For years, Oklahoma merchants have wondered:
“Can I finally add a surcharge to offset the card processing costs?”

Starting November 1, 2025, the answer is yes, but with strict limitations. Oklahoma’s new law makes credit card surcharges legal, while also keeping cash discount (dual pricing) programs 100% legal and uncapped.

That means, merchants now have two compliance paths: surcharging with guardrails or cash discounting with maximum flexibility.

Cash Discount Programs in Oklahoma: Still 100% Legal ✅

Cash discounting (also called dual pricing) was never banned in Oklahoma. And nothing in the new law changes that.

Merchants can:

• Publish both cash and card prices.
• Offer unlimited discounts for customers paying with cash, debit card, or check.
• Face no state cap on the discount size.
• Stay compliant with simpler dual pricing disclosures.

For liquor stores, QSRs, and restaurants, dual pricing remains the most flexible strategy to fight rising processing costs.

Credit Card Surcharging in Oklahama: Legal but Limited ⚖️

The big change that is new law is bringing is that surcharging will now be allowed, but with restrictions:

• Capped at 2% of the transaction or the actual processing fee (whichever is less).
  
  
• Clear disclosure required:
  
  
  • In-person: at the point of entry and point of sale.
  • Online: on the homepage and checkout page.
  • Phone orders: must be disclosed verbally.
    
    
• Not allowed if the merchant only accepts credit cards (no alternative payment option is available).
  

Compared to many other states, Oklahoma’s rules are stricter, making surcharging a narrower option for small businesses.

Cash Discount vs. Surcharge: What Is a Better Choice?

Verdict: For most Oklahoma SMBs, cash discounting is still the stronger cost-recovery path.

Hybrid Strategy: Dual Pricing + Surcharging

Forward-thinking merchants may explore a hybrid approach:

• Display dual pricing automatically at checkout.
• Apply capped surcharges when customers choose credit cards.
• Keep disclosures consistent across in-store, mobile, and online.

A compliant POS system is essential for running this strategy without risk.

What Oklahoma Merchants Need to Do?

With November 1, 2025 around the corner, here’s your action plan:

• 🖥️ Audit your POS — can it support dual pricing + surcharging?
• 🧑‍🍳 Train staff to explain cash vs. card pricing clearly.
• 🌐 Update online checkout pages with required disclosures.
• 🧾 Decide your path — all-in on cash discounts, or test a hybrid model.

Final Take: Why POS Compliance Matters

Oklahoma’s new law doesn’t kill cash discounting — it only strengthens its appeal. Surcharging is now legal, but capped and disclosure-heavy. Cash discounting remains uncapped, simpler, and often more profitable.

For liquor stores, QSRs, and restaurants, this is the moment to:

• Review your POS setup.
• Upgrade for compliance.
• Protect your margins — while keeping customer trust.

At the end of the day, POS compliance in Oklahoma isn’t just about legality — it’s about protecting your margins and staying customer-friendly.

⚡ OneHubPOS makes dual pricing and surcharging compliance simple. Ready to explore your options? Book a demo today.

Ask any restaurant owner and they’ll tell you: they don’t have time to babysit their tech. They want systems that run quietly in the background while they focus on customers, food, and service.

When the POS lags or payments crash during the dinner rush, loyalty vanishes fast. In fact, downtime during peak hours can cost a restaurant hundreds of dollars in lost sales per hour. For resellers, that means more churn — not because you can’t sell, but because the system doesn’t hold up in real-world pressure.

The OneHubPOS + Dejavoo partnership solves that pressure problem.  By making POS software and payment hardware work in perfect sync, it creates an experience so smooth that restaurant owners don’t even think about switching. And for resellers, that’s the holy grail: long-term, loyal customers that stick around for years.

Also read: Why Restaurants Are Switching to mPOS in 2025

🔎 Where Resellers Lose Customers Today

Before we talk about retention, let’s be clear about why restaurants churn in the first place:

• Painful installs → Every hour a restaurant is offline is lost revenue. And the impact of poor onboarding is well documented: in SaaS, studies show that up to 75% of new users abandon a product within the first week if the onboarding is confusing or ineffective. The same principle applies to POS — when setup drags or systems feel clunky from day one, merchants are far more likely to churn early.
  
• Glitchy integrations → When POS and payment terminals don’t talk properly, errors multiply. Disconnected setups force manual reconciliation, mismatches, and frustrated staff.
  
• Support fatigue → If a reseller’s phone rings every weekend, customers start shopping around for “less drama.” Each emergency call also eats into your margins.
  
• Feeling trapped → Restaurants resent processor lock-ins. They want the freedom to keep their existing financial relationships without being forced into new ones. Processor flexibility removes one of the biggest objections during the sales process and makes it easier for resellers to close deals with confidence.
  

This is where resellers lose ground — not at the point of sale, but in delivering effortless experiences after the install.

⚡ How OneHubPOS + Dejavoo Flip the Script

The partnership tackles the biggest pain points that drive restaurants away — and flips them into reasons to stay.

1. Installs That Win Trust from Day One

Dejavoo’s plug-and-play Android terminals (P1, P3, P5, P8) pair directly with OneHubPOS.

• Setup takes minutes, not days.
  
• Merchants go live much faster than with legacy POS setups, allowing them to start serving customers and generating revenue with minimal downtime.
  
• Faster installs = faster trust. And trust early on means lower churn later.
  

2. Seamless Daily Operations

Orders, payments, refunds, and tips flow in real time between POS and terminal.

• Staff don’t double-enter data or explain “system quirks.”
  
