Is Clover helping or hurting your restaurant? Before you jump into the proverbial bed with a company like Clover, make sure you do your research on online ordering solutions.

You can grow as an off-premise business through increasing restaurant delivery sales by as much as 40 percent through adding simple online ordering to your software stack.

Ensure you make inventory management, cost reduction, and delivery as streamlined as possible by considering the things real customers point out about Clover’s cost vs. service.

Get all the facts below.

Key Takeaway: Despite its POS hardware advantages, Clover Online Ordering faces much criticism for steep fees and a general lack of customer support.

Overview of Clover Customer Experience

Online ordering from Clover offers a POS platform for restaurants “of all sizes” to perform food delivery service. As a default, it processes orders through digital menus and dispatches each through the DoorDash app.

Most say the platform is simple to set up and use, especially as orders get sent directly to kitchens. Clover does, however, come with its own POS system, so it’s not a straightforward solution to add online ordering on its own—without replacing your existing POS. 

The platform will integrate with other third-party services once you're fixed up with their ordering and payment solution.

Market Share of Clover Online Ordering

Since 2014, numbers for online food ordering have grown at least 3 times faster than equivalent dine-in services at enterprise restaurants. Beyond this, online ordering sales account for nearly half (or 40 percent) of the total restaurant sales in the industry.

While the food ordering market was valued over $220 billion in 2022, it is expected to grow by almost 11 percent until 2030. Through integration with DoorDash, a leading provider of delivery logistics, Clover continues to make itself attractive to most, but may not work for all restaurants.

Clover’s Comparison to Competitors

At first glance, Clover looks slightly less expensive for restaurant owners. Clover offers a starting transaction few of 2.3 percent, plus 10 cents per transaction, plus the monthly subscription and equipment fees. By comparison to a brand like Square which charges 2.6 percent and 10 cents per transaction, these seem like a deal. But, this is not strictly true of the restaurant payment technology upon closer look.

Clovers monthly subscription costs are slightly higher than some other competitors, but users show some satisfaction with its simplicity and feature profile. At the same time, many customers have complained about the insufficient customer support available to restaurants paying enormous fees. A little help goes a long way.

Pricing Structure for Clover Online Ordering

Because it’s best to know what to expect before the invoice comes, let’s take a dive into the details of payment and pricing with Clover POS.

To start, pricing varies by industry and plan. As a retail or restaurant customer, packages begin at $60 per month, and head up to $100 or more. Unfortunately, despite the monthly subscription fee, all plans from Clover include an additional fee on every transaction. Others, like Square and Revolution Ordering, offer simpler pricing as an all-in-one agreement.

Then, for businesses that already sport the POS and devices, online ordering can be added to the agreement at varying costs. These integrations can then provide a dashboard for reviewing and mining orders for insight—much like Revolution Ordering’s advanced data intelligence tools. This helps restaurants manage orders alongside their inventory and customer data despite changes in omni-channel fulfillment.

While these fees may seem high for some, enterprise restaurants see significant increases in off-premise business, often earning more than $40,000 per month in online business alone. And, the demand is only expected to grow until 2030.

Clover POS and Online Ordering Features

With Clover Online Ordering, restaurants get many features to help them receive orders, such as for takeout, curbside pickup, delivery, and dine-in reservations. All this is handled through a Clover-controlled web page or application for the customer in question.

By making simple changes to their online menu, hours, and handling details in mere minutes, most clients enjoy the experience of working with the Clover ecosystem—except for a few major hang-ups that we cover in later sections on real customer feedback.

Nevertheless, from order placement to pickup, Clover handles each step in the customer order cycle to ensure a smooth and seamless dining experience for customers. As a result, restaurants can embrace social distancing, enhance savings, and boost overall sales and restaurant sustainability.

For the most part, the Clover Online Ordering experience is one defined by the user: friendly, intuitive, and mostly satisfying. As the setup process demands Clover equipment and POS, adding online ordering through the platform is like switching on a light in the kitchen. If only they offered more robust customer support to improve their online feedback.

Clover Customers Speak Up: The Average Review

While Clover allows so many restaurants to advance their dining options toward off-premise ordering, it’s usually only praised for the easy setup process as well as look and feel. Still, restaurant customers voice several themed complaints about the service.

In short, the Clover hardware and app store comes with many important online ordering integrations; and, on the whole, customers say they face steep costs combined with poor customer support, meaning low-value interactions.

With an average rating under 4 stars (3.9), Clover users obviously value the simplicity and streamlined features available in the industry of online ordering software. They still insist that the value for the money, especially considering the level of customer service, is much less than satisfactory.

In addition to this, large players like Clover and Square are unwilling to cater to the specific needs of their customers and clients. Whereas, tools built for enterprise, like Revolution Ordering, offer more specialization and customization for lesser cost.

Frequently Asked Questions About Clover Online Ordering

Restaurant owners must look deeply into the cost of their chosen equipment, software, and service partnerships. As a result, questions quickly emerge: why am I being charged so much from Clover, and what is the expectation month-to-month?

Take a second to read the most common concerns about Clover POS, and get the answers you need to make an informed decision.

How much does clover charge for online ordering?

Clover takes a combination fee from businesses who run their Clover POS with Online Ordering added. This means a flat monthly fee (from $60 to $100) and a per-transaction fee of 10 cents plus 2.3 percent of the total purchase.

That would mean that for a restaurant with $20,000 in monthly revenue would pay out well over $2000 in transaction fees, plus the monthly due. Some transactions force steeper fees (such as card-not-present fees of 3.5 percent).

Does Clover have any additional hidden fees?

Clover doesn’t hide its steep processing fees, but they also aren’t included in the monthly cost of the plan. That means restaurants must be aware and watchful of their payments, plans, and charges.

You should see fees ranging from 2.3 percent to 5 percent for various conditions, like card-present, card-not-present, manual entry, and other.

Can you customize Clover and negotiate fees?

Clover is very basically a hardware company and payment processor. So, you likely won’t have the ability to negotiate their long-standing and standard fees, or equipment costs, or subscription costs.

If you are looking for an online ordering platform to offer custom features, pricing, and support, demo Revolution Ordering to learn more about the intelligent ordering system built for enterprise brands.

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