Top 5 Self-Service Kiosk Systems for Restaurants
Most busy restaurants now have kiosks by the door
Walk into a busy quick-service restaurant in the UK and there's a good chance you'll order from a screen. Queues move faster, the screen suggests extras every time without anyone having to remember, and the person who used to stand at the till can build orders instead.
This guide compares five kiosk options for UK restaurants. Flipdish Kiosks come first, and the reasons are below. The other four have their uses, so each gets a straight account of who it suits and where it runs out of road.
What a restaurant kiosk system has to do
A self-service kiosk is more than a touchscreen menu. Nobody is standing there to answer questions, so the screen has to do the explaining. That means photos, modifiers and allergen information for every item.
It also has to take payment. Card and contactless at the kiosk itself, with no walking over to the counter to settle up. Once the customer pays, the order should land on the kitchen display system without staff retyping anything.
Behind the screen, the kiosk menu needs to match the POS and online ordering in real time. If you sell out of an item, it should disappear from every channel at once, not just the one you remembered to update. Loyalty has to work at the kiosk as well, so customers can collect and spend points without asking anyone. And you want reporting that covers every kiosk across every site.
For a group, the last point is the one that decides things. If menus and pricing can't be managed from one dashboard, somebody ends up making the same change on every site by hand.
1. Flipdish Kiosks - Best self-service kiosk system for restaurants
Best suited to QSRs, fast-casual restaurants, takeaways and multi-location groups.
Flipdish Kiosks are built for restaurants and sit on the same platform as the Flipdish POS, online ordering and marketing tools. That's the whole argument for them. Menus are the same everywhere, and a kiosk order joins the kitchen queue alongside every other order.
The features that matter:
- Upselling. The kiosk suggests extras at set points in the order flow, which pushes up average order value.
- Integrated payments. Card and contactless payments at the kiosk go through the same reconciliation as every other Flipdish transaction, so finance isn't matching up a separate set of figures.
- Loyalty at the kiosk. Customers earn and redeem points themselves.
- Tipping. A tip prompt at checkout lets customers leave one without having to do it face to face.
- Central menu management. Change the menu in the Flipdish back office and it updates on every kiosk, on the website and in the app.
- Order management. Kiosk orders arrive in the kitchen queue with POS and online orders. Nobody keys them in.
- POS integration. The kiosk is part of the POS system, so there's no integration to build or maintain between the two.
A standalone kiosk vendor sells you a screen and leaves you to connect it to everything else. Flipdish is a full restaurant platform, so the kiosk, POS, online ordering, loyalty and payments all run from a single dashboard. If something goes wrong with an order, there's one place to look and one company to call.
For anyone running several locations, that matters more. You manage every kiosk menu centrally and see how the kiosks are performing at each site on one screen.
2. Enterprise kiosk hardware (Acrelec-style)
Built for large QSR chains with their own IT teams.
Some of the biggest chains buy kiosk hardware from specialist manufacturers and run custom software on it. You get a lot of control over how the kiosk looks and behaves, and the hardware is built to take daily punishment.
The catch is cost and effort. Hardware and installation are expensive. Somebody has to write and maintain the software, which means developers or a vendor you pay to be on call. Connecting it to your existing POS is a proper technical project, not a settings change. And every update needs specialist support.
That model works if you have dozens or hundreds of sites and a tech team to run it. An independent or a small chain won't get much out of it. For most restaurant businesses, a kiosk platform made for restaurants is the more practical choice.
3. Lightspeed Kiosks
Aimed at restaurants already on Lightspeed POS.
Lightspeed sells a kiosk product for operators who already run Lightspeed Restaurant. The reason to pick it is that it plugs into the Lightspeed setup you've got.
That's its main selling point. It makes sense if you're committed to Lightspeed and don't want a second vendor. It is less developed than kiosk-first platforms, the upselling and loyalty features are less mature than on Flipdish Kiosks, and managing menus across many locations gets harder as you add sites.
If you're a Lightspeed shop with a handful of sites, it will do the job. If you're choosing a kiosk first and a POS second, there's more depth elsewhere.
