The short version
Pick Restaurant365 if
- You want to replace QuickBooks or an older restaurant ERP
- You have an in-house accountant or controller
- You also want scheduling, payroll and HR from one vendor
Pick MarginEdge if
- Your bookkeeper is happy in QuickBooks or Xero
- You mostly want invoice capture and live food cost
- You want a published price and no long contract
Restaurant365 is the bigger change and the bigger payoff for a group that has outgrown its books. MarginEdge is the faster win for a group whose books are fine but whose food cost shows up 20 days late. Both connect to the common POS systems, including Toast.
Side by side
| What | Restaurant365 | MarginEdge |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Restaurant accounting system (general ledger, AP, banking, fixed assets, budgeting) plus inventory, scheduling, payroll and HR | Invoice processing, food cost and daily P&L that push into your accounting system |
| Replaces your accounting system? | Yes | No. Connects to QuickBooks, Xero and other accounting systems |
| Price | Not published. Custom quote | $350 per location per month, 10% off with annual billing. Freepour liquor scale bundle $500 per location per month |
| Contract | Quoted per deal. Ask about term length and exit terms | Monthly plans can cancel any time. Annual plans owe the rest of the 12 months if cancelled early |
| Setup fees | Quoted per deal | No setup fee. Paid onboarding packages are offered |
| Inventory and recipes | Yes, plus prep, purchasing, receiving and commissary | Yes, plus price alerts and menu analysis |
| Scheduling and payroll | Yes, first party | No. Labor shows up in the daily P&L from your POS or payroll |
| Toast cost to connect | Ask in the demo | MarginEdge says Toast charges its own $50 per location per month suite fee, plus an API pass-through fee |
The real question: who keeps your books?
Start here, because it decides the answer more than any feature list. If an outside bookkeeper or CPA runs your books in QuickBooks and you like the result, MarginEdge adds what is missing: invoices captured from a phone photo, prices tracked line by line, and a daily food cost number. Your bookkeeper keeps the same ledger, with better data flowing into it.
If your books are the problem, a tool in front of them will not fix it. Groups usually feel this around five to ten locations: inter-company entries by hand, AP approval by email, bank reconciliation that takes a week. That is the job Restaurant365 was built for. Expect a real project, with a chart of accounts rebuild and an accountant who owns it.
Leaving an older restaurant ERP
Many groups shopping these two are on an older back office system, such as Compeat or a heavily customized QuickBooks. Before you demo either product, pull these from your current system:
- Your chart of accounts and every location or entity code
- Vendor list with payment terms and remit addresses
- Twelve months of P&L by location, so you can check the new system's numbers against the old
- Recipe and item lists, if inventory lives in the old system
- Every report your owners or lenders read each month
Ask each vendor to show your top three monthly reports rebuilt from that data in the demo. A product that cannot reproduce the reports your owners already trust will cost you months of explaining.
What each one costs a 5-unit group
MarginEdge publishes its price, so the math is simple: 5 locations × $350 = $1,750 a month, or $18,900 a year with the 10% annual discount. Add $50 per location per month if you are on Toast and do not already pay for Toast's suite, per MarginEdge's own pricing page.
Restaurant365 does not publish pricing. Compare it fairly by asking for the year-one total in writing: software, implementation, data migration, payroll per check, and any POS connector fees. Then subtract what you stop paying for, such as QuickBooks, a separate scheduling app and a payroll provider.
Questions to ask in both demos
- Show me an invoice going from a phone photo to the ledger. How long does it take, and who checks it?
- How do you handle a vendor credit or a short delivery?
- What does the Toast (or our POS) connection cost, and what data comes across: sales mix, labor, tips, comps?
- Who does our setup, and what do we have to do ourselves?
- What is the term, and what does it cost to leave early?
Common questions
Is MarginEdge an accounting system?
No. MarginEdge processes invoices, tracks food cost and builds a daily P&L, then pushes the entries into your accounting system, such as QuickBooks or Xero. Restaurant365 is the accounting system itself.
How much does MarginEdge cost?
MarginEdge lists $350 per location per month, with 10% off for annual billing. The bundle with the Freepour liquor scale is $500 per location per month.
How much does Restaurant365 cost?
Restaurant365 does not publish prices. It quotes each group. Ask for a written year-one total that includes implementation and any payroll or POS connector fees.
Do both work with Toast?
Yes, both connect to Toast. MarginEdge says Toast charges its own $50 per location per month suite fee for the connection, plus an API fee. Ask Restaurant365 for its Toast costs in the demo.
Sources
- MarginEdge: Pricing (plans, contract terms, Toast fees)
- MarginEdge: Accounting integration FAQs
- Restaurant365: Product modules
- Restaurant365: Pricing (custom quote)
Disclosure: some vendors pay us a referral fee if you become a customer after an introduction from us. It costs you nothing and does not change what we recommend. How we make money.
