Food truck POS systems: what you actually need (and what you don't)
A food truck runs on thin margins, patchy signal and long queues. The right POS keeps selling when the internet drops, gets orders to the grill fast, and tells you what sold out at which event. Here's what to look for.
Wemu Team
Product
The best food truck POS runs on a tablet or phone you already own, keeps taking sales when the signal drops, sends orders straight to the cook, and shows you which items and events actually make money. Everything else is optional.
What matters on a truck
- Offline sales. Festivals and car parks have bad signal. Cash sales must keep working and sync later.
- Fast checkout. Big buttons, your top 12 items on the first screen, modifiers in one tap.
- Kitchen tickets or a screen. Orders should reach the grill without anyone shouting.
- Card and contactless. Check the fee per tap and whether you need a separate reader.
- Sold-out in one tap. When the brisket's gone, it should disappear from the menu immediately.
- Sales by event and hour. So you know which locations are worth going back to.
Nice to have
- Online pre-orders for pickup at your next stop, so regulars skip the queue.
- Stock that counts down as you sell, so you know what to prep for tomorrow.
- Staff clock-in and timesheets if you have a crew.
What to skip
Long contracts, proprietary hardware you have to buy upfront, and table-service features you'll never use. A truck needs speed, not floor plans.
What a food truck POS costs
- Software: from free basic plans to a monthly subscription for stock, staff and online ordering.
- Payment fees: a percentage per card payment, often the biggest cost. Compare it across providers.
- Hardware: a tablet, a stand or case, a receipt or kitchen printer, and a card reader if your phone can't take tap payments.
For a full breakdown, see how much a POS system costs.
Setting it up before your first event
- 1Build a short menu with photos and modifiers (sauces, extras, sizes).
- 2Put your fastest sellers on the first screen.
- 3Test a sale in airplane mode to confirm cash works offline.
- 4Connect a kitchen printer or a second tablet as a kitchen display.
- 5Set your opening float and do a practice end-of-day cash count.
Where Wemu fits
Wemu POS runs on Android tablets and phones, iPad and iPhone, and keeps cash sales working offline. Orders go to a kitchen display or printer, stock counts down with every sale so you see what's running out, and reports show sales by hour and day. Your free online shop takes pre-orders for pickup, recipes count stock down as you sell, and your crew clocks in on the Wemu Team app. Plans start at US$29/month. See it on the POS page.
Keep reading
- How much does a POS system cost?
- What is a kitchen display system?
- How to balance a cash register at the end of the day
Frequently asked questions
What is the best POS for a food truck?+
Can a food truck POS work without internet?+
Do I need a kitchen display on a food truck?+
Run your business from one app
POS with drawer counts, sales reports, bookings, low-stock alerts and staff timesheets. Set it up in an afternoon and run a real day on it before you decide.
Try Wemu free →