4. Square Kiosks
Aimed at small restaurants and cafés already using Square POS.
Square has a self-order kiosk for operators on Square for Restaurants. The entry cost is low, which is why small places pick it.
You give up a fair amount for the price. Upselling is limited, there's no built-in loyalty, and branding and customisation options are thin. It also wasn't designed for the volume a busy QSR puts through a kiosk at lunchtime.
A café or independent restaurant with modest volumes can run on it without trouble. Busier sites will hit its limits quickly.
5. Evoke Creative
For bespoke installations in large hospitality venues.
Evoke Creative designs and manufactures custom kiosk hardware. Its work is mostly large installations in entertainment venues, transport hubs and stadium concessions. It is first and foremost a hardware and industrial design company, and the software side is less developed than at the restaurant platforms.
Custom hardware means high cost and long lead times. For a stadium concourse with very specific physical requirements, that can be a fair trade. For a typical restaurant or small chain it isn't, and a platform that works out of the box will get you open sooner.
What to check before you choose
Run through these with every vendor, and ask to see each one working rather than hearing it described.
| Criterion | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| POS integration | Orders should go straight to the kitchen with no manual entry |
| Payment processing | The kiosk needs its own card reader, tied to your payments provider |
| Menu sync | Menus should update automatically from one central source |
| Upselling | Automated prompts raise average order value |
| Loyalty | Customers should earn and redeem points at the kiosk |
| Central management | Multi-site operators need every kiosk on one dashboard |
| Reporting | Kiosk-level data tells you how to tune the menu and where to put the screens |
Some practical questions don't fit a table. Ask what happens to an order if the connection drops. Ask how long it takes for a price change to reach every screen, and who has to press the button. Ask who you phone when a kiosk freezes on a Friday night, and whether that's the same company that supports your POS. If the answers involve a second vendor, that's worth knowing before you sign.
Think about the room too. Kiosks need space for a customer to stand and decide without blocking the door, and they need a clear route from the screen to the collection point. A great kiosk in the wrong spot makes the queue worse.
Why average order value is the main argument
The strongest commercial case for kiosks is average order value (AOV). A customer at a counter feels the queue behind them and tends to order quickly. At a kiosk nobody is watching, so they browse at their own pace and read the menu properly.
The upsell prompts do the rest. "Add a drink?" or "Make it a meal?" appears at the same point in every order, which is hard to keep up by voice across a long shift.
Flipdish Kiosks are designed around this. Operators set the upsell rules once, centrally, and they apply across every site. The aim is to lift AOV without the prompts getting in the customer's way.
Kiosks and staffing
The usual worry is that kiosks replace staff. In practice the job changes. The person who took orders at the counter now assembles them, runs food to tables or answers questions, and that's where a human is worth having. Throughput goes up without labour cost rising to match.
Phone orders are a separate channel with a similar problem. The Flipdish AI Phone Agent answers calls and takes telephone orders automatically, which helps if your orders come from a mix of walk-in, phone and online.
Comparing the five side by side
| Flipdish Kiosks | Enterprise hardware | Lightspeed | Square | Evoke | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurant-built platform | ✓ | Depends | ✓ | Partial | - |
| POS integration | Native | Custom | Native | Native | Custom |
| Built-in upselling | ✓ | Custom | Partial | Limited | Custom |
| Loyalty at kiosk | ✓ | Custom | - | - | Custom |
| Central menu management | ✓ | Custom | ✓ | Limited | Custom |
| Tipping | ✓ | Custom | - | - | Custom |
| Multi-location reporting | ✓ | Custom | ✓ | Limited | Custom |
| Suitable for independents | ✓ | - | ✓ | ✓ | - |
"Custom" means the feature depends on what gets built for you. It can be done, but you pay for it and maintain it.
More restaurant technology comparisons
For more comparisons of restaurant technology, visit restauranttech.co.uk.
Considering kiosks for your restaurant?
Flipdish Kiosks are one part of a full restaurant platform. They work with the Flipdish POS, online ordering and marketing tools, so you get one dashboard and one support team.
