Restaurant & Bar Payment Processing

POS that survives Friday at 9pm. Tips, splits, comps, and all.

Toast leads US restaurant POS by transaction volume; Square has the most installs; Clover dominates the bank-distributed space. We pick the one that fits your concept, not the one with the best billboard.

The US restaurant POS market is dominated by three names: Square (~27-28% of installs), Toast (~24%, concentrated in restaurants), and Clover (~5-6%, distributed through banks). Toast's average customer location does about $1.5M in annual sales, which tells you it serves established operators. Square skews quick-service and counter; Clover skews bank-referred small chains. We're vendor-neutral and pick the platform that matches your concept, then handle hardware, install, menu build, and staff training so the cutover lands on your slowest shift.

What we do for Restaurant & Bar

  • Clover, SkyTab, Union, Figure, TableTurn, and Exatouch installations
  • Tip pooling, server tip-out, and FSA-compliant gratuity workflows
  • Multi-location menu and 86-list sync
  • Dual pricing and cash discount programs structured into the menu (our #1 cost recommendation for restaurants)

Frequently Asked Questions

Toast or Clover or Square. Which one should I pick?

Clay Pay does not sell Toast or Square. Both are payment facilitators that bundle their POS with their own processing. Of the 16 POS systems Clay Pay sells, the right pick for a restaurant depends on concept and ticket size: SkyTab for full-service operators that want handheld payments and modern table management, Union for iPad-based cloud setups, Figure or TableTurn for tableside-heavy concepts, Clover for quick-service or counter-service. If your bank already pushed Clover on you, we can re-board the existing hardware to better processing economics. If you are committed to Toast, our work is on the processing side after Toast Payments.

Can I run a cash discount or surcharge program?

Cash discount programs are legal in all 50 states. Surcharging credit transactions is more nuanced: 47 states allow it but cap it at 4%, while Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine still prohibit it outright. We configure compliant programs with the disclosure language each state requires.

How fast does funding hit my account?

Standard ACH funding is next business day. Same-day funding is available on most accounts for an additional fee, which usually pays for itself once you stop floating tip-outs from Friday's batch until Monday's deposit.