Table Needs vs SpotOn

Why Table Needs

Table Needs is a real-time, end-to-end restaurant solution, hosting menus, simplifying sales and ordering, and managing payments — both onsite and online. Designed specifically for restaurants by restaurant people, Table Needs is the comprehensive, integration-free POS your restaurant, staff and customers need.

No contracts or surprise fees

What we say is what you get. That means no surprise fees, rate hikes or contracts that are full of tiny print and difficult to escape. Promise! Our mission is to provide total transparency, right from the start, so you can focus on running your restaurant.

Built for local restaurants

Table Needs POS is designed specifically for independent counter-service restaurants and food trucks. Our nimble approach gives you control every step of the way and is easy for both your staff AND your customers to use (they’ll love it!). 

Exceptional customer service

24/7 customer service. For real. Call, text, email, live chat – we are available. Have a question? We’re here! Something seems a little buggy? We’re on it. Ready to try something new? We’ll walk you through it.

Your success = our success

We are your cheerleaders, your supporters, your ride-or-dies. We want you to succeed, not just with our POS, but with every aspect of your restaurant. Our team is always thinking up ways to help you create more efficiencies, improve marketing, support staff, optimize workflows, interpret reports and more. Go you! 

Table Needs vs SpotOn

Table Needs POS does a lot, but not everything under the sun – and neither do our competitors. Here’s an honest restaurant POS comparison so you can make an informed decision. 

No Contract vs long-term contracts

When you choose a POS, you want to feel confident that it’s the best fit for your restaurant, your staff and your goals. Even after seeing a live demo and talking through all the bells and whistles with a customer success rep, there’s a chance that you’ll find some features, fees or system requirements that you later realize won’t work for your business. 

Table Needs offers no contract plans that keep you in control. You can add or drop features at any time, try out new products and start for free with a customized digital menu. And if you ultimately decide that we’re not a match, you’re free to go.

SpotOn also offers no contract options but only for their basic services. If your restaurant needs anything beyond a simple card reader (or similar level of service), expect a more complicated contract with various terms and durations. Why? SpotOn was created for retail – not restaurants. If your restaurant includes retail then SpotOn can be a good fit but most quick-service restaurants and food trucks will be more successful with a POS that was built specifically for the food industry. 

Free to start, affordable to keep

Every penny counts in your business and spending money just to get started with a new POS can be hard to stomach. Add to that additional fees, variable transaction costs, pass-through fees and murky service terms and it’s suddenly a very expensive first date.

Table Needs offers free onboarding, free installation and competitively-priced hardware to get you started on the right foot. After the initial set-up, Table Needs’ customers pay a set monthly fee starting at $99/mo and flat-rate processing fees for all transactions. That’s it. No guesswork, no surprises on your statement, no money down the drain. 

SpotOn starts charging customers right away for everything: a fee for onboarding and another for install, plus separate charges for POS, for menu engineering, for the KDS, for online ordering, for kiosks, etc. All of this can add up to nearly $1,000 just to get started. And that’s before you start paying for your monthly plan, transaction and processing fees and variable charges for hardware. 

Kitchen-approved Kitchen Display System (KDS)

Your KDS is integral to smooth, productive front- and back-of-house operations. It acts as a traffic officer and digital menu board that syncs FOH and BOH with ease. Without it, chaos ensues. 

Table Needs’ KDS was designed to make order routing and execution easy and efficient. Customize routing for your exact needs through the Order & Pay system. Then, watch how the KDS delivers orders in real time to the right station, be it cold prep or the grill, no matter if orders were placed online or in-person. Your kitchen staff will love the intuitive display and your customers will love receiving accurate food orders on time. 

SpotOn offers a KDS that works but, to be honest, isn’t loved by most restaurant staff. The display can be confusing and hard to read (which is the LAST thing you need during a rush). Customizations to routing and operations are available but only through a 3rd-party, which adds to your costs and takes time to implement. Plus, unlike many other kitchen displays, restaurants are required to purchase and use SpotOn’s pricey hardware.

Customer Service that goes the extra yard

Here’s the thing, every POS or merchant service provider website is going to say they have 24/7 customer service. But the real question is: What is the quality of that service? Are you going to be able to talk to a real person at the critical moment that you need to? And, is that person really going to be able to help solve your problem or answer your question?

Table Needs simply can’t be beat when it comes to customer service. From onboarding to ongoing customer support, we go the extra mile to resolve an issue, fix a problem, or answer a quick question. Each team member goes through extensive education on all of Table Needs products and is committed to our team mission and values – treating all customers like the partners that they are! In addition, our team is located in the U.S. and readily available to help when YOU need it most. Promise. 

SpotOn’s customer service can be hit-or-miss depending on who you work with. If you get assigned a knowledgeable, caring customer service rep right away then you’ll be well taken care of and your issues will be resolved quickly. However, it’s the luck of the draw. Some customers have reported long wait times, unhelpful representatives or suggestions for work arounds that don’t actually solve the problem. 

What surprised me most was how attentive and dedicated the team was. As mentioned before, they did everything they could to make sure I was happy and taken care of.

Jacob, Five Sushi Brothers

Restaurant POS Comparison Chart: Table Needs vs SpotOn

Curious how Table Needs stacks up to other POS companies? Check out our other charts: 

• Table Needs vs Clover
• Table Needs vs Square
• Table Needs vs the competition

Ready to learn more about Table Needs? 

Our experts can’t wait to answer your questions, walk you through a demo, and hear all about your restaurant.

Follow us for tips, news, and tutorials to run a successful small restaurant. 

Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter