The Best Payroll Software For Restaurants

We chose Square Payroll as the best overall payroll software for restaurants because of its status as a product of Square’s business software suite. We love that restaurants using Square Payroll can seamlessly handle tip import, time tracking, and wage compliance within the same ecosystem.

We’re also pretty happy with Square Payroll’s affordable pricing. Restaurants tend to run on thin margins, so using Square for restaurants can help to reduce payroll costs. Even if your restaurant doesn’t use Square POS, Square Payroll still holds its own when put up against other software for smaller to mid-sized restaurants.

As you might expect, Square Payroll’s pricing structure is simple and cost-effective for what it includes. There are two tiers, one for just paying contractors, which starts at $5 per contractor. The other is for employees and contractors and runs $35/month + $5 per employee.

Square’s features are somewhat basic but, as long as you don’t have overly complicated payroll requirements, they should cover everything you need. They are also incredibly simple to understand and run even if you’re brand new to payroll software. Here are some of the highlights:

• Full-Service Payroll: Make unlimited payroll runs, tip calculation, pay employees and contractors, make payroll reports, multiple payment methods, and more
• Employee Mobile App: Employees can clock-in and out using the Square Team App; they can also view hours and earnings in the app
• Payroll Tax Support: Square will handle your business’s federal and state payroll calculations and filing; Square will also file and mail out employee tax forms.
• Time Management: Square can handle PTO tracking, time tracking, and more
• Benefits Administration: Square offers several options for employee benefits, including health insurance, vision and dental insurance, retirement accounts, on-demand pay, health savings accounts, and more
• Employee Onboarding: New-hires can onboard themselves using Square’s employee self-service portal

We chose Gusto for restaurant payroll because it stands out as a payroll software geared toward improving the employee or contractor experience with payroll. Not only does Gusto make it easy to offer your employees benefits, but it makes those benefits easily accessible to employees via multiple avenues, including its ever-improving Gusto Wallet app.

Gusto has recently added employee time tracking and geolocation capabilities to the Gusto mobile app. With it, your employees who are handling meal deliveries can track time just as easily as your in-house servers. With affordable pricing, excellent employee benefits administration, and comprehensive payroll features, Gusto has truly earned its spot as one of the best payroll software options for restaurants.

Gusto has multiple pricing levels for whatever your restaurant might need. Plans range from $40/month + $6 per employee to $80/month + $12 per employee. The software’s Premium plan offers custom pricing for growing businesses. And if you only have contractors, you can use the service for $6/month per contractor.

Gusto’s features set is also tiered, but its Simple plan is very generous for the price. The Plus plan, which is not much more expensive, gives you access to time tracking and PTO. Here are a few features that Gusto payroll does well.

• Full Service Payroll: Gusto offers unlimited payroll runs across all 50 states, automated payroll runs, deductions, garnishments, support for multiple pay rates and schedules, multiple payment methods, the Gusto Wallet app, and more
• Full Payroll Tax Support: Gusto will calculate and file your federal, state, and local payroll taxes; Gusto also supports new business registration across all 50 states
• Gusto Wallet App: Mobile employee self-service portal with a view of earnings, time tracking capabilities, geolocation, budgeting, and Gusto checking account management
• HR Tools: Gusto’s HR features include online document storage, assigning, background checks, new hire reporting, applicant tracking, employee surveys, and much more
• Benefits Administration: Gusto offers tons of benefits options, including health, vision, and dental insurance, health savings accounts, retirement accounts, disability insurance, life insurance, and more

We chose ADP as one of the best payroll software solutions for restaurants because, in addition to being one of the most well-established payroll software options on the market, ADP also boasts a comprehensive feature set that can most definitely handle your restaurant’s payroll and HR needs.

For larger restaurants with extensive payroll and HR needs, ADP’s advanced plans might be ideal, even if they come at a steep price point. But ADP also has the little guy in mind, and its lower-tier offerings are both generous and affordable. Just make sure you’ve itemized exactly what you need before contacting a representative.

ADP’s quote-based pricing model means that you won’t know how much the software costs until you speak with a sales rep. ADP’s affordable Roll plan is $29/month + $5 per employee, which is on par with other similar basic plans. There are also plenty of add-ons that you can purchase, but again, those prices will vary.

What you get out of ADP will depend on what plan you choose, but ADP offers just about anything you could possibly want from your payroll software. Here are a few features where ADP stands out.

• Full-Service Payroll: Direct deposit and other payment options, payroll across all 50 states, supports multiple pay rates and schedules, tip payout management,
• Payroll Tax Support: ADP handles minimum wage compliance, tip recording and reporting; ADP will also calculate, file, and remit federal, state, and local payroll taxes on behalf of your business
• Time Tracking: ADP Time Tracking can handle time tracking for your restaurant: ADP also integrates with third-party POS and time tracking solutions to keep everything synced
• New-Hire Onboarding: Self-service onboarding via its online employee portal
• HR Tools: ADP boasts a large library of HR documents, forms, and templates: Employee training, background checks, and additional HR tools are also available

Toast’s products are designed to meet the needs of restaurants — so, we think Toast Payroll is a stellar option for restaurants needing restaurant-specific payroll software. Similar to Square, if you’re happy with Toast’s point of sale product, Toast Payroll should definitely be high on your list.

As an add-on, Toast Payroll is affordable and is tailor-made to handle anything that might come up when running your restaurant’s payroll. If you’re signing up with Toast long-term, just make sure you’ve read the fine print as there are processing contracts and early termination fees.

