Best picks

Independent comparisons — the right tool, software, or service for your situation.

• Best POS system for a single-location restaurant? For most single-location independents, Toast is the strongest all-around choice — built around how restaurants actually operate — but Square wins on cost for operators who need zero monthly fee to start.
• Best delivery app for a small restaurant trying to cut commission? Grubhub gives commission-sensitive independents the lowest available floor — Marketplace tiers start as low as 5% delivery commission, and Grubhub Direct caps at 10% — while DoorDash Basic and Uber Eats Lite both floor at 15% but deliver meaningfully larger customer pools that can offset the higher cut.
• How to choose working capital for a seasonal restaurant cash gap? For a seasonal restaurant bridging a slow-season cash gap, the right working capital structure depends on three things: how deep your cash dip runs, how fast you need funds, and whether your repayment can flex with your revenue cycle rather than follow a fixed calendar. A business line of credit suits operators who can plan ahead and draw only what they need; a revenue-based advance fits those who need capital in hours and want repayment tied to actual sales volume; an SBA 7(a) loan is worth the wait only when the gap is large, recurring, and the operator has two-plus years of documented financials. No single structure fits every slow season — match the tool to the depth and duration of your specific cash trough.
• Best payroll software for a small restaurant with hourly and tipped staff? For most independent restaurants with hourly and tipped staff, 7shifts Payroll is the strongest fit — it was built exclusively for restaurants, handles tipped minimum wage compliance and tip pooling automatically, syncs scheduling and payroll in one platform, and connects to 30+ POS systems, eliminating the manual handoffs that burn operators. If you're already on Toast POS, Toast Payroll's deep native integration makes it the natural alternative.