(Editor’s note: This is the 12th installment in a series about opening a mobile pizzeria by Jason Cipriani, co-owner of Sips & Pies. You can read the other articles here.)
Prior to attending the 2025 International Pizza Expo in March, my wife and I made a list of goals. One of those goals was to find a point-of-sale (POS) system. At that point, we expected to have our health department inspection the day after we got back from Las Vegas, preparing us to open the following week. A POS system was one of the last pieces of the puzzle we needed to start selling pizzas.
Prior to that week, I was leaning toward a mainstream vendor, simply because it was the most ubiquitous, the fees weren’t excessive, and there was no monthly fee for the features we wanted. That said, I hadn’t purchased any hardware, so we walked into the expo hall with an open mind.
Meeting the Players
As we walked up one row and down the next, we stopped at every booth related to point-of-sale systems (among many others). After a very long day of walking, talking, shaking hands, viewing demos and exchanging business cards, we were back at square one.
We met vendors geared toward online orders and deliveries and other vendors offering add-ons to existing POS systems, such as customer-loyalty services, marketing tools or yet more delivery options.
There were a lot of great companies on the show floor – and some that probably would be a good fit for us if we were a brick-and-mortar operation or running our mobile pizzeria as a full-time business – but that’s not where we’re at yet.
And so, we came home, readied for our inspections and I got back to work overanalyzing the providers that had been recommended by friends and strangers on the internet.
What It Boiled Down To
Several services offer a robust lineup of features complete with online ordering, marketing, loyalty programs, delivery and so much more. While I tried to do an apples-to-apples breakdown of the services, I used three main data points to make my decision:
- Secure internet connection.
- Cost per transaction.
- Contract and fees.
Secure Internet Connection
Some providers require you to use a “dedicated data security router” to create a secure internet connection to your POS equipment. In a mobile setting, that means extra hardware and a monthly subscription for a dedicated 4G/5G hotspot.
Other services will work with whatever internet connection you provide – be it on your phone or a tablet using your phone’s hotspot.
Cost per Transaction
Like other service providers, many POS systems offer tiered services that restaurants can select from based on their needs. For the main providers I considered, costs per transaction varied between 2.6% + 15 cents, all the way up to 3.69% + 15 cents per card transaction. To access the most desirable features, it will cost a premium.
Contract and Fees
The final consideration was whether I was comfortable being tied to a contract with a POS service provider so early in my mobile pizzeria journey. Some of the service providers that require a contract sweeten the deal by providing the hardware needed to get up and running, while non-contract options might charge a separate fee to access the equipment.
POS Customer Service
During my research, I found countless posts online warning about the lack of customer support with some of the cheaper options for POS systems. My own experience proved these comments to be correct.
Like most things, you get what you pay for. And in my case, opting for the less expensive option meant I was on my own when it came time to set up our account and program it to use different locations and tax rates (one for the city and another for the county).
Some of my lingering questions – how can I send text message alerts to customers when their order is ready? – remain unanswered.
Monday Morning Quarterback
Having navigated this process and come out the other side, here are some considerations I wish I had prioritized when selecting a POS service provider:
- Customer service is probably the biggest factor I wish I had prioritized. Being a small vendor, it takes a lot of work to be seen and heard – be it with food vendors or with point-of-sale systems. Sometimes it’s worth paying more for a service to get the help I’ve desperately needed at times with our current setup. When a POS company doesn’t want to speak directly to someone who estimates their first-year sales are going to be under $100,000, that’s a red flag. Pay attention to those red flags.
- I focused our initial search heavily on being able to alert customers when their order is ready via text messaging. In my mind, it was (and still is) a better experience. I foolishly made it my North Star from the start, and in turn, I think that led me down some distracting rabbit holes.
- I should have focused on the ease of setup, use and the experience for my employees (and myself), because we’re the people predominantly interacting with the tablet. Meanwhile, a customer interacts with the system for maybe 10 seconds.
Now that we’re committed to a system, however, I’m going to make the best of it until we either make enough money to get their attention or outgrow it and find a more viable solution for our needs.
JASON CIPRIANI is the owner of Sips & Pies, a mobile wood-fired pizzeria serving Neapolitan-inspired pizza, in Colorado.
