Crunchtime vs Fourth vs Gulf CSM vs RistoGenius

Crunchtime is a suite of restaurant operations software for multi-unit brands, covering inventory and food cost, AI sales forecasting, labour scheduling, operational checklists and food safety, staff training, and kitchen display screens. Fourth is a cloud suite for restaurant and hospitality operators covering workforce management, inventory and purchasing, payroll and HR, and analytics. Gulf CSM (ガルフネットCSM) is a store management system from Japanese vendor Gulfnet for companies with many outlets. RistoGenius is an online management-control platform for restaurant chains, groups and franchises, built for multiple sites from the start. All four are listed under Multi-Unit & Enterprise Restaurant Operations. The main differences are in price, audience and platforms.

Key differences

  • price

    On price, Gulf CSM lists JPY 100,000 per month. Crunchtime, Fourth and RistoGenius do not publish a starting price.

  • audience

    Audience differs between the profiles. Listed by one product alone: Crunchtime: Multi-unit restaurant chains; Fourth: Multi-location restaurant operators; Gulf CSM: Large restaurant and retail chains in Japan; RistoGenius: Restaurant chains and groups (1 to 100+ sites).

  • platforms

    They do not run on the same platforms. Crunchtime: Web, iOS, Android; Fourth: Web, iOS, Android; Gulf CSM: Web; RistoGenius: Web.

  • countries covered

    Crunchtime names 3 countries, Fourth names 4 countries, Gulf CSM names 1 country and RistoGenius names 1 country. No country appears in every list.

  • integrations

    Crunchtime names 36 integrations, Fourth names 25 integrations, Gulf CSM names 46 integrations and RistoGenius names 5 integrations. No partner appears in every list.

  • security and compliance

    Listed security and compliance items: Crunchtime: SOC 1 Type 2, SOC 2 Type 2; Fourth: ISO 9001; Gulf CSM: ISMS certification; RistoGenius: GDPR, ISO 27001.

  • company background

    Headquarters: Crunchtime, Boston, United States; Fourth, Austin, United States; Gulf CSM, Tokyo, Japan; RistoGenius, Rome, Italy. Crunchtime names Merged with QSR Automations, LLC (announced June 2025); both are backed by investment firm Battery Ventures as its parent company, Fourth names Marlin Equity Partners (majority owner as of the 2019 acquisition; Insight Partners minority), Gulf CSM names Group holding company SIG Global Pte. Ltd. and RistoGenius names RistoAcademy (creator, per the vendor).

Side by side

Crunchtime vs Fourth vs Gulf CSM vs RistoGenius: side-by-side comparison from published vendor information
FieldCrunchtimeFourthGulf CSMRistoGenius
What it isCrunchtime is a suite of restaurant operations software for multi-unit brands, covering inventory and food cost, AI sales forecasting, labour scheduling, operational checklists and food safety, staff training, and kitchen display screens.Fourth is a cloud suite for restaurant and hospitality operators covering workforce management, inventory and purchasing, payroll and HR, and analytics.Gulf CSM (ガルフネットCSM) is a store management system from Japanese vendor Gulfnet for companies with many outlets.RistoGenius is an online management-control platform for restaurant chains, groups and franchises, built for multiple sites from the start.
Best forMulti-unit restaurant chains; Franchise brands and franchisees; Quick-service and casual-dining brands with busy kitchens; Operators focused on food cost controlMulti-location restaurant operators; Enterprise and quick-service chains; Hotels, bars and retail; Operators wanting workforce and inventory in one vendorLarge restaurant and retail chains in Japan; Chains that need custom features; Small and mid-size chains of 5 to 50 storesRestaurant chains and groups (1 to 100+ sites); Franchise networks; Operators who need cost control by site
Pricing modelQuote onlyQuote onlyQuote only, with a published entry planQuote only
Starting priceNot publishedNot publishedJPY 100,000 per monthNot published
Free planNot publishedNot publishedNot publishedNot published
Free trialNot publishedNot publishedNot publishedYes
ContractNot publishedSet by the order form (initial term not stated in the terms)Not publishedNone stated: the FAQ says there are no lock-ins and cancellation is possible at any time
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, iOS, AndroidWebWeb
CountriesMexico, United Kingdom, United StatesAustralia, Canada, United Kingdom, United StatesJapanItaly
LanguagesNot publishedNot publishedEnglish, JapaneseItalian
Number of integrations3625465
CertificationsSOC 1 Type 2, SOC 2 Type 2ISO 9001ISMS certificationGDPR, ISO 27001
Security practicesDisaster recovery with stated 15-minute RPO and 2-hour RTO, HTTPS, multi-factor authentication, encryption in transit and at restCloud hosting in US, EMEA and APAC data centres built to Tier 3 standards with zero-trust network design, Data processing agreement publishedSSL communication, access control and data encryptionNot published
FoundedNot publishedNot published1994Not published
HeadquartersBoston, United StatesAustin, United StatesTokyo, JapanRome, Italy
OwnerMerged with QSR Automations, LLC (announced June 2025); both are backed by investment firm Battery VenturesMarlin Equity Partners (majority owner as of the 2019 acquisition; Insight Partners minority)Group holding company SIG Global Pte. Ltd.RistoAcademy (creator, per the vendor)
Last reviewed29 September 202629 September 202629 September 202629 September 2026

Integrations

No partner appears in every list.

