Lavu Review

flag Offset 99% of credit card fees
  • Affordable and easy-to-use iPad technology

  • Quick and simple setup

  • Seamless integration with many popular apps

  • 24/7 Support

Pros & Cons

  • Powerful features for all types of restaurants
  • iPad and iPhone compatible
  • Wide-ranged customization for each restaurant type
  • Complete restaurant management features (scheduling, reporting, etc.)
  • Completely iOS based system

Plans & Pricing

There are three main plans available for use with the Lavu POS solution. These plans include the Lavu Starter plan, the Lavu Growth Plan, and the Lavu Optimize plan. To further customize each plan, there are a la carte items and services that you can add on as you see fit.

Lavu Starter Plan

At $59 per month, the Lavu Starter plan is this solution’s most standard POS plan. It features point-of-sale for one terminal and two of Lavu’s restaurant add-ons – Lavu Pay and Lavu Pilot. Users of this plan also get to enjoy time-bound gift cards, loyalty, and a cash discount program. You can also access other basic POS functionalities like employee management, inventory, and reporting. Users on this plan will also receive a Bluetooth Scale plug-in and 24/7 support via phone and chat.

Lavu Growth Plan

At $129 per month, the Growth plan offers all Lavu Starter plan features, as well as open API access for maximum customization. You also gain access to Lavu’s Online ordering component, MenuDrive. Through MenuDrive, customers can use features including QR code ordering, business marketing tools, and DoorDash delivery to improve your restaurant’s customer experience.

Lavu Optimize Plan

The Lavu Optimize Plan is ideal for large restaurants intending to take their food services several notches higher. In addition to the features of the Growth plan, this plan goes for $279 per month, and allows tableside ordering for up to 5 devices per subscription. Users of this plan also benefit from Lavu’s Kitchen Display System, Sourcery AP automation (invoice management), and integration with Xero and QuickBooks accounting.

Dual Pricing 

A cash discount program with dual pricing works by rewarding customers for paying with cash. When a customer is ready to pay, the customer can choose the cash price which applies a cash discount off the Card Price total. If the guest pays in cash, they save. If the guest pays with a card they pay the higher listed price offsetting up to 99% of credit card processing fees.

Other Add-ons

In addition to the basic monthly subscription, there is a suite of other features you may want to add to your Lavu POS:

Add-on Charges
Additional terminals $50 per month
Gift cards $50 per month
Loyalty program $50 per month
Kitchen display system and tableside ordering $30 per month for each
QuickBooks/Xero integration $30 per month
MenuDrive online ordering $99 per month
Kiosk $50 per month
API $30 per month
DoorDash order synchronization $70 per month
Payment processing $25 per month

Overview

Lavu’s POS solution caters to a diverse range of businesses in the food and beverage industry, encompassing full and quick service restaurants, bars, nightclubs, food trucks, ice cream stores, cafes, and wineries. It simplifies POS systems, kiosks, online ordering, cash discounts, invoice management, and payment processing for owners operating within these sectors.

Rating

  • "Price"
    8 /10
  • "Features"
    9 /10
  • "Ease of Use"
    9 /10
  • "Help and Support"
    8.5 /10

Features and Functionality

Thanks to being solely focused on restaurants, Lavu POS brings a ton of important utility to businesses of all sizes. The system covers numerous aspects of all day-to-day restaurant operations, including inventory and resource management, mobile solutions, client surveys, reporting and analytics, etc. In addition, Lavu can easily handle all the usual operations that one would typically expect from a POS system, including mobile device point-of-sales.

Here are some of the most notable features:

POS and Invoice Management

Lavu works hand-in-hand with its own invoice management software, Sourcery, to enable restaurants of all sizes to handle their AP and AR needs in one place. Lavu customers using Sourcery are able to directly upload invoices from vendors, and Sourcery will automatically review and pay them.

Front-of-House Friendly

The Lavu POS features a frontend system that allows restaurant staff to easily keep track of open tables, open orders, and payment statuses. You also benefit from advanced menu customization, having your popular menu items at the top, order status monitoring, setting automatic discounts during certain hours, and allowing up-front payments from your customers.

Kitchen Display System

Lavu’s back-of-house features help you take care of internal communications at maximum speed and precision. The Lavu Kitchen Display System is used to send orders from any front-of-house device to the kitchen – with just a single click. After that, tickets instantly appear in the kitchen on a large monitor, allowing back-of-house staff to easily prepare and execute orders.

Reporting and Tracking

Lavu has a robust reporting tool that gives you valuable insight into the business side of your restaurant, including End of Day reports, Tips & CC batching reports, and Time Card reports. Additionally, the Control Panel allows users to manage shift scheduling, access order history, track payment transactions, track inventory, and set admin access. Finally, Lavu Pilot allows users to manage multiple activities on the go. You can track payments, labor, and trends from anywhere in the world.

Online Ordering

Lavu’s online ordering platform, MenuDrive, was designed specifically for restaurants and helps drive sales and customer loyalty. MenuDrive can seamlessly integrate with your restaurant website and POS, where customers can order both for deliveries and take-outs. MenuDrive customers also gain access to customizable website templates, marketing tools, customer loyalty programs, and more.

