Epos Now vs Flipdish: Which Restaurant POS Is Better?
Epos Now vs Flipdish: the short answer
Flipdish is the stronger choice for most UK and Irish restaurant operators. Epos Now provides a capable point-of-sale for straightforward hospitality operations, but Flipdish delivers a more complete restaurant technology platform — combining POS, online ordering, kiosks, loyalty, and AI tools in a single integrated system.
Epos Now suits smaller, simpler operations that need a reliable till and basic payment processing. For any restaurant prioritising direct online orders, multi-location management, or customer loyalty, Flipdish provides capabilities that Epos Now's add-on model cannot easily match.
What is Epos Now?
Epos Now is a UK-based cloud POS company founded in 2011. Its platform serves both retail and hospitality businesses across the UK, Ireland, and internationally. The Epos Now hospitality product includes:
- Cloud-based POS software accessible from any browser
- Own-brand touchscreen terminals and peripherals
- An app marketplace with third-party integrations
- Table management for sit-down restaurants
- Basic reporting and staff management tools
Epos Now's broad applicability — covering cafés, pubs, quick-service restaurants, and retail stores in the same platform — is both its appeal and its limitation. For restaurants that need deep, food-service-specific functionality across multiple ordering channels, that generalism shows.
What is Flipdish?
Flipdish is a restaurant technology platform built exclusively for restaurants, takeaways, cafés, QSRs, and multi-location groups. Everything in the platform is designed around the food service industry.
The Flipdish platform includes:
- Restaurant POS with kitchen display and dedicated hardware
- Online ordering via branded website and mobile app
- Self-service kiosks
- AI phone ordering
- Customer loyalty and AI marketing
- Delivery management
- Multi-location management from a single dashboard
The core Flipdish philosophy is one system for every ordering channel and every customer touchpoint. That integration is the central advantage over a POS that requires third-party tools for online ordering, loyalty, and marketing.
Feature comparison: Epos Now vs Flipdish
| Feature | Epos Now | Flipdish |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurant POS | ✓ | ✓ |
| Kitchen display system | Via add-on | ✓ (native) |
| Branded online ordering | Via third party | ✓ (included) |
| Branded mobile app | No | ✓ |
| Self-service kiosks | No | ✓ |
| AI phone ordering | No | ✓ |
| Customer loyalty | Via add-on | ✓ (native) |
| AI marketing automation | No | ✓ |
| Multi-location management | Basic | ✓ |
| Integrated payments | ✓ | ✓ |
| UK and Ireland support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Built exclusively for restaurants | No | ✓ |
The distinction is clear: Flipdish is a complete restaurant technology stack. Epos Now is primarily a POS with additional features available through a marketplace of third-party integrations.
POS and in-venue ordering
Both platforms handle the core requirements of in-venue POS: order entry, payments, split bills, receipts, cash management, and basic reporting.
Epos Now covers standard POS requirements for cafés and quick-service environments. Table management is available for sit-down restaurants. The interface is familiar and relatively straightforward to train new staff on.
Flipdish POS is designed for the food service workflow. When a restaurant runs online orders, kiosk orders, and counter orders simultaneously, all three appear in the same queue on the kitchen display. Staff manage one stream of orders rather than three separate tablets. During a busy service, that matters.
For a restaurant running in-venue only with no other ordering channels, the two platforms are comparable on core POS. Add any additional channel, and Flipdish's integrated approach becomes the operationally stronger choice.
Online ordering
This is the most significant gap between the two platforms.
Epos Now does not include built-in online ordering. Restaurants must integrate a third-party platform and connect it to Epos Now via the app marketplace. That means a separate contract, separate customer data, separate reporting, and a vendor relationship to manage.
Flipdish includes branded online ordering as a core product. Orders from the restaurant's website or app arrive in the same system as counter orders. Customer records are unified. Loyalty points accrue across all channels. There is no separate integration to maintain because there is no separation.
For any restaurant building a direct online ordering channel — reducing marketplace dependency and keeping more revenue — this unified approach is significantly more efficient.
Kiosks
Epos Now does not offer self-service kiosk hardware or software as a native product.
Flipdish kiosks are a complete product — hardware, software, and native integration across the full platform. A kiosk order goes directly to the kitchen display and is recorded in the same customer and reporting system as every other order channel.
Kiosks consistently show higher average order values compared to counter orders. Customers browsing at their own pace, without a staff member waiting and without a queue behind them, add more to their order. For QSRs and fast-casual restaurants managing throughput and looking to grow revenue per transaction, kiosk deployment delivers measurable returns from the first month.
AI and automation
Epos Now has no AI ordering or automation tools built into the platform.
The Flipdish AI Phone Agent answers customer calls, takes orders, and processes payments automatically — no staff required. For takeaways and restaurants with significant phone order volume, this removes a staffing overhead and eliminates missed calls during peak service.
A busy Friday service where the phone rings while staff are fully occupied is not an edge case — it is normal for many UK takeaways. An AI phone agent converts those calls into captured orders regardless of how busy the kitchen is.
Flipdish AI Marketing uses order history and customer behaviour to automate re-engagement campaigns. Getting a customer who has not ordered for three weeks to place another order costs a fraction of acquiring a new customer.
Multi-location support
Epos Now supports multiple sites with centralised menu management and basic group reporting. For a small group of two or three sites with straightforward needs, this is adequate.
Flipdish was built with multi-location groups in mind. Central menu control, location-specific configuration, group-level and site-level reporting, and cross-site customer loyalty are native capabilities — not workarounds. An operations director managing 15 or 50 locations can control pricing, promotions, and menus from a single dashboard. That is the infrastructure that growing restaurant groups actually need.
Pricing
Both platforms offer pricing on application. The relevant comparison is not just the two subscription costs.
With Epos Now, the full stack for a restaurant with meaningful online orders requires:
- Epos Now subscription
- Third-party online ordering platform
- Loyalty platform
- Any marketing automation tools
- Integration fees for each connected service
With Flipdish, these are brought together in one platform cost. Operators who price out the complete Epos Now stack — POS plus online ordering plus loyalty — often find the gap narrower than expected, with the operational benefits of a single system adding further value.
When Epos Now is a reasonable choice
Epos Now is worth considering if:
- You run a simple café, pub, or single-site operation with limited online ordering needs
- You want a familiar, competitively-priced POS interface
- You are comfortable managing separate vendors for online ordering and loyalty
- Near-term growth plans do not include kiosks, AI phone ordering, or additional locations
Why Flipdish is the stronger platform
Flipdish is the better choice for any restaurant that:
- Wants to grow direct online orders and reduce marketplace dependency
- Operates or plans to operate multiple locations
- Needs kiosks to manage throughput and increase average order value
- Wants AI phone ordering to capture peak revenue without additional staff
- Values a single unified system over separate tools stitched together
One platform means one onboarding process, one support relationship, one integration, and one complete view of your customer across every channel. That simplicity has real operational and financial value — and it compounds as the business grows.
See how Flipdish compares for your restaurant at flipdish.com.
The verdict
For simple, single-site operations with basic POS needs, Epos Now is a workable solution at a competitive price. For any restaurant with growth ambition — more channels, more locations, more direct revenue — Flipdish is the platform built to support that growth from day one.