What is the best system for a café in 2027?

Search for the best café system and you mostly find lists written by vendors or by sites paid by vendors. So there is no winner below. Instead you get what a café really needs, what can stay simple, and what to ask any provider. Legal points are for Germany.

Plainly said: NFCeez makes parts of such a system, so this guide is not neutral.

Is there one best system for every café?

No, there is no single best system for every café. A bakery ringing up hundreds of quick sales a day needs something different from a café with table service and weekend bookings. Three questions matter more than any ranking:

1. Do guests order at the counter or at the table?
2. Do guests book, or do they just walk in?
3. Who keeps the system up to date when the place is full?

The third gets skipped most often. A program nobody maintains ends up worse than a notepad. Something you can change from your phone in a minute gets kept up far more often than something that needs a laptop at night.

What does a café really need?

A café needs a compliant till and a well-kept Google profile. Everything else is a choice that has to fit your business.

Why the online profile ranks so high: in a 2024 Bitkom survey of 1,005 people aged 16 and over in Germany, 53 percent checked the menu online before visiting a new place, and 30 percent called online reviews the top factor. That was a survey, not a measurement in cafés. In its Business Profile, Google says a business can manage a menu, a menu link and bookings through supported providers. The steps are in Google Business Profile for restaurants.

Does a café in Germany need a till with a TSE?

A German café that records sales electronically already needs a certified technical security device (TSE), and from 2028 an electronic till is set to become mandatory above 100,000 euros turnover anyway. The rules are section 146a of the Fiscal Code and the Cash Register Security Regulation (KassenSichV). Each receipt then carries details such as the transaction number and the TSE serial number, and the till must be reported to the tax office.

An open cash drawer is still allowed in November 2026. The government draft, set for its first Bundestag reading on 6 November, would require an electronic till above 100,000 euros total turnover from 1 January 2028. Businesses that accept cash and take under 12,000 euros a year in cash would be exempt. It isn't law yet. Our overview of 2027 tracks the status.

The draft doesn't prescribe a specific till: a cash register, a full system or a cloud till all work if they meet the requirements. Ask your provider now how digital receipts will work from 2028. According to the Cologne chamber of commerce (IHK), there's no immediate need to switch, so you can compare calmly.

One package, or separate tools?

Most small cafés do fine with a good till and a few small tools, while one package from a single provider suits places with several tills, table service and lots of staff. Each option has its cost, just in different places.

To compare, add everything up over three years: one-off costs, 36 monthly fees, card fees and any per-booking charges. Only that total is comparable. A low monthly fee with a long contract can end up costing more than a higher one you can cancel monthly.

Which setup fits which business?

The right setup depends on how your guests arrive and order. Four made-up examples:

• Bäckerei Hafenkorn, lots of passing trade: a fast till, a Google profile, maybe a stamp card. Nobody here needs bookings.
• Café Morgenrot, one location with regulars: till, Google profile, an easy-to-change menu online and a digital loyalty card. Bookings only for weekend breakfast.
• Bar Kobalt, busy in the evenings: till, Google profile, a current menu. A loyalty card mainly with quiet days in mind, see how to fill quiet days.
• Restaurant Laterne, table service: a till system with tables and kitchen tickets, plus online reservations.

What should you ask any provider?

What can stay simple?

Anything neither your guests nor the tax office notices can stay simple. A rota can be a spreadsheet. Bookings can run on phone and calendar as long as they don't keep pulling you off the floor. A printed menu stays useful anyway: section 13 of the German Price Indication Regulation requires a price list on the tables, displayed legibly or shown to guests before they order, plus a notice next to the entrance.

Start with one piece and check after three months whether your team really uses it. We have separate guides for two of them: best loyalty card in 2027 and best digital menu in 2027.

What does the guest side look like when you run it from your phone?

NFCeez covers exactly this guest side, for cafés, restaurants, bars and bakeries. In the app you add your business with its name and address, then your logo, opening hours, links and the link to your Google review. Whatever you save is live on your Smart Page straight away. You take photos of your menu, the AI turns them into a digital menu, and you check it before you publish. You design the stamp card once, and guests add it to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet with a code sent by email. Table requests appear on your phone, and one tap confirms or declines them. You connect an NFC sticker by holding your phone to it. Guests don't need an app for any of it.

The limits: there are no payments, no ordering and no connection to your till. Guests order from your staff and pay at the till. So you still need your own compliant till. If you want everything in one till package, a till provider will suit you better.

Where should you start today?

Take ten minutes and write down what you already pay for, with the amount and notice period. Then look up your café on Google on your phone and check the hours, menu and photos. Whatever looks wrong is your first piece. After that, send your till provider the question about digital receipts from 2028.