Square vs Toast vs Arryved: Which POS Fits a Taproom?

What to take away

The criteria that matter

A taproom is not a restaurant with beer. Most seats have no table service, tabs stay open for hours, and the same register sells a pint, a four-pack and a private event deposit. That mix decides which system fits.

Five criteria separate them. The first is how the system holds an open tab and splits it. The second is card processing cost on a small average ticket, where a 30 cent per-transaction fee hurts more than it does at a steakhouse. The third is production and pour-cost reporting, because a taproom needs keg-level margin, not just item sales.

The fourth is sales tax handling across on-premise pours, packaged to-go beer and merchandise, which carry different treatment in most states. The fifth is the payroll and tip record trail, since tipped employees and tip pools fall under federal wage rules you can read at the FLSA tip credit and overtime rules article.

Rates above come from Square's published pricing page; Toast and Arryved quote per merchant, so treat any single number you hear as illustrative until it is in writing.

Option by option

Square. You can start on a tablet you already own, and the published rate is the easiest number in this comparison to verify. The weakness is depth. Keg-level pour cost usually means a third-party integration, and support for a 40-tap draft wall is thinner than the bar-focused tools.

Square is right for a taproom under about 20 taps that wants to open next week and change systems later. If your volume is mostly packaged to-go, the simple rate structure holds up.

Toast. Toast sells a full operating system: terminals, kitchen display, online ordering, payroll and scheduling. For a taproom with a food program or a second location, that consolidation saves real administrative hours.

The trade is commitment. Hardware bundles and software tiers raise the entry cost, and the agreement usually runs multiple years. Ask what happens to your data if you leave. A taproom that also runs a kitchen should read the brewery and taproom stock control checklist before signing, because inventory modules only pay off if someone counts weekly.

Arryved. Arryved was built for breweries and bars, and it shows in the tab workflow: fast open, transfer and close, with production reporting attached. Pour cost by keg and by tap is native rather than bolted on.

That focus is also the limit. If you want one vendor for payroll, scheduling and food cost, Arryved is a narrower tool, and you will keep separate systems for those jobs.

A POS demo run on a Tuesday afternoon tells you nothing. Ask each vendor to process a live shift with your own staff before you sign.

Where each one wins

Square wins on speed to open and on a rate you can check before the first call. Choose it if your taproom is small, mostly card-and-go, and you want to leave without a negotiation.

Toast wins when the taproom sits inside a larger food operation. Choose it if you need payroll, scheduling and kitchen tickets in one place and can accept a multi-year term. Payroll setup matters here, and the IRS employment tax guidance lists what any payroll module still leaves on your desk.

Arryved wins on the bar itself. Choose it if open tabs, split checks and keg-level margin drive your decisions, and you have no kitchen to run.

What none of them solve

No POS files a TTB brewer's notice, a state license renewal or a sales tax return. The TTB answers growler and off-premise questions on its beer FAQ page, and the system only stores the transactions behind those answers.

Tax treatment still varies by state and city. A system that maps tax categories correctly in one jurisdiction may need reconfiguration in another, and Oregon's lack of a sales tax changes the whole pricing model, as the Portland taproom pricing and payroll guide sets out.

Tip handling is the other gap. Software can calculate a pool, but the employer still owes accurate records. The DOL recordkeeping fact sheet describes the hours, wages and tip entries you must keep regardless of vendor.

Before any of that, decide who owns the register on a solo shift. The brewery and taproom employee training sign-off covers that handoff.

Common questions