Named only by Crunchtime

  • ADP
  • Appetize
  • Baldor
  • Ben E. Keith
  • CBS Northstar
  • Ceridian
  • FranPOS
  • Gordon Food Service
  • Great Plains
  • Harri
  • InfoGenesis Cloud
  • JD Edwards
and 13 more
  • Lawson
  • NetSuite
  • PAR
  • Paychex
  • Paycom
  • Paycor
  • Paylocity
  • Performance Food Group
  • QuickBooks Online
  • Rippling
  • Square
  • Ultipro
  • Workday

Named only by Fourth

  • BlueCats
  • CareerBuilder
  • Cooper-Atkins
  • Digital Dining
  • Focus
  • HungerRush
  • Indeed
  • ITD Food Safety
  • Monster
  • PAR POS (formerly Brink)
  • Restaurant Manager
  • Snagajob
and 2 more
  • Lightspeed U Series (formerly Upserve)
  • Xenial IRIS

Named only by Gulf CSM

  • ADPS
  • apseeds
  • camel
  • COMPANY
  • conetto
  • Dr.Sum
  • Galileopt
  • GLOVIA
  • JOBPAY
  • OBIC7
  • PCA会計
  • PCA給与
and 34 more
  • POSITIVE
  • PROACTIVE
  • SmartHR
  • SMILEシリーズ
  • StaffBrain
  • SuperStream
  • TKC
  • ほぼ日払い君
  • ららPayプラス
  • インフォマート
  • エコミック
  • カシオ計算機株式会社
  • シャープ株式会社
  • ステアリテール株式会社
  • ピットタッチ
  • ペイロール
  • ポスタス株式会社
  • 勘定奉行
  • 弥生会計
  • 弥生給与
  • 日本電気株式会社
  • 東和レジスター販売株式会社
  • 東芝テック株式会社
  • 株式会社USEN
  • 株式会社スマレジ
  • 株式会社ダイニー
  • 株式会社ユビレジ
  • 株式会社寺岡精工
  • 給与大将
  • 給与奉行
  • 給与応援
  • 給料王
  • 財務大将
  • 財務応援

Named only by RistoGenius

  • Fatture in Cloud
  • Gourmandise
  • Ordermark
  • PEC
  • Ziogas

Which to choose

Crunchtime

Choose Crunchtime if you are in one of these groups: Multi-unit restaurant chains; Franchise brands and franchisees; Quick-service and casual-dining brands with busy kitchens.

Weaker fit: Single-site independents. The vendor describes its customers as multi-unit restaurant brands, publishes no small-business plan, and sells only through demos.

Fourth

Choose Fourth if you are in one of these groups: Multi-location restaurant operators; Enterprise and quick-service chains; Hotels, bars and retail.

Gulf CSM

Choose Gulf CSM if your business matches one of the audiences it is listed for: Large restaurant and retail chains in Japan; Chains that need custom features; Small and mid-size chains of 5 to 50 stores.

RistoGenius

Choose RistoGenius if your business matches one of the audiences it is listed for: Restaurant chains and groups (1 to 100+ sites); Franchise networks; Operators who need cost control by site.

Our profile lists a weaker fit: Anyone looking for a till or ordering tool. The vendor states it does not issue receipts or invoices to customers, take table or counter orders, or accept card payments; a separate POS is still needed.

What we could not confirm

Crunchtime

  • Any price, plan tier or free trial (demo only)
  • Contract length and renewal terms
  • Founding year (not stated on the vendor's site)
  • Employee count and funding
  • Official list of supported countries and languages
  • Whether the integrations page shows every integration, and which POS work with which product
  • Names of the mobile apps in the app stores beyond Teamworx

Fourth

  • Any price; conditions of the free year of HotSchedules promotion
  • Legal entity name and registration (several Fourth companies appear in the terms)
  • Current ownership (the latest ownership event stated is the 2019 Marlin acquisition)
  • Initial contract term and minimum length
  • Interface languages and the full list of countries served
  • Fourth iQ app platforms and availability dates
  • Employee count
  • Accounting integrations
  • Customer counts differ between pages (120,000 locations on the homepage; 15,000 customers across 100,000 sites on the about page)

