“What happens when the internet goes down?”
This is almost always the first question, and it should be. A POS that stops taking orders when the Wi-Fi drops costs you a full rush. SeroPOS has offline mode: you can keep ringing in orders and taking payment while the connection is down, and data syncs when it returns.
Card payments depend on your terminal and processor. Ask your processor how their terminal behaves offline, since some can store transactions and others need a connection. Whichever system you use, test it before you buy: unplug the router during a trial and see what still works.
“Does it connect to Uber Eats and DoorDash?”
Owners want delivery orders in the same place as everything else, with one menu to manage instead of three tablets on the counter. SeroPOS offers delivery-platform menu and order management today, and direct Uber Eats integration is rolling out in Canada.
We are careful about this one because the industry is not always careful. Many POS companies list delivery partners that work through a third-party aggregator or are still on a waitlist. Ask any vendor whether a delivery integration is live, direct and available in your province, and ask to see it working.
“Am I stuck with your payment processor?”
No. SeroPOS works with several card-present processors, including Global Payments (with the Verifone T650p terminal), Moneris and Gravity Payments, and with Stripe and PayPal for online and QR orders. If you already have a processor you like, you can often keep it.
If you are shopping for a processor, compare the effective rate (total fees divided by total card volume) and read the contract for terms and termination fees. Bring your current statement if you want a comparison, because we say we’ll beat your processing rate. But you are never required to switch processors to use SeroPOS.
“Do I need to buy your hardware?”
SeroPOS runs on iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets, Windows PCs and Macs, and works with standard ESC/POS receipt and kitchen printers from Epson, Star and compatible brands, plus standard barcode scanners and cash drawers. There is no proprietary hardware lock-in.
Most owners already have at least one device that will work. If you are buying new, our POS hardware buying guide covers what to get for each station.
If you want a processor-supplied terminal, Global Payments’ Verifone T650p is an Android terminal with a 5.5-inch touchscreen, a built-in printer and Wi-Fi, 4G and Bluetooth, which suits both counters and pay-at-table service.
“Can it tell me my food cost?”
Yes, if you set up recipes. SeroPOS Pro includes recipe management with ingredient-level food costing: link each menu item to its ingredients and quantities, and every sale deducts stock and adds to your theoretical food cost. Compare that with your inventory counts and you know where the gap is.
It takes a few hours to enter recipes for a full menu. Owners who do it tell us it is the most valuable setup work they did, because it turns food cost from a monthly surprise into a weekly number.
- Recipes and sub-recipes linked to menu items
- Ingredient stock deducted on every sale
- Low-stock alerts and purchase orders
- Food cost and profit reports
“Will it work with my accountant’s software?”
Most restaurant owners do not do their own books, so this question is really about their accountant. SeroPOS Pro syncs with QuickBooks Online and Xero, posting sales, tax and payments so the bookkeeper is not retyping end-of-day reports. SeroPOS also has built-in double-entry accounting, and connects to SeroBooks, our own accounting product, if you want the POS and the books in one system.
Whatever you choose, ask your accountant what they need from the POS before you finalize the setup. Usually it is sales by category, tax collected by rate, tips, card fees and the cash drawer, mapped to the right accounts. Getting the mapping right in the first week saves hours at every month-end.
“How hard is it to switch mid-season?”
Harder than switching in a quiet month, but doable. The work is in entering your menu with modifiers, setting up printers and payments, and training staff. You can import products from Excel, and SeroPOS includes guided setup, demo data, help articles on every admin screen and live in-app chat.
Our advice: start the 14-day free trial a couple of weeks before your planned switch, build the menu and test it in parallel with your current POS, then switch on a slow day of the week. SeroPOS Standard is $29.99 USD a month and Pro is $49.99, with no contract and no onboarding fees, so the trial carries no commitment.