CAKE Pricing, Features, Reviews & Comparison of Alternatives

Pros
I like that I can access it anywhere remotely to make changes, add menu items, and view sales.

Cons
I don't like the new update. I feel the original version is easier to use.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
We switched to CAKE from another POS system in 2016, after being in operation for 1.5 years. We have been impressed with the way CAKE constantly tries to provide new features. As a farm-to-table quick-service restaurant, our menu changes weekly and we find it simple and straightforward to make updates each week. Due to COVID-19, we recently activated the online ordering and we believe it has saved our business. We were able to activate and integrate it quickly and we love the reporting capabilities the system gives us. Our customer service has been top notch--from our sysco rep to our CAKE customer support manager, we have received a quick response to any question we've had. We feel very comfortable requesting new features and integrations based on our needs and we feel like they really listen to us and try to incorporate our ideas quickly and simply. We did not have this level of customer support with our previous POS system and we really value being able to get a live person on the phone quickly and easily when we have an issue. We love the intuitive, easy-to-read sales analysis reports and use them each week with our management team to evaluate our menu items and determine our next round of specials. We really like that we can make menu edits both on the POS and with the online platform---hoping for a mobile app next for very quick and simple edits!

Cons
We first purchased in Spring 2016. The software felt a little sluggish and honestly, we were not sure if it would easily keep up with our pace. But we have been very impressed with CAKE's constant evaluation and roll-out of new features and integrations--they haven't missed a beat! We don't use all the features yet, but because of the recent success with our online activation, we are now considering two more apps. I would prefer a tiered/capped monthly pricing system depending on how many apps/additional software platforms we integrate (like accounting, customer management, 3rd party delivery apps, etc)--rather than installing each a-la carte, but hopefully that will be an option in the future. The additional monthly fee per app has made us hesitant to try new ones. We would also like to have more control over the look and feel of the online ordering page--functionally it meets our needs, but would love to integrate it into our own website and select the background color, text color, etc, to make it feel like a seamless integration rather than making our customers feel like they are "leaving" our site to go to another. There are some features/edits that are only available from the POS system (not menu items, but system preferences/settings categories) In the future, I hope they make those features editable from the online access platform as well, because sometimes I want the flexibility of making certain adjustments from home on my computer during off-hours.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
Easy to use interface. Order Pads should allow servers to spend more time on the floor Inexpensive POS System.

Cons
It doesn't work when we need it to. We've been trying to get the issues resolved via Cake Support and Sysco Management for more than 8 months. It isn't getting any better. As soon as the dining room gets busy the Order Pad Apps crashes. All of our servers need to have paper and pencil ready at all times to complete their orders and stand in line at the terminal to enter them every rush. It seldom happens when we are slow. Orders get lost during entry causing double work to recover the in flight order, after printing in the kitchen causing them not to be charged on the customer's bill, and customer credit cards have been double billed as a result of Order Pad disconnects. We are spending hours with Cake Support that we should be spending working our business. We have to keep 1 person available to capture trouble shooting information for Cake Support during our rushes when (not if) the Order Pads go down. Cake Support is always busy, but will eventually call back. When they do, they aren't very knowledgeable with troubleshooting, they don't seem to be trained to go any deeper than the Cake University screens. The cheap price of the Cake system has become a huge expense in manpower and wasted time in our restaurant.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 0/10

Pros
When starting our coffee shop we knew we needed a POS. We did not know where to start. Once CAKE came to our attention is was hard to look anywhere else. The help from understand our need as newbie's to walking us through every step of set up was fantastic. What I like most about the software would take too many words.

Cons
There is not much I do not like about the CAKE software. If I had to choose a "least" favorite issue it would be that I wish the "Busy Hour" report was available on Universal Admin with a date range option. Also I wish Dashboard had a changeable date range option.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
The POS is very intuitive - very little training is needed before staff have it figured out. It's also very customizable so we've been able to get tickets and receipts to print exactly how we want them to.

Cons
Editing the menu is pretty arduous. There are a lot of steps involved in changing just one item and there still seem to be a few bugs to sort out. The reports are also more limited than we would like and present the data as lists of numbers rather than charts, which would be easier to digest.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10