Restaurants operate two distinct billing worlds that rarely overlap. The first is consumer billing — POS transactions, table service receipts, and tip processing that happen at high volume and low individual value. The second is B2B billing: catering event invoices, corporate account billing, supplier credit invoices, and group dining agreements. These involve negotiated amounts, payment terms, and documentation requirements that POS systems were not built to handle.
E-invoicing fills that second gap. Corporate billing requires professional documentation — not POS receipts scaled up. Whether you’re invoicing a hotel for a private dining buyout or sending a catering bill for a 200-person event, the document must meet B2B standards. The five tools in this guide cover the full range of restaurant e-invoicing needs, from POS-integrated billing to standalone invoicing platforms.
What Restaurants Need from E-Invoicing Software
Restaurant e-invoicing requirements split along two axes: volume of B2B billing, and whether the invoicing function is best handled inside or alongside the POS system.
- POS integration. Toast and TouchBistro offer invoicing alongside POS, keeping supplier invoices, catering bills, and corporate billing in one system. This reduces the number of back-office tools to manage.
- Catering and event invoicing. Multi-stage billing — deposit invoice, balance invoice, add-on items — needs a platform that handles installment billing or deposit tracking cleanly. The final invoice for a catering event often differs from the initial quote; the software should accommodate adjustments without creating a documentation mess.
- Corporate account billing. Restaurants with recurring corporate clients need to issue regular invoices on net-30 or net-60 terms, track outstanding balances, and send automated reminders — workflow that POS systems handle poorly but dedicated invoicing tools handle natively.
- Supplier invoice processing. Receiving and logging digital invoices from food distributors, beverage suppliers, and produce vendors is a separate workflow from issuing invoices to customers. Platforms with accounts payable features (or integrations with AP automation tools) reduce the manual data entry associated with supplier billing.
- Sales tax handling. Restaurant invoices to B2B clients need to handle sales tax correctly, including tax-exempt status for wholesale transactions and accurate rate application by jurisdiction.
- Accounting integration. Invoice data needs to feed into your accounting platform without manual entry — reducing reconciliation time and providing accurate P&L visibility on catering and event revenue.
Best E-Invoicing Solutions for Restaurants
The 5 tools below cover the full range of restaurant e-invoicing needs. Paid plans range from $19/month (FreshBooks) to $69/month (Toast, TouchBistro), with 30-day trials available on 2 of the 5 platforms.
| Tool | Best for | Free plan | Paid from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toast | Full-service restaurants, POS + catering invoicing | No | $69/mo |
| Square for Restaurants | Quick-service, cafes, smaller operations | Free tier | $60/mo |
| QuickBooks Online | Accounting-integrated invoicing, corporate billing | No (30-day trial) | $35/mo |
| FreshBooks | Catering businesses, event invoicing, clean templates | No (30-day trial) | $19/mo |
| TouchBistro | Full-service restaurants, POS-integrated billing | No | $69/mo |
Toast
Toast is the dominant restaurant POS platform in the US full-service segment, and its invoicing capabilities are built around the restaurant workflow rather than bolted on from a generic business billing tool. Toast handles catering quotes and invoices, supports deposit billing, and integrates invoice data with its broader reporting and accounting outputs. The advantage of keeping invoicing within Toast is data consolidation — event revenue, item-level sales data, and customer billing history are all accessible from a single dashboard. Toast’s invoicing features are strongest for catering and large-party billing; for high-volume B2B corporate billing with complex payment terms, a standalone platform like QuickBooks Online may offer more invoicing-specific automation. Toast pricing starts at $69/month for the basic POS package, with catering and event features on higher-tier plans.
Square for Restaurants
Square for Restaurants offers invoicing within its broader Square platform — the same invoicing engine that Square provides to all business types, accessible from the restaurant-specific POS dashboard. Square invoices cover the standard use cases: itemized bills, online payment acceptance, automatic reminders, and recurring billing for repeat corporate clients. The free tier includes basic invoicing with transaction fees; the paid restaurant plans start at $60/month. For smaller restaurants, cafes, and quick-service operations that already use Square for POS, using Square’s invoicing tool avoids adding another subscription. The limitation is that Square’s invoicing is not restaurant-specific — it handles catering billing adequately but lacks the event management depth of dedicated catering platforms.
QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online is the strongest choice for restaurants that prioritize accounting integration over POS integration. Its invoicing module handles B2B billing cleanly: customizable templates, net payment terms, automatic follow-up reminders, and online payment acceptance via ACH and credit card. The accounting connection means that every invoice issued and paid feeds directly into your P&L, accounts receivable aging report, and cash flow statement.
For restaurants with a meaningful corporate catering or events revenue line, QuickBooks Online’s invoicing combined with its accounting depth is difficult to beat. It does not integrate with POS systems as tightly as Toast or Square, but many restaurant operators deliberately keep invoicing and table service billing in separate systems. Plans start at $35/month.
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is the most polished standalone invoicing experience for restaurants that run a significant catering or events business and want professional-quality client billing without the complexity of a full accounting platform. Its invoice templates are clean, fully branded, and easy to customize for different event types — corporate lunches, private dining buyouts, wedding catering, off-site events. Deposit invoicing, recurring billing for retainer clients, and automated payment reminder sequences are all built in and straightforward to configure.
Clients can view and pay invoices through a professional portal without creating an account. FreshBooks does not integrate with restaurant POS systems, making it best suited as a dedicated catering billing tool alongside a separate POS rather than as an all-in-one restaurant solution. Plans start at $19/month.
TouchBistro
TouchBistro is a restaurant-specific POS platform with invoicing capabilities integrated into its operations dashboard. Like Toast, it covers the full-service restaurant use case with table management, kitchen display, and reporting built around restaurant workflows. Its invoicing handles catering and group dining billing within the same platform as daily operations.
TouchBistro’s strength is the consolidated restaurant management view — labour costs, food costs, and event billing visible in one place. Its invoicing features are adequate for standard restaurant B2B billing but are not as flexible as a dedicated invoicing tool for high-volume or complex catering operations. Pricing starts at $69/month for the core POS, with invoicing available on higher-tier plans.
How to Choose
Use these 4 decision rules to match your restaurant’s situation to the right tool.
- Already on Toast or TouchBistro: Stay within your existing platform. The operational consolidation outweighs marginal invoicing feature differences.
- Using Square with modest B2B billing: Square’s built-in invoicing handles standard catering and corporate billing without adding a new subscription.
- Significant catering or events revenue: QuickBooks Online connects billing to your financials in a way that POS-integrated invoicing does not. The bookkeeping value justifies the separate subscription.
- Catering-focused or events operation: FreshBooks delivers the best invoice presentation and client portal at the lowest monthly cost among the dedicated invoicing tools.
See also: E-Invoicing Software — Accounting Software for Restaurants — Payroll Software for Restaurants