• Owners get accurate reports instantly — no chasing spreadsheets.
  
• Integrated checkouts process up to 30% faster than non-integrated ones, reducing lines and stress.
  

Day-to-day reliability is invisible, but in the restaurant world, invisible is everything.

3. Less Tech Drama = Happier Customers

Every integration point is a risk. By syncing hardware and software tightly, OneHubPOS + Dejavoo reduce points of failure.

• Fewer emergency calls = less stress for you.
  
• Merchants remember who gave them tech that didn’t crash on a Friday night.
  
• Resellers save hours per merchant each month — time you can put back into growth.
  

4. Flexibility Without Fear

Dejavoo is processor-agnostic. That means:

• No more lost deals over processor objections.
  
• Merchants keep existing financial relationships.
  
• Resellers close faster, with less friction.
  

Freedom is a feature that sells.

5. Built-In Stickiness Through Switching Costs

Once OneHubPOS + Dejavoo are embedded into daily ops, switching becomes costly:

• Retraining staff is disruptive.
  
• Migration risks downtime and lost sales.
  
• Restaurant owners know “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
  

This natural stickiness gives resellers long-term recurring revenue — loyalty earned by performance, not by force.

📊 Why Resellers Win With Retention

Retention isn’t just about happy merchants — it’s about stronger economics:

• Stable recurring revenue → Subscriptions, upgrades, and add-ons stack year after year.
  
• Lower support costs → Reliable systems mean fewer emergencies eating into profit.
  
• Stronger reputation → Happy owners talk. Referrals drive more business at no extra acquisition cost.
  
• Expansion opportunities → Growing restaurants stick with what works, bringing resellers into every new location.

Example: A reseller with 100 merchants at $500/month has $50,000 monthly recurring revenue (MRR). At 20% churn, you lose 20 merchants/year (~$12,000 MRR lost). Drop churn to 15%, and you keep 5 more clients = $36,000/year preserved revenue. That’s money you don’t have to replace with costly new sales.

🎯 Final Word

Restaurants don’t stick with POS systems because of contracts. They stick because the tech is invisible — it works so reliably they forget it’s even there.

That’s exactly what OneHubPOS + Dejavoo deliver: installs in minutes, seamless daily ops, processor flexibility, and reliability that builds trust. For resellers, that means less churn, more loyalty, and customers who stay for years.

👉 With hardware and software finally working in perfect sync, you’re not just closing sales. You’re building relationships that last.

If the last decade has taught merchants anything, it’s this: clunky tech slows you down, and in today’s world, slow is expensive.
That’s why OneHubPOS and Dejavoo are teaming up — to flip the script.

Together, we’re not just upgrading payment systems. We’re redefining what merchants should expect from them: speed without compromise, flexibility without lock-ins, and simplicity without the headaches.

Why This Partnership Matters

Let’s be real: most POS setups are a patchwork. One platform for sales. Another for payments. Add a terminal here, a processor there, and before long, you’re knee-deep in tangled tech.

The OneHubPOS x Dejavoo integration rips out that complexity and replaces it with something merchants actually want: plug, play, and get paid. Plus, the payment terminals sync in real-time with the POS and are processor agnostic.

Here’s how:

A Win for Merchants, ISVs, and Resellers

This isn’t just a technical upgrade—it’s a competitive edge.

For merchants, it means faster checkouts, fewer errors, and happier staff who can actually focus on customers.
For ISVs and resellers, it means quicker deployments, less support chaos, and a stickier product that merchants won’t want to leave.

As Mony Zenou, Founder & CEO of Dejavoo, puts it:

“This partnership is all about making payments effortless—for merchants, ISVs, and resellers.”

And Satheesh Kanchi, CEO of OneHubPOS, says it best:

“We built this integration to cut through the noise. Merchants and resellers want plug-and-play simplicity, not tangled tech.”

Why It’s a Game-Changer for the POS Industry

Let’s not mince words: the POS industry has been overdue for disruption. Legacy systems promised “all-in-one” but delivered “all-over-the-place.”

OneHubPOS x Dejavoo isn’t another patch. It’s a reset button.
It’s the kind of bold integration that signals where the industry is headed: open, flexible, merchant-first.

And if you’re in the business of moving fast, staying competitive, and keeping margins intact—that’s exactly where you want to be.

Ready to See It in Action?

The integration is live. Merchants, ISVs, resellers — it’s time to stop fighting your POS and start letting it work for you. Book a free 30-minute demo to experience the difference.

Running a restaurant isn’t only about serving good food — it’s about serving it efficiently. In today’s fast-paced dining world, long wait times, slow checkouts, and bottlenecks can hurt both guest satisfaction and profitability.

That’s why more and more operators are adopting mobile POS (mPOS). By putting ordering and payments directly in the hands of staff, restaurants are reporting up to 50% faster service. For resellers, this is an opportunity to bring a proven, revenue-boosting solution to your clients.

💡 What is Mobile POS (mPOS)?

mPOS (Mobile Point of Sale) is a handheld POS system — usually a tablet or dedicated terminal — that allows staff to take orders, process payments, and even manage transactions anywhere in the restaurant. Unlike traditional POS systems that are fixed to a counter, mPOS moves with your team: to the table, into the line, outside on the patio, or even on delivery runs.

In other words, mPOS untethers your service from the counter and gives staff the flexibility to serve guests wherever they are.

🏪 What Type of Businesses Should Use Mobile POS?

