The restaurant industry can be fast-paced, demanding and competitive. However, the right payroll software solutions can ease some of the responsibilities of restaurant management by streamlining payroll processes.
Whether you own a small independent diner or a large chain establishment, payroll software can allow you to dedicate more focus to driving your business’ success. Start your search for the best payroll software for your restaurant by reading through our list of the top restaurant payroll products below.
| SurePayroll | Restaurant365 | Square Payroll | Justworks | ADP Run | Gusto | Paychex | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting base price | $19.99/mo. | Custom | $35/mo. | None | Custom | $40/mo. | $39/mo. |
| Starting per-payee price | $4/mo. | Custom | $6/mo. | $59/mo. | Custom | $6/mo. | $5/mo. |
| Time and attendance | Add-on | No | Yes | Add-on | Yes | Yes | Add-on |
| Benefits administration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Expense management | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Employee self-service | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
SurePayroll’s full-service plan allows restaurants to quickly and easily automate payroll runs, including payroll tax calculations and filing. The software also provides helpful and comprehensive reports on payroll transactions over specific periods of time. These reporting capabilities allow businesses to gather insights from various datasets regarding payroll, new hires, employee trends, benefits and other vital metrics.
Best of all, SurePayroll offers fast payroll solutions at an affordable price. Its full-service payroll software is easily one of the most affordable payroll solutions for restaurants. While SurePayroll doesn’t have a built-in time tracking tool, it does integrate with several time clock systems, including several that are available for free.
Plus, SurePayroll’s parent company, Paychex, is a well-known PEO and payroll software company with top-tier employee benefits options. SurePayroll customers can use Paychex’s extensive benefits connections to integrate employee benefits fee-free with their SurePayroll plan.
Find additional information on SurePayroll’s pricing, plans and features in our SurePayroll review.
SurePayroll’s two plans include a cheaper self-service payroll solution and a more comprehensive full-service plan:
Restaurant365’s workforce management software solution is completely tailored to the needs of restaurant businesses and their staff. The platform’s restaurant-specific features and capabilities can help you source top-quality talent and support them through the entirety of their employee lifecycle.
Restaurant365 (frequently abbreviated to R365) Workforce is the software provider’s payroll solution. It bundles paycheck processing and payroll tax filing with shift scheduling, onboarding, employee benefits administration and hiring tools.
The payroll program’s transparent employee self-service shift feature also makes shift swaps simple, helping ensure that restaurants don’t end up short-staffed. Restaurant employees will also appreciate restaurant-specific payroll features that support faster payment processing.
R365 Workforce is one of four core solutions that Restaurant365 offers. Workforce specifically supports hiring, payroll processing, benefits administration and labor analyses. R365’s other solutions for restaurants include an accounting program, store operations program and reporting/analysis program.
R365 doesn’t list pricing for any of its four key products. Interested parties can contact the company directly to request a demo and pricing for individual software plans or bundled packages.
Square’s robust restaurant-specific POS system, Square for Restaurants, processes payments, enables table management and lets employees clock in and out. Square Payroll integrates seamlessly with Square POS, allowing you to automatically turn employees’ hours worked into accurate paychecks.
Additionally, Square Payroll provides full-service multi-state payroll, which is useful for chains managed across multiple states. The restaurant payroll software also includes automatic tax filings and payments, a self-service app for employees and free end-of-year W-2 and 1099 filing.
Find additional information on Square Payroll’s pricing, plans and features in our Square Payroll review.
Square Payroll costs a flat monthly fee of $35 plus $6 per employee paid per month.
Square for Restaurants, Square’s restaurant-specific POS service, starts out with a free plan that supports payment processing across multiple locations. Paid POS plans start at $60 per month plus standard payment processing fees.
Justworks provides time tracking and payroll software to businesses, allowing them to gain more oversight of their HR and team operations. Its all-in-one payroll and HR solution can process payments to employees in all 50 states and supports teams with remote employees, contractors and both salaried and hourly workers.
Justworks’ time-tracking tool, Justworks Hours, contains robust features like mobile clock-in capabilities, overtime alerts and geo-stamping to ensure accuracy when payday arrives. Justworks Hours is available as an add-on to any Justworks plan for an additional fee.
