Running a delivery-only or hybrid kitchen is a different sport from managing a dine-in restaurant. Ticket volume spikes, off-premises packaging, and courier hand-offs all happen on a timer. If the tools you rely on can’t keep up, food gets cold, reviews get brutal, and margins evaporate. Below is a deep dive into the most compelling POS (point-of-sale) and workflow platforms for the cloud-kitchen era in 2025.
Delivety: The White-Label Powerhouse
If you’re tired of paying marketplace commissions and juggling five tablets, Delivety stands out as the most comprehensive cloud kitchen management software on the market this year.
What Makes Delivety Different:
- End-to-End Control in One Browser Tab. Delivety doesn’t just bolt a KDS onto a generic POS. It offers interconnected modules custom-branded ordering site, an operator dashboard, a menu builder, a kitchen display, an assembly dashboard, and a courier WebApp, all in a single login. Because everything is browser-based, you deploy it on any cheap Chromebook or tablet.
- Zero Commissions, Predictable Pricing. As ghost-kitchen margins tighten, Delivety’s fixed-fee pricing (9 to 99/month for up to 10k orders) is a lifesaver. No revenue share, no per-order surcharges.
- Granular Workflow Configuration. You can define dish types (e.g., sushi, hot entrées, beverages), assign them to specific stations, and even customize progress timers. That makes it excellent POS software for cloud kitchen operators running multiple virtual brands under one roof.
- Driver Tools without Native Apps. Many small operators can’t force couriers to install yet another app. Delivety’s mobile-web dispatcher and driver portal solve that: drivers accept jobs through a URL, see optimized multi-stop routes, and mark deliveries complete, all tracked in the logistics dashboard.
Who Should Use It:
Independent ghost kitchens, multi-brand franchises, and local chains that want an affordable, brand-forward alternative to third-party marketplaces. If direct customer ownership and plug-and-play scaling are priorities, Delivety is an easy frontrunner.
Square for Restaurants: Flexibility Meets Familiarity
Square’s ecosystem continues to expand in 2025, and its restaurant flavor now includes a dedicated cloud kitchen POS bundle.
Strengths:
- Marketplace Integrations Out of the Box. Orders from DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub drop directly into the KDS, so crews don’t have to juggle tablets.
- Hardware Simplicity. If you already run Square terminals for card-present sales (pop-ups, brick-and-mortar, or food trucks), extending the same hardware stack into a cloud kitchen keeps costs down.
- Hybrid Dining Support. Square shines when your business mixes delivery, takeaway, and some on-premise service. One system handles it all.
Trade-Offs:
The driver management side is light. You’ll likely pair Square with a third-party dispatch tool or rely on the marketplaces’ fleets. For purely delivery-only brands, that can be limiting.
Toast for Digital Kitchens: Strong KDS, Deeper Data
Toast made its name in full-service dining, but the company doubled down on delivery workflows after the 2023 IPO. Its cloud-centric tier, “Toast for Digital Kitchens,” continues to pick up market share with multi-unit operators.
Strengths:
- Enterprise-Level Reporting. Menu mix, labor productivity, and dispatch times are all pulled into investor-ready dashboards. If you’re scaling to 10+ sites, this level of granularity is gold.
- Kitchen Runners and Expo Screen. Toast’s KDS features color-coded timers, auto-declining tickets, and an expo station for final checks, key to keeping a high-volume ghost kitchen honest.
- Loyalty Integration. A built-in CRM helps you migrate marketplace customers into a private loyalty program, boosting repeat orders.
Trade-Offs:
Toast’s pricing, while less than some legacy enterprise POS systems, is still high for micro-kitchen startups. Hardware is proprietary, and add-on fees (e.g., online ordering, marketing) can dilute the margin gains you’re chasing.
Lightspeed Restaurant: Global Reach, Modular Builds
From Canada to the EU and APAC, Lightspeed is often the fastest route to regulatory compliance and multi-currency sales. In 2025, its modular approach appeals to operators juggling international ghost-kitchen projects.
Strengths:
- Open API Marketplace. Need to plug in a niche delivery partner in Germany or a liquor age-verification tool in Australia? Lightspeed’s app store covers more ground than most.
- Omni-Channel Payments. Accept Apple Pay, Google Pay, and local wallets (e.g., iDEAL, Paytm) natively, no clunky gateways.
- Inventory Sync. Real-time deducts item stock across multiple virtual brands from the same prep area.
Trade-Offs:
Lightspeed requires a heavier setup if you want a tightly choreographed cook-line KDS. Some operators layer third-party tablets like FreshKDS or push data into a separate kitchen screen, which can get messy.