While restaurants are the largest adopters, the use cases for mobile POS go well beyond foodservice:

• Full-Service Restaurants (FSRs): Speed up table turns, improve server tips, and make payments seamless.
• Quick-Service Restaurants (QSRs): Line-busting during peak hours keeps queues short and customers happy.
• Cafés and Coffee Shops: Manage morning rushes efficiently with faster ordering and payments.
• Bars and Breweries: Tableside pay reduces abandoned tabs and helps staff serve more.
• Food Trucks & Pop-Ups: Lightweight devices make selling anywhere possible.
• Small Retail Stores: Boutique and convenience shops can check out customers faster.
• Service Providers: Plumbers, electricians, and home-service professionals can accept card payments on-site via mPOS.
• Event Vendors: Merchants at fairs, festivals, and stadiums can process high volumes quickly.
• Delivery Services: Couriers can collect payments on mPOS at the customer’s doorstep.

For resellers, this wide applicability opens multiple verticals, but restaurants remain the highest-value segment where the impact of mPOS is most visible.

🍴 Benefits of Using Mobile POS in Restaurants

From faster service to happier guests, mobile POS (mPOS) brings measurable improvements across every corner of your restaurant.

1. Faster Service: No more trips back and forth to a counter. Orders and payments happen where the guests are, shaving minutes off every transaction.
   
2. Better Guest Experience: Guests don’t want to wait for checks or stand in long queues. mPOS aligns with modern expectations of speed and convenience.
   
3. Higher Revenue Potential: More table turns = more covers. Faster service during rush hours means you don’t lose customers to long waits.
   
4. Improved Staff Efficiency: Servers spend less time walking, more time engaging with guests. That translates into higher tips and better morale.
   
5. Scalable Growth: As your business grows, adding more handheld devices is much cheaper than expanding traditional POS terminals.

📈 How Mobile POS Improves Restaurant Operations

mPOS or mobile POS isn’t just about speed — it makes day-to-day operations more reliable. By sending orders straight to the kitchen, accuracy improves. With fewer errors, voids, and remakes, restaurants cut down on food waste and costs, while staff stay focused on guests instead of terminals. The result: smoother service, happier customers, and better margins.

Mobile POS (mPOS) vs Traditional POS: A  Quick Comparison 📊

While traditional POS systems have been the norm for years, mPOS offers a more flexible and efficient alternative, particularly for a restaurant business. See how the two compare:

How to Cut Wait Times by up to 50% with mPOS

Getting a 50% reduction in wait times isn’t about luck — it’s about planning how mPOS fits into your operations. Here’s how restaurants make it happen:

1. Map your bottlenecks: Start by timing your guest journey: greeting, order-taking, drinks, food delivery, payment. You’ll quickly see where the minutes are being lost. In many restaurants, the biggest delays are at the ordering stage and during payment.

2. Deploy handhelds strategically: Don’t just hand every staff member a device. Assign handhelds to where they’ll have the most impact: one in the line during lunch rush, one for patio service, and others for tableside orders. This ensures maximum coverage during busy times.

3. Make pay-at-table the default: Most delays in full-service restaurants happen when waiting for the check to be processed. With mPOS, servers can present the bill, accept tap/chip/wallet payments, and close the check in under a minute — all at the table. This alone can cut meal times by over 10%.

4. Simplify ordering with smart menus: Use mPOS to enforce required modifiers and set up smart defaults. This reduces ordering errors and prevents kitchen confusion. Fewer mistakes mean smoother operations and faster ticket times.

5. Track and optimize continuously: Implement mPOS with clear metrics in mind: average ticket time, % of pay-at-table transactions, table turns per shift, and guest feedback. Share wins with your staff — when servers see they can serve more tables (and earn more tips), adoption skyrockets.

Following these steps, many restaurants report consistent gains of 15–25% faster service within weeks of implementation.

▶️ OneHubPOS × Dejavoo: Built for Speed and Reliability

At OneHubPOS, we’ve partnered with Dejavoo to bring restaurants and other small businesses a POS system built for speed. Dejavoo’s Android P-Line terminals are fast, durable, and secure — perfect for mobility. With EMV, contactless, and PIN debit support, they accept every payment method your guests prefer.

When paired with OneHubPOS software, businesses get:

• Real-time sync for accurate order flow.
• Plug-and-play setup for easy onboarding.
• Reliable payouts backed by Loomis.

For restaurant owners, this means happier guests and higher revenue. For resellers, it’s a solution that sells itself.

Ready to see mobile POS in action? Book a free demo with us and experience how OneHubPOS × Dejavoo can speed up your service. ⚡

Every November, right between the chaos of Black Friday and the click-frenzy of Cyber Monday, comes a quieter revolution: Small Business Saturday (SBS).

What started as a simple idea in 2010 — encouraging shoppers to support their neighborhood stores — has now grown into a $17 billion movement that fuels local economies and strengthens communities.

At OneHubPOS, we work with small businesses every single day. But SBS is a reminder that when you shop small, you’re doing something much bigger.

What is Small Business Saturday?

Launched by American Express in 2010, Small Business Saturday is all about choosing local over large chains. It falls on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and shines a spotlight on independently owned shops, cafés, restaurants, and service providers.

From the very first year — when 103 million shoppers took part — to today, the numbers have only grown. In 2023 alone, Americans spent an incredible $17 billion in local businesses on SBS.

A Quick Look Back: How Small Business Saturday Took Off?

Over the years, Small Business Saturday has gone from a spark to a movement that fuels billions in spending. What began in 2010 as a boost for small businesses has since seen explosive growth, national recognition, and resilience—even during the pandemic.

Why It Matters?

For decades, holiday shopping meant big-box stores and global e-commerce giants. Small businesses often got drowned out. SBS changed that — it gave local owners a platform and reminded shoppers that every latte, gift, or meal bought locally keeps money in the community.