For expanded features, Toast offers custom pricing, so you will need to contact them directly to see what your quote will be. However, Toast is currently running a special, offering its POS service plus its Payroll Lite plan for $110/month + $4/month per employee.

Toast has some excellent payroll features specifically for restaurants along with other basic functions that are well-designed and intended to be up and functional in a very short amount of time. Here are a few areas where Toast Payroll stands out:

• Employee Onboarding: New hires can self-onboard online; employee documents can be filled out and managed online.
• Full-Service Payroll: Payroll processing across 50 states, payroll tax filing, tip management, multiple pay options, including direct deposit, and more.
• Time Management: Through Toast’s POS, Toast Payroll offers timesheet integration
• Toast POS Integration:  Toast Payroll integrates with Toast POS to keep employee tips synced and up-to-date when you run payroll.
• Payroll Tax Support: Toast Payroll is capable of calculating, filing, and remitting your restaurant’s federal, state, and local taxes.

SurePayroll is a solid option for smaller to mid-sized restaurants, featuring a simple, easy-to-use feature set and strong customer service. If you have a limited number of employees and don’t need to pay extra for advanced features, SurePayroll could be a perfectly functional and affordable piece of software.

For a basic, starting payroll program, SurePayroll does a lot of things well. If you run a small restaurant, you can very likely get by with the features it offers at an affordable price. SurePayroll’s usability and customer service are also outstanding. The options are also there if you need to expand your payroll offerings, just beware that the add-ons can get expensive.

One downside to SurePayroll is that you’ll have to speak to a representative to get a payroll quote. They do offer two pricing platforms, one for self-service and one for full-service. The full-service option has full tax support and a faster processing speed. There are also add-ons for things like time-tracking, benefits, and integrations.

SurePayroll’s basic feature set before add-ons is somewhat limited, but likely functional for a smaller food-service establishment. And if you’re happy with the product’s ease of use and find yourself needing additional features, the product is highly scaleable (although the fees can add up). Here are some of SurePayroll’s top features.

• Payroll Processing: Unlimited payroll runs, multiple pay rates, supplemental payments, same-day direct deposit, flexible processing times, auto-schedule payroll,
• Payroll Tax Support: FICA tip credit report, minimum wage alerts, pay-out makeup tips, and full-service tax support option
• HR Support: SurePayroll offers businesses access to an HR Advisor
• SurePayroll Mobile App: Employee app offers employee self-service and paystub access: Employer mobile app allows employers to view reports, payroll runs, and more

We chose OnPay as one of the best payroll software solutions because it boasts a robust feature set and a host of generous HR tools and services — all for one competitive price (with no hidden fees!). OnPay is a versatile payroll system that can handle everything from your restaurant’s minimum wage tip compliance to overtime pay. It also has built-in HR and the ability for employees to onboard themselves for an affordable price.

While OnPay doesn’t specifically cater to restaurants the way some of the other payroll software solutions on our list do, it features a similarly intuitive interface, strong customer service, and upfront pricing, which should make it an appealing option for small businesses

OnPay’s pricing is refreshingly simple and competitive. You get your first month free along with free set-up. After that, your software fee is $40/month +$4 per employee.

OnPay’s feature set is impressive and contains everything you would expect from strong payroll software. A few users reported that, with so much going on in OnPay’s dashboard, it could be difficult to find what you’re looking for at times. But overall, OnPay has very few gaps. Here are a few areas where it stands out.

• Full-Service Payroll: OnPay supports unlimited payroll runs across the US, multiple pay rates and schedules, garnishments, deductions, multi-state payroll runs, contractor and employee payments, and much more
• Payroll Tax Support: Tip reporting and tax support (including Form 8846 filing and payment); Automatic tax withholding, tax form esigning, and more
• Employee Management: Employee self-onboarding, hiring tools, document storage, customizable org charts, HR resource library, PTO tracking, and much more
• Accounting Integrations: QuickBooks and Xero integrations allow restaurants to sync their payroll and accounting data
• Benefits Administration: Health, dental, life, vision, disability, and workers’ compensation insurance; OnPay also offers retirement plan options and the option to bring your own broker

We chose Homebase as one of the best options for restaurant payroll because it boasts strong scheduling features, time clocks, and payroll all on its lowest plan tier. As a scheduling and time clock solution, Homebase can handle everything from employees swapping shifts to managing employee timesheets.

Restaurants with only one location can take advantage of Homebase’s free Basic plan which offers extensive time clock and scheduling tools. As Homebase’s full-service payroll is an affordable add-on option for all of its plans, businesses have the chance to get payroll, employee management, and time tracking solutions at one low price.

Homebase’s payroll add-on costs $39/month + $6/employee paid per month. Payroll can be added on to any of Homebase’s plan tiers, which range from free to $80/location/month.

Homebase offers all essential payroll features, plus excellent scheduling and attendance solutions. Here are the features you can expect from Homebase:

• Full-Service Payroll: Unlimited payroll runs, two-day direct deposit, pay employees and contractors, deductions, garnishments, supplemental earnings management, overtime pay, sync with Homebase time clocks, and more
• Payroll Tax Support: Minimum wage compliance and alerts, set custom tip makeup calculations, payroll tax processing, including issuing W-2s and 1099s
• Employee Scheduling: Schedule templates, auto-scheduling, schedule alerts, time tracking, time-off request management, and more
• Employee Mobile App: Homebase’s employee mobile app allows employees to chat with one another, check their shifts, and trade shifts. Employers can use the app to manage employee shifts, track labor costs, hire new employees, and much more.
• HR & Hiring: New hire onboarding, applicant tracking, job postings, team roster, library of job description templates, screener questions, and more