Food waste is a major sustainability challenge for restaurants. According to ReFED, U.S. restaurants and foodservice businesses generated approximately 12.5 million tons of surplus food in 2024. Nearly 70% came from food left uneaten by customers, while overproduction accounted for another 1.49 million tons.

Some waste begins before a meal reaches the table. Incorrect orders can lead to remakes. Outdated delivery menus can result in unfillable orders and discarded preparation. Poor demand forecasts may leave kitchens with ingredients and prepared meals they cannot sell.

A point-of-sale (POS) system cannot eliminate food waste on its own. But accurate order tracking, synchronized menus, and sales reporting can help restaurants address avoidable errors and make better purchasing decisions. Here are three platforms with features relevant to waste prevention.

1. Orders.co

Orders.co positions itself as an all-in-one restaurant POS system that brings orders from DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, ezCater, direct online ordering, dine-in, and phone channels into one environment.

Its centralized menu management can help prevent waste caused by unfillable orders. When an item runs out, staff can mark it unavailable from one dashboard. That change syncs with connected ordering channels, including the restaurant website and third-party delivery platforms. Updates can take seconds or several minutes, depending on the platform.

Consider a restaurant that runs out of chicken during dinner service. If the dish remains available on a delivery app, customers may keep ordering it. Staff could then face cancellations, substitutions, or partially prepared meals that cannot be served. Updating availability across channels reduces the chance that those orders reach the kitchen.

Orders.co also consolidates delivery-app orders without manual re-entry. Fewer manual steps can reduce transcription errors involving menu items, quantities, and modifiers, which may otherwise require meals to be remade.

Its Profit IQ reporting provides menu-item sales, cost, and estimated profitability insights. A restaurant might notice that a rarely ordered dish requires ingredients with few other uses. Managers could compare that sales pattern with kitchen waste logs and decide whether to change purchasing quantities, preparation schedules, or the menu itself.

These reports do not directly measure discarded food. They help restaurants identify where to investigate potential waste. No verified client waste-reduction figure is available for this comparison.

2. Square

Square provides restaurant POS tools for cafés, quick-service businesses, and full-service restaurants. Its features include order management, menu controls, sales reporting, and item availability settings.

Restaurants can mark menu items and modifiers as sold out and update their availability across connected sales channels. That can reduce orders for dishes the kitchen cannot prepare, avoiding some cancellations and substitutions.

For closer control of ingredients, Square Restaurant Inventory by MarketMan provides real-time ingredient tracking, purchasing tools, and waste recording. Restaurants can review waste patterns alongside stock usage and menu costs.

For example, a café that repeatedly discards unused produce can record those losses and compare them with purchasing and sales activity. Managers can then adjust order quantities or preparation practices. Square Restaurant Inventory by MarketMan is a third-party integration, so operators should check subscription and integration requirements before relying on these capabilities.

3. SoftTouch

SoftTouch provides configurable POS systems for restaurants, cafeterias, bars, and other foodservice settings. Its documentation describes recipe-related functions, stock warnings, and ways to associate inventory items with menu items.

Linking menu products to stock records can help managers compare sales with ingredient consumption. In a cafeteria preparing hundreds of meals, for example, these records may reveal differences between expected and actual stock usage. Staff can investigate whether the difference comes from waste, portioning, or inaccurate counts.

Recipe and inventory records can also inform purchasing for frequently prepared dishes. The benefits depend on how accurately a business configures and maintains the system. These functions support stock visibility but should not be treated as proof of measured food-waste reduction.

Which POS Features Matter Most for Food Waste?

Keep sold-out items off every menu

Unavailable dishes should stop appearing on ordering channels as soon as possible. Orders.co and Square support availability updates across connected channels, helping staff avoid accepting orders they cannot fulfill.

Use demand data to reduce over-preparation

ReFED estimates that overproduction generated approximately 1.49 million tons of surplus food in U.S. foodservice in 2024. Historical sales reports can help restaurants identify slow-moving dishes and unpredictable demand. Orders.co provides menu-item reporting, Square offers ingredient-level tools through MarketMan, and SoftTouch supports inventory-linked menu records.

Reduce wrong orders and unnecessary remakes

When orders move through disconnected devices and manual entry steps, mistakes can occur. A unified order flow can reduce repeated typing and help kitchens receive more accurate tickets. Restaurants should still track how many remakes occur and why, because POS data alone cannot establish their waste impact.

Bottom Line

Restaurants should choose a POS based on where waste begins in their operations. Orders.co is particularly relevant for restaurants handling orders across several delivery channels and needing synchronized menus. Square provides availability controls and optional ingredient-level waste tracking. SoftTouch offers configurable stock and recipe workflows for varied foodservice environments.

None of these systems replaces regular kitchen waste measurement. The best results come when restaurants combine reliable order handling and sales data with waste logs, better purchasing, and realistic preparation plans. That approach can make everyday operations more efficient while reducing avoidable food waste.