But here’s the best part: Small Business Saturday isn’t just one day anymore.

It’s become a year-round mindset, fueled by:

• Social media buzz – Shoppers proudly post their finds with #ShopSmall.
  
• E-commerce tools – Local charm now reaches national audiences online.
  
• Digital payments & cloud POS – Helping small shops compete with the big players.
  
  

During 2020 alone, small businesses reported a 300% spike in online sales over the SBS weekend. That’s proof of resilience, agility, and community support.

See Also: Why Customers Show Up on Small Business Saturday? And How Your Store Can Make This Year Your Best One Yet

Beyond Shopping: The Ripple Effect

When you shop small, you’re not just buying a product, you’re fueling a ripple effect:

✨ Local jobs – Every dollar spent helps keep neighbors employed.
✨ Neighborhood revival – Thriving shops bring life back to communities.
✨ Innovation & creativity – Small businesses are where big ideas are born.
✨ Sustainable choices – Local sourcing means lower carbon footprints.

5 Ways to Make the Most of Small Business Saturday 2025

1. Plan ahead – Make a list of local shops you want to visit.
   
2. Shop & share – Post your purchases with #ShopSmall to spread the love.
   
3. Think beyond retail – Book services, grab takeout, or buy gift cards.
   
4. Leave a review – A five-star rating can do wonders for a local business.
   
5. Keep it going – Support small businesses year-round, not just one day.
   

OneHubPOS Champions Small Businesses Every Day

Small Business Saturday may happen once a year, but for us, every day is SBS. From corner cafés and liquor stores to boutiques and family-owned restaurants, we exist to make small businesses stronger.

📊 Smarter insights – Data that helps owners make better decisions.

⚖️ A level playing field – Enterprise-grade tools at small-business prices.

🎉 A celebration of entrepreneurship – Because local dreamers deserve big support.

This Small Business Saturday…

Take a stroll down your main street. Order from the restaurant that remembers your name. Pick up a gift from the boutique that curates with care. Share their story online.

Because when you shop small, you help build something big: stronger communities, thriving neighborhoods, and a future where local businesses shine.

Thinking of Starting Your Business This Small Business Saturday?

We've handpicked some trending small business ideas in different US cities. In case you're planning to startup this SBS, this list is certainly worth looking at:

1. 10 Small Business Ideas to Start in Chicago
2. 10 Promising Small Business Ideas to Start in San Francisco
3. 12 Promising Small Business Ideas to Start in Los Angeles in 2025
4. Top 10 Small Businesses to Start in Texas in 2025

Running a small business like a restaurant, liquor store, or retail shop means juggling a hundred moving parts — staff, customers, inventory, and payments. At the center of it all is your POS system– to make your life easier. Period.

The problem? Most POS systems don’t. They are all rigid, expensive and rarely reflect your business’s identity.

The Problem With Most POS Systems

Most small businesses start with what’s readily available: a POS system bundled with a payment provider offered by a well-known vendor. These systems are quick to set up and take care of the basics like ringing up sales, processing payments, and printing receipts.

But they also come with built-in limitations:

• Your brand takes a backseat — the vendor’s name shows up on receipts, apps, and loyalty programs.
  
• Customization is minimal, so you end up bending your business to fit the software instead of the other way around.
  
• Scaling becomes painful as your needs change.
  

Some larger brands avoid this by building their own custom POS systems. That gives them control, but it also costs a fortune and takes months, or years, to develop. For most restaurants and liquor stores, that’s not a realistic option.

What Exactly Is a White Label POS System?

Think of a white label POS as the best of both worlds. It works right out of the box like a vendor-branded POS, but still gives you the flexibility of a custom system, without the high costs or long wait.

That means:

• Receipts that carry your logo, turning every transaction into a brand touchpoint.
• Customer screens in your colors, giving shoppers a seamless and consistent experience.
• Loyalty programs and promotions under your name, keeping customers connected to your business.

To your customers, it feels like your business built its own technology. Behind the scenes, it’s proven, reliable software designed to grow with you.

Why White Label POS Is Gaining Ground

Cloud-based POS systems have already become the norm. The next step is ownership — businesses want technology that feels like their own. That’s why more restaurants and liquor stores are choosing a white label POS in 2025. It combines:

• Speed and simplicity of vendor-branded POS.
• Control and flexibility of custom-built solutions.
• Pricing that actually works for small businesses.

With a white label POS, you don’t have to settle for cookie-cutter software or spend a fortune building your own.

White Label POS vs Vendor-branded POS vs Custom-built POS: A Quick Comparison

Real-World Impact

Restaurant chain boosts revenue by 25%

A multi-location restaurant chain rolled out a white label POS to unify operations and put its brand front and center. Within a year, the system drove a 25% increase in revenue, thanks to branded loyalty programs, centralized reporting, and a smoother customer experience that kept diners coming back.

Franchise network achieves 18% sales growth

A nationwide franchise network adopted a white label POS to maintain consistent branding and streamline day-to-day operations across all outlets. The result was an 18% jump in sales, with franchisees benefiting from both improved efficiency and stronger brand cohesion.

Retail group lifts repeat purchases by 20%

A retail group integrated a white label POS with customizable loyalty features and CRM tools. This upgrade created more personalized promotions and customer touchpoints, leading to a 20% boost in repeat purchases and measurable improvements in long-term customer engagement.

How to Pick the Right White Label POS?

