The best EPOS system for takeaway businesses combines a fast counter till with built-in online ordering, so every order from your website, app, phone and marketplaces lands on one screen and prints to the kitchen automatically.
The stakes are rising. Lumina Intelligence's UK Foodservice Delivery Market Report 2026 values the delivery market at £14.8 billion, up 2.8% year on year. The same firm found that in 2024, company-owned platforms handled 26.4% of delivery occasions, so more than a quarter of orders already bypass the aggregators. A takeaway EPOS that cannot handle both channels leaves money on the counter.
Why does a takeaway need a different EPOS from a restaurant?
A restaurant till is built around tables, courses and split bills. A takeaway till system is built around speed, phone numbers and delivery addresses. If you are quoting collection times while a queue forms and the phone rings, every extra tap costs you an order.
The 8 features that matter
1. Online orders in the same screen
Your website and app orders should appear on the same till as walk-ins, with no separate tablet to check. That is where most double-entry mistakes come from.
2. Caller ID and customer history
When the phone rings, the till should show the caller's name, address and last order before you pick up. Repeat orders become a two-tap job.
3. Delivery zones and driver management
Set postcodes, minimum spends and delivery charges once. The till should then assign orders to drivers and show which are out, which are late and which are ready to go.
4. Collection and delivery time quoting
Quoted times should adjust to how busy the kitchen is, so you stop promising 20 minutes when it is really 45.
5. Kitchen display or ticket printing
Orders should route to the right station automatically, with modifiers such as "no onions" printed clearly rather than scribbled on a lid.
6. Card, contactless and cash in one flow
UK Finance's Payment Markets Report 2025 found contactless made up 39% of all UK payments, while cash fell to 8%. Your card reader should be part of the till, not a separate box.
7. Menu control from your phone
Sold out of lamb? Hide it from the website, app and till in one tap, from anywhere.
8. Reports you will actually read
Daily takings by channel, best sellers, driver performance and peak hours, delivered to your phone each morning.
What to ask before you sign anything
Before committing to any EPOS for takeaways, ask:
- Does online ordering come built in, or is it a third-party bolt-on with its own fees?
- What is the total monthly cost including card processing, hardware and support?
- Can you leave without a long contract, and do you keep your customer data?
- Is UK phone support available in the evening, when takeaways are busiest?
Common mistakes takeaway owners make
The most expensive mistake is buying a till first and adding online ordering later. The two rarely talk to each other, so staff end up retyping orders from a marketplace tablet into the till. The second is picking a system with no delivery features to save money, then paying for a separate driver app anyway.
Choosing the right EPOS system for takeaway growth
A good EPOS system for takeaway businesses is really an ordering system with a till attached, not the other way round. OrderApps combines its takeaway EPOS with commission-free online ordering, a branded app and a kitchen display, so every order arrives in one place and you keep the full margin on each one.
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Commission-free ordering, branded apps, bookings, and EPOS on one platform.