Lavu Kiosk

Lavu Kiosk is a self-ordering tool that can be used to accelerate table turns. This way, customers can easily pay and send their orders directly to the kitchen, and pick them up when ready, without wasting any time. This tool also helps reduce labor costs, increase efficiency and sales, while proving to be satisfactory for customers.

Hardware Requirements

Lavu POS is fully compatible with iOS devices including iPhones, iPads, and iPods. To accommodate every customer, Lavu offers a number of hardware bundles, depending on restaurant types, sizes, and specific needs. Lavu hardware options include cash drawers, receipt printers, mobile POS impact printers, card readers, iPads, kitchen display systems, and all of the required cables and connectors. If you already have POS hardware and need to know whether it is compatible with Lavu software, you can simply contact the brand and the team will happily guide you through the whole process.

Integrations & Add-ons

Lavu seamlessly integrates with a host of third-party restaurant and food-niche software. This integration allows users to conveniently run their business operations on other software without logging into or exporting data across multiple systems.

Below is a list of functionality and the corresponding solutions you can effortlessly integrate with Lavu:

  • Debit card payment – Sacoa Solution.
  • Accounting – QuickBooks, Shogo and Xero.
  • Online ordering – Chowly, Open Dining, Checkmate and Mobi2go.
  • Kitchen display – Epson.
  • Business management – Avero, FoodBAM, and Restaurant 365.
  • Liquor control solution – EKOS Brewmaster, BeerSaver, BarVision, TapHunter, Digital Pour and Bar-I Liquid Accounting.
  • Inventory – MarketMan.
  • Employee management – Dolce.

There are also a number of Lavu add-ons that make this POS more functional for businesses. These add-ons include

  • Lavu Pilot to help you monitor your POS and business data.
  • Lavu Kitchen and Customer-Facing Display
  • Lavu Local Server to serve as backup for periods of wireless network failure.
  • MenuDrive for online ordering and delivery.
  • Lavu Gift and Loyalty apps for the gift card and loyalty programs respectively.
  • Lavu Pizza Builder for virtual pizza setup.
  • Sourcery for automated invoice management.
  • Lavu Self-Service Kiosk for faster turnaround.

Ease of Use

Lavu is modern, extremely easy-to-use and great for all restaurant types. The ability to take orders with an iPad comes in really handy, and the amount of customization allows businesses to really tweak everything to suit their needs, style, and processes. This software’s frontend is also helpful, providing first-hand information to restaurant owners, on the progress of their business. Lavu also boasts numerous guides, documentation and video to help understand the use of the app. It also has a demo that helps users get accustomed to the software just before they sign up.

Customer Support

Lavu offers around-the-clock quality support to its global customer base. Lavu prides itself on being reachable at any time, for any reason. Customers with questions or issues will always be able to talk with an agent on the phone, not a robot. The brand offers 24/7 technical support to customers, regardless of their pricing plan or region.

  • 24/7 Help & Support
    The brand offers 24/7 technical support to customers, regardless of their pricing plan or location.
  • Phone Support
    The team can be contacted via a dedicated hot-line found on their website.
  • Live Online Chat
    You may speak to the team directly on their website via live chat. The response time is under one minute.
  • Email
    The brand can be contacted via the dedicated email address found on their website.
  • Video Tutorials
    There are a number of videos and demos that can be found on the brand’s official YouTube channel.
  • FAQ
    The FAQ section provides answers to some common questions like payment terms, deciding on what you need, creating orders, etc.
  • Blog
    There is a blog with various tips and tricks related to the system and restaurant management.

Final Word

Overall, Lavu is a great restaurant POS system that has dedicated features for different restaurant types. The tool is affordable, offers a lot of customization, data collection options, analytics, and utility that a modern food service institution requires to stay on top of their operations. Also, if you’re already using some tools or hardware, there is a very good chance that the system can be configured and integrated with those, resulting in no additional costs. Finally, the flexible pricing mechanism helps take all of the above mentioned into consideration, ensuring that you’ll get a fair deal.

Disclosure
This website is an informative comparison site that aims to offer its users find helpful information regarding the products and offers that will be suitable for their needs. We are able to maintain a free, high-quality service by receiving advertising fees from the brands and service providers we review on this website (though we may also review brands we are not engaged with). These advertising fees, combined with our criteria and methodology, such as the conversion rates, our team of reviewer's finding and subjective experience and product popularity, impact the placement and position of the brands within the comparison table. In the event rating or scoring are assigned by us, they are based on the position in the comparison table, or according to other formula in the event specifically detailed by us. See our How we Rate page and Terms of Use for information. The reviews, rating and scoring are provided “as-is” without guaranties or warranties regarding the information contained in our website, which shall not be considered as endorsement. We make the best efforts to keep the information up-to-date, however, an offer’s terms might change at any time. We do not compare or include all service providers, brands and offers available in the market.
Pavel Aramyan>
Pavel Aramyan
author

Pavel is a writer with over 5 years of experience in researching and comparing consumer products from a variety of industries.

We make the best effort to present up-to-date information; however, the terms of each offer can be revised according to the service provider’s discretion. The above shall not be considered as an expert or professional advice for any matter.

Leave a Reply

Contact Us

Our goal is to provide answers to all of your questions so you can make a confident purchasing decision. We welcome your feedback, so please email us at service@top5networks.com with suggestions and questions. We’d love to hear from you!

Your information will be handled as detailed in our Privacy Policy