Guide · POS · August 24, 2026 · 1 min read
What a small café actually needs from a POS (and what it doesn't)
Most systems are built for chains. Here's the short list that matters at one counter.
Walk into a café that opened this year and there's a good chance the POS costs more per month than the espresso machine did. That's not because the café needs enterprise software. It's because the software was built for a chain with forty locations and sold to a shop with one.
What one counter actually needs
Checkout that's fast when there's a line. Modifiers that match the menu (oat milk, extra shot, for here). Tips that don't make the customer feel weird. Receipts by text. A cash drawer count at close. That's the list. Everything else is nice to have.
What it doesn't need
Per-terminal monthly fees. A "loyalty platform" nobody signs up for. Fifty reports when three would do. Hardware you have to rent. An app store of add-ons that each cost another $30 a month.
The inventory question
This is where most systems quietly fail. They'll count sales but not stock, so you still have someone walking the shelves with a clipboard on Sunday night. A POS that decrements inventory on every sale and puts low items on an order list on its own pays for itself in one avoided Saturday-morning run to Costco.
What we'd build instead
A single screen on an iPad: checkout on the left, today's numbers on the right, inventory behind a tab. Works when the wifi drops. Emails the owner at close. Costs a flat fee to build and a few dollars a month to run. If that sounds like the right size, here's the one we built.