Revel Systems: Franchise-Grade Customization
Revel was early to iPad POS and still leads in enterprise configurability. Fast-casual groups think 30-plus sites favor Revel for its depth of field operations features.
Strengths:
- Multi-Location Menu Controls. Update a price or 86 an item across every ghost kitchen in seconds.
- Native Delivery Dispatch. Built-in driver tracking with SMS status updates to guests.
- Offline Mode. If internet hiccups hit your industrial kitchen park, the iPads keep taking orders and sync later.
Trade-Offs:
Total cost of ownership can climb quickly. Monthly SaaS fees plus a required implementation package place Revel firmly in the “growth-stage” budget category.
Flipdish: Digital Ordering With a Marketing Engine
Flipdish began as an online ordering front end and has since layered on POS, loyalty, and kiosk functions relevant for cloud kitchens wanting to open a customer pick-up window.
Strengths:
- Low-Friction Mobile Apps. Generate branded iOS and Android apps fast, complete with push notifications and re-order one-taps.
- Performance Marketing Toolkit. SMS, email, and auto-segmented promotions are built in; no third-party CRM required.
Trade-Offs:
Flipdish’s KDS isn’t as granular as Delivety or Toast. High-throughput ghost kitchens may need extra screens or manual expo checks to keep accuracy above 99 %.
POSist (now Restroworks): Focused on Emerging Markets
Rebranded to Restroworks in 2024, POSist remains popular across India, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, where multi-brand “cloud kitchens as a service” are booming.
Strengths:
- Hub-and-Spoke Architecture. Centralized control over tens of satellite kitchens, each running lean staff counts.
- Aggregator Sync. Menu and price management for giants like Swiggy and Zomato from one dashboard.
- Costing and Recipe Management. Ingredient-level variance reports help cut food cost waste, vital in low-margin economies.
Trade-Offs:
UI polish and driver management features aren’t yet at Western SaaS levels. Operators centered in North America or Europe might find support resources thinner.
Decision Matrix: Matching Needs to Tools
Because no two delivery businesses are alike, use the quick matrix below to shortlist the right cloud kitchen software for your model:
Requirement | Best Match | Why |
Under 1,000 orders/month, want own branded ordering site, tiny budget | Delivety Standard | $9/mo, full white-label, no commissions |
Multi-channel (dine-in + delivery) in one POS | Square or Lightspeed | Hybrid workflow, affordable hardware |
High-volume ghost kitchen (5k+ orders) needing deep analytics | Toast Digital Kitchens | Enterprise-grade reporting |
International multi-currency sales | Lightspeed Restaurant | Global payments, compliance |
Franchise with an in-house driver fleet | Revel Systems | Built-in dispatch, role security |
Emerging market, aggregator-heavy | POSist/Restroworks | Local integrations, rupee-friendly pricing |
Key Evaluation Criteria for 2025
If you’re building or upgrading a delivery-first operation this year, keep the following filters in mind when shopping for a cloud kitchen POS:
Open APIs. Even if you don’t have developers on payroll today, you will eventually want to integrate loyalty, accounting, or a custom dispatch algorithm.
Modular Pricing. Fixed SaaS beats per-order fees. Run the math on worst-case busy month volumes to avoid surprises.
Hardware Agnosticism. Browser-based systems like Delivety reduce capital expenditure. Proprietary hardware may lock you in or delay site launches.
Real-Time Driver Visibility. The only way to keep customers from spamming support chats is to show accurate ETAs. Native courier dashboards or seamless third-party plugs matter.
Menu Versioning and Virtual Brands. Launching a new brand for Sunday brunch shouldn’t require a support ticket. Look for drag-and-drop menu builders with staging environments.
Uptime Guarantees. Anything below 99.9 % is a liability. Ask for SLA documents, especially if you’re signing a multi-year contract.
The Bottom Line
Cloud kitchens succeed when you can produce consistent food quality at warp speed while owning the customer relationship. In 2025, that means selecting a platform that:
- Consolidates all order channels
- Guides kitchen staff with second-by-second accuracy
- Dispatches drivers efficiently (or syncs flawlessly with third-party fleets)
- Lets you brand the experience so guests remember you, not the delivery marketplace
Delivety checks all those boxes for the majority of independent operators and small chains thanks to its flat pricing, white-label flexibility, and browser-based toolkit. For hybrid concepts or large franchises, Square, Toast, Lightspeed, Revel, Flipdish, and POSist each bring specialized strengths.
Start with a brutally honest assessment of your pain points, whether that’s commission drain, KDS chaos, or scaling multiple virtual brands under one roof, then match the feature set that fixes the costliest bottleneck first. Nail that, and your cloud kitchen will be set to thrive in 2025’s hyper-competitive delivery landscape.
