Want to jump straight to the answer? The best restaurant payroll software for most people is Gusto or Deel.
Running a restaurant can be a payroll nightmare. Tracking dozens or even hundreds of shift hours, shift changes, tips, and overtime payments across multiple locations is complicated and time-consuming. Thankfully, there’s payroll software that caters specifically to restaurants.
This software can ensure you’re paying your employees accurately and on time each month—and some are even free.
The Top 7 Best Restaurant Payroll Software
- Gusto – Best for automated payroll
- Deel – Best for global restaurant chains
- Paycor – Best for building employee engagement
- Square Payroll – Best for seasonal restaurants
- Toast – Best all-in-one POS and payroll system
- Restaurant365 – Best for large, established eateries
- Payroll4free– Best free payroll option
Here’s a closer look at each software and what makes each of them stand out.
Gusto — Best For Automated Payroll
Your restaurant may not need a robust payroll system, but automating payroll tasks can streamline otherwise monotonous and repetitive payroll tasks. That’s where services from Gusto thrive.
If you’re jumping ship from another payroll system, Gusto can help you make that transition by taking care of data transfers and setup. Once you’re onboarded, you’ll have access to detailed onboarding checklists to ensure each of your employees is in the payroll system and ready to go.
Gusto can automatically file your state and federal taxes when the time comes—and sends you automated reminders if tax laws in your state happen to change. This makes filing taxes easy. Gusto includes this service in its pricing.
With Gusto, you also don’t have to worry about keeping accurate track of deductions, hourly or salary wages, or payday deposits, as it automatically pays every employee registered in your payroll system.
Once you’ve set up and customized how you want to run your payroll system, Gusto quietly runs in the background as you take care of the running of your restaurant.
Pricing levels for Gusto:
- Simple – $40 per month base price plus $6 a month per person
- Plus – $80 per month base price plus $12 a month per person
- Premium – Contact Gusto for a custom price
The most convenient payment tier for your restaurant will depend on the features you’d like access to. You’ll have to pay a fee per employee regardless of the tier you choose.
A good place to start is with the first tier, Simple, at $40 a month. Simple comes with access to full-service payroll in one state, along with health benefits administration, accounting, time tracking, and employee self-service.
Once you’re in need of more features, you can always level up.
Ready to try Gusto? You can try their demo or if you’re ready to dive in, sign up now.
Deel — Best for Global Restaurant Chains
Deel stands out as an exceptional restaurant payroll software, designed to transform the way restaurant managers handle their payroll and HR needs. For those seeking a seamless and efficient global solution, Deel is the answer.
Navigating the intricacies of payroll and HR can be time-consuming for restaurant managers, especially if you’re managing a global workforce. Deel makes it easy. It goes beyond merely processing paychecks—it delves deep into HR essentials, streamlining the entire process.
One of the standout features of Deel is its payroll funding — you can pay your restaurant employees’ paychecks with just a simple click. It takes the headache out of tax calculations for various pay periods, making sure your payroll is always accurate and compliant. With support for multiple currencies and a range of withdrawal methods, your employees can count on timely payments.
What makes Deel special is its ability to handle the intricacies of international payroll, taking the pressure off your team. You don’t have to grapple with confusing local laws and tax systems when hiring international staff for your global restaurant chain. Plus, Deel throws in its HR suite at no extra cost.
On the employee side, employees can easily manage their pay and personal information, which reduces the administrative burden on your end.
Deel partners with major payment providers such as Wise, PayPal, Payoneer, and Revolut, offering flexible withdrawal options while lowering international transfer fees.
Although pricing details are not openly disclosed on the website, you can contact their sales team for a quote.
Paycor — Best for Building Employee Engagement
Employee turnover in restaurants is higher than most other industries—a whopping 75%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. One way to reduce churn is to keep your employees engaged and satisfied.
Paycor helps accomplish this with features like streamlined onboarding and flexible payroll options to meet individual needs. Paycor also offers tools to help expedite the recruiting and hiring processes, too.
Paycor’s employee onboarding experience engages employees from day one. A mobile-optimized approach lets new workers fill out information, acknowledge required documents, and complete all the necessary paperwork without ever touching a piece of paper.
They can onboard at a time and place that works best for them, be it your front of house or their own home. This approach gives new employees a great first-day experience with your brand.
