Let’s be honest – being a smaller POS provider today can feel like bringing a butter knife to a gunfight. You’re up against giants like Toast, Square, and Lightspeed, armed with massive sales teams, venture-backed budgets, and flashy marketing campaigns.
But here’s the thing: size isn’t everything. And trying to compete on price alone is a race to the bottom that nobody wins – not your business, not your margins, and definitely not your clients.
So how do small and mid-sized POS companies stay in the game – and win? Here’s what we’ve learned from working with resellers, regional providers, and indie tech teams across North America.
1. You’re Not Selling a System. You’re Selling Attention.
Here’s what big brands can’t offer: you.
Local POS providers often win deals because they’re responsive, personal, and actually listen. While a restaurant trying to fix a modifier issue with a national brand might wait 3 business days and cycle through 4 support reps, your clients text you directly. You show up. You care.
Support isn’t a feature – it’s the product.
2. You Can Specialize. Big Brands Can’t.
When you’re national, you optimize for scale. That often means bloated feature sets that kind of work for everyone – and work perfectly for no one.
As a smaller provider, you can go deep on niche segments: sushi bars, coffee chains, food trucks, ghost kitchens, you name it. Specializing gives you an edge in real-world workflows, menu setups, and integrations that actually fit how these businesses operate.
You don’t need to serve every restaurant. You just need to be the best one for your type of restaurant.
3. You Can Say No to the One-Size-Fits-All Platform
Let’s talk integrations. Big brands tend to build walled gardens – if your client wants a third-party online ordering tool, delivery aggregator, or loyalty app, they may be forced into that brand’s proprietary stack.
Smaller POS players have more freedom to plug into best-in-class tools via APIs or services like KitchenHub, which aggregates online orders from platforms like DoorDash and Uber Eats and syncs them straight into the POS – no middleware headaches.
This flexibility is a selling point. Restaurants don’t want to be boxed in anymore.
4. Your Pricing Can Be Transparent – and Honest
Ironically, competing on price doesn't mean being the cheapest. It means being clear. Big providers are notorious for hidden fees, unexpected hardware charges, and forced bundles (hello, payment processing lock-in).
Your advantage? You can be upfront.
Explain how your pricing works. Offer modular services. Give your clients the power to scale with you – without getting trapped.
5. You Can Actually Partner – Not Just Sell
Small POS companies often build long-term relationships with their clients. They do onsite installs. They train staff. They troubleshoot on holidays. This isn’t “sales.” It’s a partnership.
You’re not just there to close a deal. You’re there to help that business grow – and that loyalty pays off. When restaurants upgrade locations, launch new concepts, or refer others, you’re the first call.
National brands are loud – but they’re not always loved.
There’s room in the market (a lot of room, actually) for POS providers who don’t want to be everything to everyone. If you lead with service, specialize with intent, and stay flexible, you don’t need to slash prices to win. You just need to show up with something the big guys can’t offer:
Real partnership, built on trust.
You're not just competing on features – you're competing on frustrations. When talking to potential clients, don’t just pitch what your POS does. Ask the questions that national providers don’t want to answer.
Here are a few simple lines that open doors:
“Tired of waiting 4 days for support?”
Bring up the reality of slow, impersonal ticket-based help desks. Your responsiveness becomes your edge.
“Do you own your customer data?”
Many restaurants don’t realize that some national platforms restrict access to valuable guest data or tie it to other services like payments or loyalty.
“Want to keep using the tools you love?”
Closed ecosystems force restaurants into a rigid stack. You can stand out by offering integration flexibility — like syncing delivery orders through KitchenHub without overhauling their entire tech setup.
These aren’t just sales tactics. They’re real pain points that restaurant operators face every day. Frame your pitch around solving those – and you’ll stand out without slashing a single dollar off your price.
Don't Try to Imitate Them
One of the biggest mistakes smaller POS providers make? Trying to act like a big brand.
Copying Toast’s feature list, pricing structure, or sales playbook might seem like the path to legitimacy – but it’s usually a trap. You’re not playing on the same field, and that’s actually your strength.
National platforms optimize for scale, not fit. Their solutions are wide but shallow. When you try to imitate them, you give up the very advantages that make your offer different: flexibility, service, speed, and local know-how.
Instead of mimicking, double down on what makes you better:
- Faster onboarding
- Real-world support
- Custom workflows
- Modular pricing
- Open integrations
You’re not “Toast, but cheaper.” You’re you – and that’s your edge.
A simple side-by-side comparison for you to be supported even more:
Going head-to-head with national POS brands can feel daunting – but it’s far from impossible. The reality is, many restaurants are burned out on bloated platforms, inconsistent support, and rigid systems that don't understand how they actually work.
That’s where you come in.
Being smaller doesn’t mean being weaker – it means being closer. Closer to your clients, their challenges, and the solutions they actually need. The key is to stop chasing scale and start leaning into service, specialization, and smart partnerships.
And if one of those smart partnerships happens to be with KitchenHub? Even better. We help local and independent POS providers integrate seamlessly with delivery platforms – no headaches, no lock-ins, just clean connections and happy clients.
Let’s talk about how you can stay competitive, keep your pricing intact, and give the big guys a run for their money: trykitchenhub.com/contact