Not every provider gives you the same level of control. Before choosing a white label POS, ask:

• Can I put my branding on every customer touchpoint? 
• Does it integrate with tools I already use, like payments, accounting or delivery apps?
  
• How easy will onboarding and support be for my team?
  
• Are the costs transparent, with no hidden fees?
  
• Is there a roadmap for future features like kiosks, e-commerce, and advanced analytics?
  

A true white label POS should feel like it belongs entirely to your business.

Why OneHubPOS Works for Small Businesses

OneHubPOS was built with restaurants, liquor stores, and retail owners in mind. It gives you the speed of an off-the-shelf POS, the flexibility of a custom system, and the affordability that small businesses need.

• Brand-first setup: Your logo, colors, and receipts — not the vendor’s.
  
• Processor-agnostic: Works with any payment processor, giving you the freedom to choose what’s best for your business.
  
• Industry-specific solutions: Add-on any module including Loyalty programs, kiosks, online ordering, inventory management, cash management and more.
  
• Quick onboarding: Effective and hands-on training so your staff can hit the ground running.
  
• Future-ready: A product roadmap that refines every day tasks, gives more time on your hand, and keeps your data tracked.
  
• 24/7 support: Always-on assistance to keep your business running smoothly, anytime you need it.

‍

🚀 Ready to experience it yourself? Book a free demo with OneHubPOS and launch your own branded POS in just a few days.

Warm lights, the smell of freshly ground coffee beans, a quiet hum of indie music in the background, and a community of regulars who greet you by name every morning. 

Isn’t this your dream of owning a café? 

But if you’re seriously considering turning that dream into reality, you’re probably asking yourself a bunch of questions already:

• How much does it cost to open a café?
• Where should I open it?
• What kind of technology do I need to run it smoothly?
• And how do I make sure I don’t burn cash in the first 6 months?

… and more.

Truth is, launching a café today requires more than just a passion for coffee. It demands smart planning, budgeting, the right licenses, and some tech to make everything easier in the long run.

This blog covers opening a cafe checklist, cost and licensing breakdown, how to choose the best POS system for cafe businesses, and how OneHubPOS streamlines the entire process. Let’s begin!

What Should It Be Like to Open a Café in 2025?

If you're planning to open a café and want it to thrive in 2025, you’ll need to build it for today’s world, not yesterday’s coffee shop norms. So, what do you need? 

Well…

• A cozy yet modern café with modular seating areas, some for casual catch-ups, others for deep-focus work sessions
• Free high-speed Wi-Fi and ample charging ports
• Subtle signage encouraging a “coworking-friendly” environment 
• QR codes at the table to view the digital menu, place their order, and pay, all within seconds

You’ll also need a smart cafe POS system that not only manages billing but also:

• Tracks which pastries are selling fastest
• Alerts the team when it’s time to restock almond milk
• Sends a push notification to loyal customers when there’s a mid-week promo
• Seamlessly syncs with Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub to handle remote orders

Consequently, your staff focuses on genuine customer service because your tech stack takes care of the rest. And most importantly, you’re running lean. Smart systems = reduced waste, better insights, and smoother operations.

That’s what a modern café should look like today: agile, digital, and designed around real customer behaviors. It amplifies the soul of a café with convenience, comfort, and efficiency.

Aspect-by-Aspect Guide to Opening a Café

Every decision you make to open your café affects your budget. Let’s walk through each step and how it impacts your costs.

Your Vision and Business Plan

Before buying beans or picking tiles, get crystal clear on your concept.

Are you going for a rustic Italian espresso bar? A hipster brunch café? A productivity-first coffee workspace? Your theme affects:

• Interior design costs
• Furniture & lighting
• Menu ingredients
• Even the uniforms your staff wears

Coming to your target audience and USP. Are you catering to young professionals, digital nomads, college students, or families? Your audience decides your:

• Pricing strategy: If your crowd’s mostly students or budget coffee lovers, you probably can’t charge $7 for a latte. Know who you're serving.
• Portion sizes: Big eaters want filling meals. Busy office folks just want a quick sandwich. Your portion sizes should match their lifestyle.
• Seating arrangement: If you’re attracting laptop peeps and freelancers, they’ll need plug points and comfy solo spots, not just cute couple tables.
• Branding/marketing tone: Your tone depends on your people. Laid-back for Gen Z, clean and classic for professionals, earthy and mindful for the eco crowd.

Your USP? Maybe you’re offering the best cold brew in town, or a pet-friendly patio, might also require special setup, like dog bowls, leash hooks, tie-up stations, and shaded seating areas.

Then, where you set up shop impacts your rent.

• High foot traffic = higher rent but more potential customers
• Quiet neighborhoods = lower costs but slower traction

Also, do you plan to hire an agency for market research or handle it yourself? Even competitor analysis has a cost.

Legal & Licensing Requirements

Initial Setup and Recurring Monthly Expenses

Emergency Buffer & Breakeven Timeline

Business is unpredictable. Equipment breaks. Suppliers delay. Customers vanish. So, have some backup cash. At least 3–6 months of expenses. So if your café costs $10k/month to run, aim to keep $30k–$60k aside just in case.

Moreover, on average, cafés take 6–18 months to break even, while some might take 3–5 years to achieve reliable profitability. It all depends on rent, staff size, footfall, location, high-margin menu items, and aggressive marketing.

Choosing the Right POS System for Café

The best POS system for cafe helps you save time, reduce wastage, manage your staff, delight customers, and track your profit margins in real time.