Justworks is a professional employer organization, or PEO. As such, it assumes full responsibility for your business’s HR and payroll functions, leaving ordinary business operations up to you. If you want to spend less time managing benefits and more time expanding your restaurant’s locations, a PEO like Justworks can help.
Find additional information on Justworks’ pricing, plans and features in our Justworks review.
Justworks has two plans that offer the same payroll features:
Both plans’ prices drop by $10 for your 50th employee onward, bringing your per-employee fee down to either $49 or $89 a month.
Justworks Hours, an add-on time and attendance tool, costs $8 per employee per month.
ADP RUN simplifies payroll for businesses of all sizes and varieties, including those in the hospitality sector. This solution takes care of payroll with tax and compliance capabilities built in. RUN also includes thorough HR features, including hiring tools and HR support.
Restaurants can choose between four ADP RUN payroll services to secure the best fit for their organization’s payroll and people management needs. With multiple plan tiers, businesses are free to scale up to a more robust plan as they hire more employees and open new business locations.
Find additional information on ADP RUN’s pricing, plans and features in our review of RUN Powered by ADP.
RUN Powered by ADP is provided in four packages, and the price is based on the number of employees. Businesses should contact the RUN by ADP sales team for a free quote.
If RUN Powered by ADP doesn’t have enough HR or payroll features to support your growing workforce, a more comprehensive ADP product like ADP Workforce Now could work better for you.
Gusto is a well-known software provider with scalable software solutions for payroll, benefits, HR and other related processes. The platform automates payroll tasks and simplifies the otherwise tedious and time-consuming work of calculating paychecks, finding benefits and filing taxes.
Although Gusto’s payroll software primarily targets small and midsize businesses, it can work well for growing restaurants that want comprehensive but uncomplicated payroll software. Gusto is easily one of the most popular payroll solutions in the industry, which means it syncs with nearly any accounting software program you’re using. By automating tasks that come with restaurant management and payroll administration, Gusto lets business owners spend more time and energy on taking their restaurant to the next level.
Find additional information on Gusto’s pricing, plans and features in our review of Gusto.
Gusto offers three pricing tiers:
Gusto also includes some add-on tools for an extra price, such as international contractor payments.
Paychex’s powerful payroll software enables restaurants in every state to accurately track their employees’ hours, calculate payroll taxes and ensure HR compliance across the board. As a popular national payroll software provider and PEO solution, Paychex pairs employers with high-quality benefits that keep restaurants competitive in the challenging post-COVID-19 hospitality economy.
Out of every restaurant payroll service on our list, Paychex easily offers the most comprehensive HR resource library. Unlike Gusto, Paychex doesn’t limit HR library access to its most expensive plan. Regardless of the plan tier you choose, you’ll be able to look through hundreds of Paychex’s how-to guides, templates and best-practice explanations to ensure your business stays compliant.
Out of its three HR and payroll plans, Paychex only lists pricing for its lowest-tier plan:
This is a technical review that relies on compiled literature researched from relevant databases. The information provided within this article is gathered from vendor websites and incorporates information gleaned from an aggregate of user feedback to ensure a high-quality review.
To find the best restaurant payroll software, we looked only at payroll providers that offered restaurant-specific features like tip imports and minimum wage compliance. We also prioritized vendors who either offered native shift-scheduling tools or synced with third-party time trackers.
Our payroll software methodology page explains more about how we choose, rate and review payroll software.
Choosing the best payroll software for your restaurant business requires the careful consideration of several vital factors.
Firstly, companies should identify which payroll features they need, such as compliance with local labor laws, tax filing and automation. Developing a list of your software requirements can help guide shoppers in their search.
From here, restaurants can create a shortlist of potential solutions by researching payroll products with their must-have features. Consider payroll software built specifically for restaurants as well as more generic payroll software for small businesses.
Organizations must also consider the price of payroll software before making a decision. Restaurant businesses should compare each product’s pricing along with the features and customer support provided for each payroll option. By assessing these factors, restaurant businesses can choose the best payroll software to support their staff, improve their accuracy and streamline their payroll processes.
Read next: A Complete Guide to Payroll Software (TechRepublic)
