.
Switching from another system? Your menu, items and modifiers can be rebuilt before go-live so you don't lose a service day. See how a switch works.
Earlier than you think. Menu build, hardware, kitchen printers or screens, and staff training all take time, and you want to run test orders before opening day. If you have an opening date, call me now, even if it's months out. More on our opening a restaurant page.
New Shift4 Dine merchants can earn a $5,000 sign-on bonus, per location, paid by Shift4. Each location that processes $60,000 in card sales during its first two full calendar months qualifies. The clock starts on the 1st of the month after you go live.
I'm Sam Scales III, founder of Merchant Tech Group and a Certified Shift4 Partner serving restaurants in all 50 states. Call or text me directly at (336) 901-9761. I answer my own phone, 8 AM to 8 PM Eastern.
It means your POS and card processing run on one system, so every transaction, tip and refund lands in the same reports automatically.
One login for every store, consolidated reporting, and one support contact who knows the whole deployment.
Not when the menu is rebuilt and tested before go-live. The goal is that your staff walks in on day one and the system is ready.
Call or text Sam at (336) 901-9761, or visit merchanttechgroup.com.