• Inventory Tracking: It alerts you when stock is low, helping prevent over-ordering or running out of your bestseller coffee blend.
• Order Management: Handle dine-in, takeaway, and online orders in one place. It also keeps your team in sync. Eliminates the need to shout orders to the kitchen.
• Loyalty Programs & Customer Data: Track repeat customers, offer points or discounts, and personalize experiences.
• Delivery Platform Integration: You can directly sync your cafe POS system with platforms like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. No more manual copying of orders and no missed or messed-up deliveries. 

On top of the above features, look for the following POS capabilities to future-proof your café:

• Cloud-based access to check sales reports from your phone, whether you're at the café or on vacation
• Mobile/tablet POS, as portable setups for flexible billing or tableside orders
• Real-time analytics to spot trends, understand peak hours, or know when your best-selling muffin sells out
• Mobile ordering & payment to let customers scan, order, and pay from their phones using a QR code
• Staff performance tracking to know who’s your fastest barista or who needs more training

Remember, do not commit a common POS mistake of choosing a bargain POS system, as it may lack features you’ll desperately need in 3 months. Also, make sure your baristas find the POS system simple to operate. Choose something intuitive and easy to train. Your staff should be trained on the key features and shortcuts to operate the POS efficiently. 

Brew Your Dream Café With OneHubPOS

OneHubPOS is a café-focused, all-in-one system that helps you launch confidently, operate efficiently, and scale smoothly. Here’s how:

• From cozy corners with 10 seats to hybrid coworking cafés, OneHubPOS is built to match café needs. It supports dine-in, takeaway, and delivery. All from one dashboard.
• Get real-time visibility into your stock, best-selling menu items, and sales trends. No more guesswork. Just smart decisions backed by data.
• OneHubPOS integrates easily with Kitchen Display Systems, food delivery apps like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub, and payment gateways and marketing tools.
• Get round-the-clock support and a sleek mobile interface that works great on tablets and phones.

You just need the right mix of planning, budgeting, tech, and heart. With OneHubPOS, you’re investing in simplified setup, smoother daily operations, compliance support, and a system that grows with your café. Book a free demo with OneHubPOS today and see how we help cafés like yours win from Day One.

Opening a Café Checklist

Vision & Planning

Market Research

Licensing & Legal Setup

Budgeting & Cost Planning

Technology Setup

Hiring & Training

Design & Setup

Marketing & Branding

Operations & Growth

Struggling with staff scheduling headaches? Tired of tracking employee hours manually? What if you could manage your entire team with just a few clicks?

Running a business comes with endless workforce responsibilities. You have to ensure shifts are covered, track employee hours, and manage payroll. And the list goes on and on. 

The good news is that AI-powered scheduling, real-time staff performance management, and seamless payroll integration can boost productivity, reduce admin work, and keep your team happy.

This guide breaks down the best staff management tools that make running a business smoother. Let’s dive in!

7 Key Features to Look for in Restaurant Staff Management Tools

Managing staff effectively goes beyond scheduling shifts. The right tool should increase productivity, simplify daily tasks, and reduce administrative burdens. Here are the must-try features to look for:

1. Clock-in & Clock-out Systems

Manual attendance tracking is outdated. A digital system ensures accurate clock-ins, minimizes time theft, and simplifies payroll processing. Whether you run a coffee shop or a convenience store, tracking work hours should be seamless.

2. Time Tracking

Tracking employee work hours can help optimize schedules and reduce unnecessary labor costs. This is particularly useful for businesses like cloud kitchens and specialty stores that rely on efficiency.

3. Staff Absence Management

Last-minute scheduling conflicts can disrupt operations. A staff absence management tool that tracks vacation days, sick leave, and time-off requests in one place prevents gaps in staffing.

4. Performance Management

Employee development drives business success. A tool with goal-setting, feedback, and performance-tracking features helps managers recognise top talent and improve underperformance.

5. Role-Based Access

Not all employees need access to sensitive business data. A system that allows role-based permissions ensures security while giving employees access to what they need.

6. Scheduling Automation

Automating schedules saves time, prevents conflicts, and keeps shifts organized. It is essential for quick service restaurants, pizzerias, and food trucks where schedules change frequently.

7. Payroll & HR Integration

Seamless integration between staff management and payroll reduces manual errors and ensures timely payments.

5 Best Staff Management Tools for Businesses

Whether you run a small business or a large one, these staff management tools can simplify daily operations:

1. OneHubPOS: A Comprehensive Staff Management Solution

For small business owners looking for a powerful all-in-one solution, OneHubPOS stands out.

Clock-in & Clock-out System

Say goodbye to manual attendance sheets. Employees can clock in and out with a tap. This ensures accurate work-hour tracking. It is an ideal feature for restaurants, pizzerias, and cloud kitchens where shifts change frequently.

Time Tracking

Monitor employee productivity in real-time. For example, in a liquor store, managers can use a POS to track employees working late shifts or handling peak-hour rushes.

Tip Pool Management

Distribute tips fairly among staff members using tip pooling and sharing. This feature is perfect for restaurants, bistros, and food trucks. With this our POS, staff receive their fair share automatically, eliminating manual calculations.

Employee Profiles With Role-Based Access Control

Limit access to sensitive information based on roles with easy steps to set up roles and permissions. A restaurant manager can access payroll data. On the other hand, waitstaff can only view their schedules.