Employees continue that positive experience by choosing the best way for them to get paid. Paycor offers the usual direct deposit or pay card options. But it goes a step beyond with its OnDemand Pay feature. This lets employees see how much accrued pay they have at any time, even if payday is still days away. Then they can pay out up to 50% of their accrued pay at any time.
This can be a lifesaver for employees if they need a boost until payday and a benefit they likely won’t find at your competitor down the street.
Pricing options for Paycor:
- Basic $99 per month, plus $5 per employee per month
- Essential $149 per month plus $7 per employee per month
- Core $199 per month plus 8 per employee per month
- Complete $199 per month plus $14 per employee per month
These prices are not displayed on the Paycor website, and are subject to change since the time of research. Also important to note, there are additional setup fees for all but the Basic plan.
Square Payroll — Best For Seasonal Restaurants
Are you running a seasonal restaurant that works with contract employees? Square Payroll has features that make contract payroll tracking an easy process.
It takes the manual work out of tracking employee hours, timecards, taxes, and tips in one centralized dashboard, whether your employees are permanent or just with you for the season.
Square Payroll automatically files forms like 1099-MISC and lets your contractors set up direct deposit. Once your contractors download the Square app, they can clock in and out right from their phones and you can easily import their hours into your system. Do they want to see their payroll history? All of that information is available to them in the app.
With Square, you can also choose when you pay your contractors, with no limits to the number of times you pay throughout the month. Moreover, if you’re ever stuck at any step of the process, Square Payroll has a team of US-based payroll support specialists standing by to answer any of your questions.
Pricing options for Square Payroll:
- Pay Employees & Contractors – $35 monthly subscription fee, plus a $5 monthly fee per person paid
- Pay Contractors Only – $5 monthly fee per person paid
Square Payroll’s pricing is straightforward. With it, you get access to features like unlimited pay runs per month, automatic payroll tax calculations, time cards, an employee app, and even live support to help you set up your account.
You also have a variety of options for paying your workers, including direct deposit, check, or Cash App. And, if your restaurant is seasonal, Square doesn’t charge you for inactivity.
Square Payroll is a great option if you’re already using other Square software, as it all integrates seamlessly, allowing you to focus on running your eatery.
Ready? Get started with Square Payroll here.
Toast — Best All-In-One POS and Payroll System
An all-in-one restaurant solution like Toast is perfect if you’re looking for software that covers your point-of-sale system needs, employee payroll, and even employee self-onboarding.
Now, that seems like a lot to unpack. If you’re a smaller restaurant just starting out, Toast might not be for you.
However, if you’re managing a group of employees in the double digits and it’s taking you hours at a time to figure out accurate payroll, Toast helps make the process a lot easier so you can focus on growing the restaurant.
As far as running a restaurant goes, Toast is a robust solution that connects everything from your POS system to your back-of-house inventory count, online ordering system, and yes, employee payroll, too.
With Toast’s payroll and team management system, you’re able to automatically keep track of when your employees punch in and out, record hourly wages and credit card tips as sales are processed, have digital onboarding, and more.
Here is what the Toast pricing looks like:
- Pay-as-You-Go – Free depending on the add-ons you’d like (does not include payroll software)
- Essentials – $165 per month plus Payroll add-on
- Growth – $272 per month plus Payroll add-on
Toast offers a free tier for small restaurants that need to get up and running, though notice that it does not include payroll software. Essentials and Growth tiers both offer the Payroll and Team Management add-on package. This is one of four add-ons you may want to select. The others are:
- Order and Pay: mobile ordering and payment system for dine-in guests
- Delivery Services: automatically select from a group of on-demand group of delivery drivers for takeout orders
- Partner Connect: An integration marketplace
You can either get started with Toast here or watch a demo first.
Restaurant365 — Best For Large, Established Eateries
Larger, well-established restaurants need payroll help, too! If you run one of those, Restaurant365 helps you take care of more than just the basics, regardless if you’re an independent restaurant, a multi-concept restaurant, or even a franchisee group.
Fast-paced restaurants juggling a ton of employees can take advantage of Restaurant365’s onboarding and hiring features that ensure you’re making the best decision with its built-in applicant tracking system.
Once you’ve onboarded your employees and their paydays, you can be sure your payment calculations are error-free because of the software’s automated workflows and validation rules.
