Payments and POS for your new Orlando bar or brewery

Tabs, tips, busy nights, and to-go sales all run through your point of sale. Here is what to sort out before opening night, in the order most owners tackle it.

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What to get right

Tabs that open fast and close clean

A bar lives on open tabs. You want a POS that lets bartenders start a tab with a card, add rounds quickly, transfer tabs between bar and tables, split checks, and close out guests who leave without signing. Ask how pre-authorizations work on open tabs and what happens to tabs left open at last call, so you are not chasing unpaid balances the next morning.

Tips handled the way your staff gets paid

Decide early how tips are entered, adjusted, and pooled, and make sure your system can report them by shift and by employee. Clean tip reporting makes payroll and end-of-night checkout simpler for your managers and fairer for your bartenders and servers.

Speed at the rail and coverage beyond it

On a packed Friday, the line at the bar is your bottleneck. Plan enough stations behind the bar, handheld or mobile devices for patio, taproom floor, or event space, and contactless payments so visitors and locals alike can tap and go. If you host trivia, live music, or food trucks, think about where people will actually be standing when they want to pay.

Inventory and product mix that match how you sell

Bars need menus with pour sizes, happy hour pricing, and modifiers. Breweries often add flights, growler and crowler fills, packaged beer, merchandise, and online orders. Pick a POS that tracks these as separate items so you can see what is selling and what is walking out the door. If you plan to sell online, TouchSuite's ERP, CRM, and e-commerce integrations are included at no monthly fee with a TouchSuite merchant account.

How it works

Get your business basics in place. Before applying for a merchant account, have your business entity formed, your EIN from the IRS, a business bank account, and a government-issued ID for each owner. Alcohol licensing in Florida involves the state as well as local requirements, and timing varies, so check with the state licensing agency and the City of Orlando or Orange County about what applies to your location and when.
Talk through your setup with us. Tell us how your bar or taproom will run: number of stations, patio or event space, tabs, tipping, to-go sales, and any online ordering. If you already process cards somewhere, send us your most recent processing statement and we will show you, line by line, what you are paying and beat it, or tell you honestly that we cannot.
Apply and get approved. We help you complete the merchant account application with the documents you gathered. Approval timing depends on your application, so give yourself room before your soft opening rather than leaving it for the final week.
Install, train, and start taking cards. Once approved, most merchants are processing within 24 to 48 hours. Qualifying merchants receive free terminals and POS hardware, no upfront cost. Use the time before opening to load your menu, set up tip and tab rules, and run practice shifts with your staff.

Questions to ask a processor

How is my processing priced, and can I see the actual cost?

Ask any processor to explain their pricing in writing. TouchSuite uses interchange-plus pricing: you pay the card networks' actual cost plus a fixed margin, so you can see what goes to the networks and what goes to us.

Am I locked into a contract?

Read the agreement for term length and cancellation terms before you sign. TouchSuite is month-to-month, cancel anytime, no fees.

Is there a way to reduce or eliminate processing cost?

A cash discount program is available if you want to eliminate processing cost. Ask how it would appear on receipts and what signage is needed, and check current rules with your advisor so it is set up properly for your bar.

How does the system handle open tabs, walkouts, and disputes?

This matters more for bars than most businesses. Ask how cards are pre-authorized when a tab opens, how tabs are closed at the end of the night, and what records you will have if a guest disputes a charge later. Good records help you respond to disputes.

Will the POS work with my other tools?

If you use accounting software, a customer list, or an online store for packaged beer and merchandise, ask how the POS connects to them. With a TouchSuite merchant account, our ERP, CRM, and e-commerce integrations are included at no monthly fee.

How soon can I start taking payments?

It depends on how complete your application is and how quickly it is approved. Once approved, most TouchSuite merchants are processing within 24 to 48 hours.

Plan your Orlando bar's payments before opening night

Tell us about your bar or brewery and how you plan to serve guests. We will walk you through the setup, the application, and the timeline, and if you already process cards, we will review your statement line by line.

Book a call

TouchSuite · 800-793-3250 · Month-to-month, cancel anytime, no fees.