Best for

• Restaurants, pizzerias, bistros, and food trucks
• Retail and liquor stores with rotating staff‍
• Small businesses needing an easy-to-use system

2. BambooHR

If your business needs HR management with strong reporting and onboarding features, BambooHR is a top choice. Here are some of its key features:

• Employee Records – A centralized system to store and manage employee information
• Workflows & Approvals – Automates approvals for leave requests, promotions, and other HR processes
• Reporting & Analytics – Provides insights into staff performance management, turnover rates, and HR trends
• Mobile App – Allows employees to access schedules, submit requests, and check records on the go
• AI Assistant – A smart assistant to answer HR-related questions and speed up processes
• New-Hire Onboarding – Simplifies the hiring process with automated paperwork and welcome workflows
• Time Tracking & PTO Management – Ensures accurate work hour tracking and easy leave requests
• Payroll & Benefits Administration – Streamlines salary processing and benefits management
• Employee Satisfaction & Wellbeing Features – Includes tools to measure employee engagement and offer rewards

BambooHR is best for:

• Small and mid-sized businesses looking for a well-rounded HR and staff management solution
• Ideal for retail stores, restaurants, and convenience stores that want to automate HR tasks while focusing on business growth

3. Deputy

For businesses with shift-based employees, Deputy simplifies scheduling and compliance. Here are some of its key features:

• Employee Scheduling – Drag-and-drop shift planning to avoid conflicts and optimize staffing
• Time Tracking & Time Clock App – Employees can clock in and out with accuracy, reducing payroll errors
• Demand Forecasting – Uses data to predict staffing needs and decrease labor costs
• Fair Workweek & Labor Compliance – Helps businesses comply with labor laws and provide fair schedules
• Leave Management – Tracks vacations, sick leave, and unplanned absences
• New Hire Onboarding & Document Management – Ensures a smooth hiring process with digital document storage

Deputy is best for:

• Businesses with shift-based employees, such as quick service restaurants, food trucks, and ghost kitchens
• Particularly useful for businesses that must comply with labor regulations and need an efficient way to manage rotating shifts

4. When I Work

When I Work is an easy-to-use tool that makes scheduling effortless. Here are some of its key features:

• Employee Scheduling – A user-friendly interface that simplifies shift planning
• Time Clock – Tracks work hours and attendance without manual entry
• Team Messaging – Allows real-time communication between employees and managers

When I Work is best for:

• Ideal for small businesses with a few employees, such as bistros, specialty stores, and convenience stores, where scheduling and communication are top priorities.

5. Hubstaff

If you manage remote or field workers, Hubstaff offers advanced tracking features. Here are some of its key features:

• Online Payroll & Payments – Automates salary processing and ensures timely payments
• Time Tracking & Employee Timesheets – Keeps an accurate record of work hours, decreasing discrepancies
• GPS Time Tracking – Useful for businesses with delivery staff or field employees
• Workforce Analytics & Productivity Tracking – Provides insights into staff performance management and project costs
• Billing & Invoicing – Tracks billable hours and generates invoices for client-based work

Hubstaff is best for:

• Businesses with remote employees or field workers, such as small businesses with delivery services, liquor stores with mobile sales teams, or cloud kitchens that manage multiple locations

Manage Your Staff With OneHubPOS Easily

Staff management goes beyond tracking work hours; it ensures smooth operations, compliance with labor laws, and reduced administrative workload.

The right staff management tool helps with scheduling, tracking hours, managing time-off requests, and even handling payroll. You shouldn’t be stuck fixing errors or sorting through paperwork. The right system lets you focus on growing your business rather than dealing with employee management hassles.

If you need an all-in-one solution, OneHubPOS makes staff management effortless. With real-time attendance tracking, tip pool management, and role-based access, it’s designed to keep your operations running smoothly, without the extra hassle.  

Want to make staff management easier? Book a demo with OneHubPOS today!

As a small business owner, you might think you’ve found the perfect POS system to tackle your challenges. But if your team isn’t sure how to use it, you could be facing low productivity and plenty of order mistakes. Sound familiar?

Providing comprehensive training to your staff can empower them to use the POS system with ease and improve overall efficiency. We’ll break down the steps to help you train your staff on using the POS system effectively. 

Understanding the Heart of Your Business – Your POS System

Consider this: It’s Monday morning and you have a long queue of commuters lining up for your famous breakfast pancakes. Now, if you don’t have a POS, they would be queued up for a long time. The processes would be manual and time-consuming and lines would move at a sluggish pace. 

But if you have a POS, it’ll speed up the ordering process, ensuring every transaction is accurate and quick. It would also tell you exactly when to restock the ingredients. This means you would be able to service more customers in a short time, essentially boosting your revenue.

‍

Your POS system can remember repeat customers and their favorite orders. And when you sell that last slice of lemon cake, your POS system updates your inventory in real time. This ensures you know which product and ingredient needs restocking, preventing shortages and overstock. 

Sure, you know and agree that restaurant tech like POS systems makes their experience better. But it really only works if your staff knows how to use it!

Train Your Staff On These 8 Hacks for Optimizing POS System Usage

Training your staff with POS’s user-friendly features not only boosts their confidence but also makes daily operations smoother and efficient. To make the most of your training, use this handy checklist to ensure your team is ready to handle transactions, manage returns, and deliver top-notch customer service!

Getting Started with POS – Logging In

Training starts with the basics, and logging into your POS is the first step. Here’s how your team can get started:

1. Turn on the POS terminal if it’s not already powered on.
2. Locate the POS software icon on the desktop and open it. 
3. On the login screen, enter your username and password. Usernames are often case-sensitive, so pay attention to capitalization.
4. Click on the login button and you’ll be taken to the main POS interface. 

Starting a Sale

Initiating a sale accurately sets the foundation for the entire transaction — ensuring accurate order entry and efficient service. So, here’s how you can teach your staff to initiate sales: 

• Learn and use keyboard shortcuts for common functions, for example creating a new order.
• Use the barcode scanner for packaged items when available.
• Creating and using combo buttons for packaged items when available. 