Restaurant365 also offers timely tax table updates, wage garnishment services, overtime pay, and tip-to-minimum calculations. Its payroll tools come integrated with HR features, so while your new employees can get onboarded by filling in all the necessary information through a self-service portal, they can also have access to payroll information that they can configure as needed.
These are the four pricing tiers:
- Core Operations – $249 per location per month – Helps restaurants control food costs and optimize labor
- Core Accounting – $249 per location per month – Helps restaurants grow efficiency by bringing back-office systems together
- Essential – $369 per location per month – Enables restaurants to grow profitability with a complete suite of solutions
- Professional – $459 per location per month – Empowers restaurants looking to simplify systems with its all-in-one platform
With Restaurant365, each tier is specifically crafted around a general goal, as outlined above. For instance, if your restaurant is at a place where it needs to streamline efficiency, the Core Accounting tier can help you make that goal a reality by enabling you to bring together back-office systems.
On the other hand, if you’re looking to simplify processes once you have a working system down, the Professional tier can be a more appropriate option. I recommend you head over to the pricing page to get a more comprehensive look into exactly what tools you get with each tier.
Restaurant365 also offers a useful online calculator where you can estimate the ROI of using its systems once you enter some key information.
You can also schedule a free demo to get a feel for its systems before making a final decision.
Get started with Restaurant365.
Payroll4free — Best Free Payroll Option
If you’re looking for a free payroll solution, you can use software like Payroll4Free.
If you’re an established restaurant, this option isn’t for you, as you’ll likely be in need of more robust features. However, if you’re a small restaurant that’s running on a shoestring budget, then Payroll4Free can be worth a try.
Once you create an account, you’ll have access to features like the ability to pay both employees and contractors, vacation time tracking, employee portal for self-servicing, reporting features, direct deposit, and tax calculations.
When you’re ready to file your taxes, Payroll4Free gives you access to filled-out tax forms you can review before turning them in. If you feel uncomfortable filing your own taxes, Payroll4Free can file them for you for a $15 monthly fee.
Keep in mind that Payroll4Free can only run on a Windows operating system. Moreover, Payroll4Free caps its services at 25 or fewer employees. Any more than that and you’ll have to onboard another payroll system.
Ready to take care of payroll for free? Get started with Payroll4Free here.
How to Find The Best Restaurant Payroll Software For You
Finding the best payroll option for you highly depends on the specific needs of your restaurant business. Unfortunately, a one-size-fits-all solution isn’t in the books here.
Besides the size of your business, your number of employees, and how much you plan on budgeting for payroll software, here are some additional pointers to think through to help you make the optimal choice.
Employee Self-Service
Payroll software with an employee self-service option can be a huge time saver. It makes the onboarding process easier since employees can log on and fill in their personal details and proper HR paperwork.
A payroll self-service feature also allows employees to sign in and check out their payroll history for their own reference. They can easily change their personal information in the self-service portal as well, without needing to file paperwork or schedule time-consuming meetings with HR.
Taxes
Most robust payroll software comes with plenty of features that can help you take care of your taxes easily and accurately. It’s good practice to ensure your payroll software can take care of both employee tax filing and 1099-MISC if you plan on working with contractors or have a seasonal business.
Some payroll software will even go as far as automatically filing your taxes for you. This is an extremely useful feature if your restaurant is in its early stages and can’t quite afford an in-house accountant. It can also be a way to avoid paying additional service fees for outside accounting services.
Payroll Support
Some payroll software providers are better at this than others. Generally, you’re better off going with payroll software that also comes with plenty of user support. This can come in the form of an easy-to-access knowledge base, free on-demand webinars, an online chat support feature, or a customer support team you can easily reach by phone.
While some payroll software will come with plenty of onboarding support, you want to make sure that support extends past the initial welcome process.
When in the middle of the chaos that running a restaurant can sometimes be, the last thing you want is a failing payroll system that’s malfunctioning without any access to timely help.
The Top Restaurant Payroll Software in Summary
If you’re looking for an all-in-one restaurant payroll system that also has employee onboarding features, go with software like Toast. Want to give employees more options on when and how they get paid? Paycor is a great option.
Don’t need payroll year-round for a seasonal restaurant? Square Payroll can help you get the job done. Gusto is a great option for restaurants that need everything automated. Deel is a great option if you are looking for a global solution.