By Business Type

Built for your trade, not adapted. Check that the product names your kind of business as its main audience. Several products appear in more than one category here, and the secondary audience often gets fewer features.

Which country it is made for. Many products in this group are built around one country's tax, excise or school funding rules. Check the countries listed on each profile before you shortlist.

Published price or quote only. The share of products showing a price varies between categories here. All 5 cake and order tools with statistics publish one, while 3 of 23 school and contract food service products do. Expect a sales call where prices are hidden.

Links to your till and accounts. A specialist system that does not connect to your point of sale or accounting package means typing figures twice. Ask what it imports and exports.

Catering Management Software (29)

A catering job starts as an enquiry and ends as an invoice, with a great deal in between: a quote, a menu, a deposit, a headcount that changes, a shopping list, a packing list and a delivery time.

Bakery Management Software (28)

A bakery works to a clock that starts the night before.

Brewery Taproom & Winery Tasting Room (28)

Making drinks and selling them are two different jobs, and this category covers both.

School, Hospital & Contract Food Service (26)

Feeding pupils, patients and residents brings requirements that a restaurant never meets.

Event & Banquet Management (19)

Selling private dining, weddings and functions is a sales job that ends in a kitchen job.

Farmers Market & Cottage Food Business Tools (10)

This category holds two quite different kinds of tool.

Vending, Micro Market & Unattended Retail (10)

A vending operator's costs are mostly in the van and the route, so the software revolves around knowing what each machine holds before the driver leaves.

Bar & Pub Management (9)

Behind a bar, the loss is usually in the liquid: over-pouring, free drinks, spillage and theft that a normal till does not show.

Food Truck Management (9)

A food truck has a small kitchen, a moving location and a queue that peaks in bursts.

Pizzeria Software (8)

Pizza has its own order logic.

Cake & Custom Order Management (7)

A custom cake is a small project.

Meal Prep & Meal Kit Business Software (7)

A meal prep business sells prepared meals on a schedule.

Butcher, Deli & Specialty Food Retail (6)

Selling meat, fish and cheese by weight makes for awkward software problems.

Franchise Management for Food Brands (5)

A franchisor cannot stand in every kitchen, so the brand depends on systems that show what is happening at each location.