Lightspeed Restaurant vs Yiftee Merchant & Franchise Cards

Lightspeed Restaurant is restaurant management software built around a point-of-sale and payments platform. It supports customizable menus, screens and floor plans, with online, tableside and QR-code ordering. Restaurants, hotels and multi-location operators can use the system for operations including inventory, reservations, tables, staff scheduling and sales reporting. The cloud-based POS can keep working offline, saving entered data locally and uploading it when connectivity returns; master-data maintenance and eCloud evaluations still require internet access. Its front end requires the Lightspeed Restaurant iPad app, while the back end can be managed on desktop and iPad. Lightspeed also says the POS can run in a browser on Mac, PC, Apple or Android devices. The Restaurant Integration Hub includes hundreds of third-party integrations, and accounting sync can send sales data to QuickBooks, Xero, Sage and other software. Plans start at $69/mo. Restaurant has no free plan or free trial listed; a demo option is presented instead.

Yiftee Merchant & Franchise Cards lets merchants offer custom-branded digital eGift cards that work wherever Mastercard is accepted. Buyers can purchase cards online and send them by email or text for instant delivery. Recipients redeem in-store by tapping a phone at the register or providing the card number. Merchants do not need a POS integration, card reader, terminal, or other equipment if they accept Mastercard. Funds settle through the merchant’s regular credit card processing, with same-day payments stated on the product page. A dashboard lets merchants upload a logo, choose colors, write messages, and edit branding. It also provides real-time sales reports by location and time period, customer data, marketing tools, and multi-location management. The plan costs $29.95/mo and includes one location; each additional location costs $12/month. Yiftee describes the product as free to launch and offers a 10-day free trial. It is available on Android, iOS, and web, and is intended for individual merchants, restaurant groups, franchise networks, and retail chains. Yiftee was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.