Personalizing the Experience with Customer Lookup

Did you know that your POS system can help personalize your customer service? In fact, over 70% of customers expect that. Not just experience — when customers feel valued, they often spend more (reciprocity principle — the psychological urge to reciprocate generosity).

So, your staff needs to know how to personalize the experience for customers:

• Searching for a customer by their names, phone number or program number or loyalty membership name
• Looking up ‘Purchase History’ for a list of the customer’s previous orders.
• Paying attention to frequently ordered items, preferences, or special requests noted in past orders.

Boost Efficiency with Product Lookup

Product lookup is a process that allows your staff to retrieve product information based on a unique identifier—a barcode, product name, or other identifying characteristics. This ensures your staff can find and select items from your inventory quickly. It saves the time they could spend looking for a particular item or when dealing with specialty or seasonable items. Here are some best practices they can follow: 

• Double-checking for spelling to find the correct item
• Using specific terms instead of generic words. For example, instead of searching ‘soda’, search for ‘Coca-Cola’.
• Always confirming the chosen product matches the customer’s request
• Using category filters to narrow down search results.
• Knowing the procedure for when a product can’t be found.

Process Returns Quickly

Processing returns can be a tricky part of retail operations, can’t it? Let’s look at how you can train your staff to handle returns smoothly:

• If the customer has a receipt or bill, use the barcode or transaction number to find the  transaction details.
• Knowing what reasons to select the reasons for the return or  choosing from a  predefined list or entering additional notes.
• Printing or emailing the refund receipt 
• Confirming the return in the system to update the inventory. 

What if your customers don’t have the receipt, though? Use the customer's name or phone number to access their purchase history and look through the history to locate the transaction in question.

Easy Payment Processing

Efficient payment processing further speeds up your order processing and checkout, while giving a great experience to the customer. Here’s how to train your staff for payment processing:

• Asking  the customer for their preferred payment method.
• Once the payment is made, verifying the payment has been processed successfully.
• Offer the customer a printed or soft copy of the receipt.
• Depending on the type of card, prompt the customer to insert, tab, or swipe card as directed by the POS.
• Stating the change amount due while handling cash payments 

You would also need to train them to verify the authenticity of the cash, here’s how you can do that:

• Feeling  the texture — genuine dollar bills have slightly raised ink.
• Looking for color-shifting
• Holding up the bill to the light to check for the watermark. 

And for check-based payments: 

• Verifying that the check is properly filled out (date, payee, amount, signature).
• Checking for any obvious alterations or inconsistencies.
• Using a check verification system if available.

Hassle-Free Receipt Management

A POS system automatically generates receipts after customers pay. However, your staff will want to make sure the printer is always ready to print at a moment’s notice during rush hours, without keeping your customer waiting.

• Removing any remaining paper roll or empty spool. 
• Inserting new paper roll, ensuring it unrolls from the bottom.
• Testing the printer by printing a sample receipt.

Troubleshooting common issues: 

‍

• Paper Jam: Open the printer cover to remove the jammed paper, then reload the paper and test if it’s working.
• Faded print: Check if the paper is loaded correctly (that is, ensure the thermal side is facing the heating element).
• Printer not responding: Check all cable connections and restart the POS and printer. 

Applying Promotions and Discounts

Over 70% of US consumers are loyal to brands that offer loyalty programs and restaurants can leverage this trend to drive more sales and improve brand loyalty. 

Here’s how your staff should apply discounts at checkout:

1. During the checkout process, look for the ‘Discounts/Promotions’ button on the POS interface.
2. Selecting the correct discount type. 
3. Confirming the discount to ensure it’s reflected in the total.
4. Completing the transaction using the customer’s preferred payment method.

Think about your current operations. How smoothly could things run with a fully trained team on your POS system?

Simple and Effective Training Techniques

Now that we’ve covered the essentials, we’ll get into how you can make POS training engaging and effective for your team:

• Hands-On Learning: Interactive training improves overall performance while allowing your staff to become comfortable with the system quickly. So, if you’re running a restaurant, let your new server practice entering orders and processing payments on actual POS machines.

• Peer Learning: Peer learning improves learning outcomes while providing opportunities for authentic practice. Pair your new employees with the older ones for role-playing exercises where they can practice using POS in different scenarios together.

• Gamify Training: Gamification makes training fun, which could boost your baristas’ and service staff’s performance by up to 67%. So you could implement a challenge, like the ‘Barista Badge Challenge’ where your employees could earn badges when they complete various POS training tasks. 

Wrapping Up

Investing time in comprehensive POS system training benefits everyone—your business, your employees, and customers. By creating a structured learning environment, you empower your staff to use the system confidently and efficiently. 

OneHubPOS’s user-friendly design means your team can navigate the system with ease, reducing training time and increasing productivity. It is a powerful point-of-sale system and operations software that helps streamline operation and manage front- and back-of-house. 

Want to integrate OneHubPOS with delivery partners and third-party software? We make the integration quick and hassle-free! Not just that, but we manage your finances well to ensure you can focus on servicing the customers! 

With a well-trained team and a reliable POS, your business will run more smoothly and effectively. Plus, OneHubPOS offers the lowest processing fee in the industry — just 2.3% + 10 cents/transaction — resulting in cost savings and increased productivity. And remember, OneHubPOS’s support team is always available to assist if you or your staff encounter any challenges. 

So, are you ready to streamline your restaurant’s operations? Get started with OneHubPOS and see firsthand how it simplifies restaurant management!