Gulf CSM

  • Prices for the two larger plans
  • Contract term and renewal
  • Which platforms the staff apps run on
  • Whether Gulf CSM is sold outside Japan
  • Funding history
  • Independent verification of the 1,200 companies and 70,000 stores claim

RistoGenius

  • Any price or price range
  • Legal entity, founding year, headcount and funding (site gives only a Rome contact and the RistoAcademy name)
  • Named customers: the site shows four unnamed-company testimonials only
  • Which countries besides Italy are served
  • Mobile apps and hardware
  • Whether the ISO 27001 claim is independently certified

Go further

Crunchtime profileFourth profileGulf CSM profileRistoGenius profile

Other comparisons with these products

Sources

Facts on this page come from the pages below. Prices and features change, so confirm with each vendor before you buy.

Crunchtime, reviewed 29 September 2026

  1. Homepage: suite and navigationhttps://www.crunchtime.com
  2. Suite overviewhttps://www.crunchtime.com/suite-overview
  3. Company, offices, leadership, customershttps://www.crunchtime.com/about-us
  4. Inventory featureshttps://www.crunchtime.com/inventory-management
  5. Labour featureshttps://www.crunchtime.com/labor-and-scheduling
  6. Compliance ruleshttps://www.crunchtime.com/labor-and-scheduling/labor-law-compliance
  7. Teamworx apphttps://www.crunchtime.com/labor-and-scheduling/employee-scheduling-app
  8. Ops executionhttps://www.crunchtime.com/operations-execution
  9. Temperature monitoringhttps://www.crunchtime.com/ops-execution/temp-monitoring
  10. Kitchen displayhttps://www.crunchtime.com/kitchen
  11. Kitchen hardwarehttps://www.crunchtime.com/kitchen/hardware
  12. Host producthttps://www.crunchtime.com/host
  13. Insightshttps://www.crunchtime.com/crunchtime-insights
  14. Learning managementhttps://www.crunchtime.com/learning-and-development
  15. Integration listhttps://www.crunchtime.com/integrations
  16. Security and auditshttps://www.crunchtime.com/security
  17. Customershttps://www.crunchtime.com/our-customers
  18. Newshttps://www.crunchtime.com/press
  19. Merger with QSR Automationshttps://www.crunchtime.com/press/qsr-automations-agrees-to-merge-with-crunchtime
  20. Battery Ventures backing (press)https://www.builtinboston.com/articles/crunchtime-qsr-automations-merger-20250618
  21. Support hourshttps://www.crunchtime.com/support-policy
  22. Services and onboardinghttps://www.crunchtime.com/services

Fourth, reviewed 29 September 2026

  1. Homepage: positioning, 120,000 locations claimhttps://www.fourth.com/
  2. Company overview, customer claimshttps://www.fourth.com/company/about
  3. Offices and support numbershttps://www.fourth.com/company/contact
  4. HotSchedules features, apps, promotionhttps://www.fourth.com/product/hotschedules
  5. MacromatiXhttps://www.fourth.com/product/macromatix
  6. Workforce management featureshttps://www.fourth.com/solution/workforce-management-software
  7. Inventory featureshttps://www.fourth.com/solution/inventory-management
  8. Fourth iQ and named customershttps://www.fourth.com/solution/ai-intro
  9. Integration partnershttps://www.fourth.com/partner/integrations
  10. Renewal, fee changes, Fuego serviceshttps://www.fourth.com/legal/general-terms-and-conditions
  11. Hosting and securityhttps://www.fourth.com/legal/fourth-hosting-data-security
  12. Press releases: ISO 9001https://www.fourth.com/company/press-room
  13. 2019 acquisition, founding year, officeshttps://www.marlinequity.com/news/marlin-completes-the-acquisition-of-hotschedules-and-fourth/
  14. Data processing agreement (listed in sitemap)https://www.fourth.com/legal/data-processing-agreement
  15. System requirements page (listed in sitemap, not read)https://www.fourth.com/legal/minimum-system-requirements-for-all-systems

Gulf CSM, reviewed 29 September 2026

  1. Product overview, AI features, apps, customershttps://www.gulfnet.co.jp/csm/
  2. Feature listhttps://www.gulfnet.co.jp/csm/function.html
  3. Plans and prices, optionshttps://www.gulfnet.co.jp/csm/price.html
  4. POS, payroll and accounting linkshttps://www.gulfnet.co.jp/csm/pos_ticket.html
  5. Implementation steps and help deskhttps://www.gulfnet.co.jp/csm/support.html
  6. FAQ: go-live time, API, securityhttps://www.gulfnet.co.jp/csm/faq.html
  7. Company profilehttps://www.gulfnet.co.jp/company/aboutus.html

RistoGenius, reviewed 29 September 2026

  1. Single-page site: product, modules, pricing tiers, FAQ, contact cityhttps://ristogenius.it