10/21/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/21/2026 09:31
SAN FRANCISCO - October 19, 2026 - SpotOn, a leading restaurant technology provider, grew its signed hospitality locations 25% year over year in the third quarter of 2026, even as industry-wide restaurant sales stalled on weaker foot traffic. As restaurants nationwide faced declining transactions, new clients switched to SpotOn's restaurant management system for better support, flexibility, and fair pricing.
Independent operators are running on thinner margins than at almost any point in recent memory with total operating costs up roughly 36% from 2019. Foot traffic reflects that strain with restaurant transactions falling 3.9% year over year in September according to the Fiserv Small Business Index. With tight budgets, operators are taking a hard look at their POS platform costs and more of them are choosing SpotOn to do more with less. SpotOn is seeing that shift firsthand,with a run of independent restaurant clients switching over from other systems this quarter. Independent restaurants are looking for a platform that earns its keep, not another vendor to manage.
Ruby Chow's, an Asian fusion restaurant in Atlanta, switched from Toast to SpotOn in Q3, adopting SpotOn's restaurant POS, reporting, and SpotOn Capital in a single switch. A SpotOn Capital restaurant loan consolidated the restaurant's existing financing into one payment.
"We switched from Toast to SpotOn for three main reasons," said Brian Seo, General Manager and Partner at Ruby Chow's. "The most important one being the customer service is so much better. SpotOn has a dedicated account manager for me, and their support is so much faster. It's easy to feel like I have someone in my corner."
SpotOn's new-account roster this quarter included a run of recognizable, high-traffic restaurant brands:
"Every account on this list chose SpotOn because they wanted a partner who actually understands running an independent restaurant - not a vendor who treats them like an afterthought next to a grocery chain or a big-box retailer," said Zach Hyman, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of SpotOn. "Twenty-five percent location growth in a tough quarter is what happens when our sales, go-to-market and support teams show up for independent restaurants every single day."
Based on reviews from restaurant owners and staff, G2 has ranked SpotOn as the #1 restaurant point-of-sale system. This recognition reflects SpotOn's top rankings across multiple categories, including satisfaction, quality of support, and more. Fall 2026 is SpotOn's eighth consecutive season in the top spot on G2's Grid® Report for Restaurant POS.
SpotOn's Q3 releases expand the platform for partners and give existing clients more reasons to run their whole operation on SpotOn. Over the last quarter, SpotOn rolled out a redesigned Dashboard homepage this quarter, giving operators a modern, interactive snapshot of daily performance. Real-time sales tracking lets operators compare performance across custom time periods instantly, upgraded widgets like Staff Leaderboard and Top 5 Items help optimize day-to-day operations, and key performance data is now visible the moment an operator logs in - no digging through reports required. The Dashboard surfaces labor and payroll data directly: Employee Time, Payroll, and Payroll Summary reports streamlining payroll prep and giving operators real-time visibility into labor costs. A new Reviews page rounds out the update, pulling Google, Yelp, and direct guest feedback from SpotOn Order, the GoTo Place app, and Mobile Pay & Review into one unified view, so operators can trace feedback to specific orders and resolve issues faster.
SpotOn further deepened its platform this quarter with a new Developer Portal and an expanded Integration Marketplace that now features SpotOn's own products alongside third-party tools. Additional updates - including an updated Profit AI insights view, KDS improvements, and the SpotOn Card for DayCheck employee tip access - extend the platform further into the daily operations of independent and multi-concept restaurant groups.
"Every product we shipped this quarter - the Marketplace, the labor reporting, DayCheck - started with the same question: what does an independent operator actually need that they're not getting today," said Matt Hyman, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of SpotOn. "That's our why. It's why our addressable market keeps growing. We're not adding verticals for the sake of it. We're following where operators are telling us they're stuck."
Restaurant operators interested in learning more about SpotOn's point-of-sale platform can visit spoton.com/restaurant-pos.
SpotOn is a leading restaurant technology company that builds practical AI into the tools operators rely on every day. Its restaurant management system brings together the point-of-sale, online ordering, reservations, and labor management, plus access to top integrations into one platform. AI is integrated throughout so operators get the benefits of artificial intelligence without having to think about it. SpotOn backs it all with 24/7 support and hospitality. For more information, visit www.spoton.com.
Media Contact:
Megan Palmer
SpotOn
[email protected]
410-262-7349
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