Running a restaurant shouldn’t feel like spreadsheets on repeat.
If you’re reading this, you probably know how messy and time-consuming it can be to track inventory, control rising costs, and manage purchasing—especially with multiple locations or limited staff.
The real problem is that manual processes eat up your day and leave you guessing about your margins, often leading to wasted ingredients and missed profit.
Craftable tackles these exact headaches with their unified platform, streamlining everything from inventory and recipe costing to supplier connections and real-time analytics. Unlike most hospitality software, Craftable brings purchasing, operations, and accounting together so you can actually see and fix your problems as they happen.
In this review, I’ll break down how Craftable boosts efficiency and protects profits at every stage of hospitality operations.
You’ll get my detailed look at Craftable’s key features, pricing plans, integrations, and competitive alternatives in this Craftable review—so you can decide if it fits your workflow.
You’ll walk away with the insights and features you need to finally take control of your restaurant’s back office.
Let’s dive into the analysis.
Quick Summary
- Craftable is a cloud-based hospitality platform that streamlines purchasing, inventory, invoicing, and analytics for better cost control.
- Best for hospitality businesses needing unified back-office management for restaurants, bars, and hotels.
- You’ll appreciate its user-friendly interface combined with real-time insights that help reduce waste and improve profitability.
- Craftable offers tiered pricing by location with a 30-day free trial available for several plans; pricing requires contacting sales.
Craftable Overview
Craftable is a hospitality management platform dedicated to boosting profitability. Based in New York, they’ve been helping operators streamline complex back-office operations since around 2010.
They specifically target restaurants, bars, and hotels needing precise control over every dollar spent on inventory and menu items. I find their unwavering focus on maximizing profitability is a key differentiator for independents and growing multi-unit groups.
Their recent push into AI-powered invoice automation and expanded analytics was a genuinely smart move. We will explore its impact on your business efficiency throughout this Craftable review.
Unlike broader platforms like Restaurant365, Craftable avoids managing HR or payroll. Instead, the platform provides deep expertise in operational cost control. It really feels like it was built by people who genuinely understand the intense pressures of this business.
Today, they work with a huge range of successful operators, from innovative single-location cocktail bars to large-scale hotel F&B programs and established national chains.
It’s clear their entire strategy centers on connecting your siloed operational data—purchasing, inventory, and sales—into one actionable command center. This directly addresses the industry’s critical need for real-time insights that protect your bottom line.
Now let’s examine their core capabilities.
Craftable Features
Struggling with disconnected hospitality management tools?
Craftable features provide an integrated solution suite that connects purchasing, finance, and operations for your business. Here are the five main Craftable features that solve critical hospitality management challenges.
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1. Inventory Management
Is your inventory costing you money?
Manual inventory tracking often leads to waste and stockouts, creating significant losses. This can really eat into your profits and frustrate your staff.
Craftable’s real-time inventory tracking for food and beverage items helps you see what you have and where it’s going. From my testing, tracking every bottle and dash prevents over-pouring and reduces discrepancies. This feature truly slashes count time, letting your team focus on guests instead.
This means you can dramatically reduce waste and always have the right products on hand, boosting your bottom line.
2. Recipe & Menu Costing
Are fluctuating costs eating your margins?
Not knowing the true cost of your menu items can lead to unexpected profit loss. This makes it impossible to price competitively or adjust effectively.
This feature lets you accurately cost out every recipe, including ingredients and labor, to protect your margins. What I love is how you can quickly adjust pricing based on fluctuating COGS, ensuring profitability. It supports complex sub-recipes and batches, offering precise control over your menu.
So you can confidently price your offerings, knowing they’re profitable even when supplier costs change.
3. Purchasing & Accounts Payable
Drowning in invoices and manual data entry?
Disjointed ordering and payment processes waste time and introduce errors. This can lead to missed payments or reconciliation nightmares for your finance team.
Craftable streamlines ordering and invoicing with automated processing and over 5,000 supplier connections. Here’s what I found: automated invoice processing directly syncs with accounting systems, eliminating manual data entry. This feature helps you manage vendors, approve invoices, and view historical data effortlessly.
This means you can automate your P&L, integrating all financial data for complete control and efficiency.
4. Analytics & Reporting
Can’t get a clear picture of your business’s performance?
Siloed sales, labor, and cost data make informed decision-making impossible. This leaves you guessing about where to improve and how to maximize profit.
Craftable’s Analytics tool unites all your sales, costs, and labor data for full operational visibility. This is where Craftable shines: it offers real-time sales vs. labor reports, helping you compare trends and forecast for better planning. You can generate detailed reports by item, category, or revenue center.
So you get actionable insights to maximize profit and make smarter decisions across all your locations.
5. Integrations
Are your systems failing to talk to each other?
Lack of integration between your POS, accounting, and inventory systems creates data silos. This results in fragmented insights and manual data transfers that waste valuable time.
Craftable boasts over 60 live POS integrations, 5,000 supplier connections, and 20+ accounting integrations. From my testing, this extensive integration capability creates a unified view of your operations. It ensures sales, labor, and purchasing data flow seamlessly into Craftable, providing true cost insights.
This means you can connect all your essential tools, getting a comprehensive, accurate financial and operational overview effortlessly.
Pros & Cons
- ✅ Intuitive inventory management drastically reduces count time and waste.
- ✅ Accurate recipe and menu costing protects margins from fluctuating costs.
- ✅ Streamlined purchasing and automated invoice processing boost efficiency.
- ⚠️ Some users report occasional import and integration challenges.
- ⚠️ Broader adoption desired by current users for network effect.
- ⚠️ Initial setup might require some learning, despite overall ease of use.
You’ll appreciate how these Craftable features work together to create a comprehensive, real-time hospitality management system that truly centralizes your operations and finances.
Craftable Pricing
Wondering about complex software costs?
Craftable pricing follows a custom quote model, which means you’ll need to contact sales but also get pricing tailored to your specific needs.
Cost Breakdown
- Base Platform: Custom quote per location monthly
- User Licenses: Priced per solution independently
- Implementation: Included in special offers for PFG customers
- Integrations: Complimentary for PFG customers, otherwise custom
- Key Factors: Number of locations, chosen tiers (Standard, Premium, Pro, Director)
1. Pricing Model & Cost Factors
Understanding their pricing approach.
Craftable’s pricing structure is not publicly listed, instead relying on a per-location monthly charge. What I found regarding pricing is that costs are solution-independent, meaning you only pay for the specific features your business needs. This includes tiered options like Standard, Premium, Pro, and Director, each adding more advanced capabilities.
From my cost analysis, this means your monthly costs stay aligned with your specific operational requirements, avoiding unnecessary expenses.
2. Value Assessment & ROI
Is Craftable worth the investment?
Craftable’s pricing aims to deliver value by letting you select only the modules you need, potentially reducing your total cost compared to comprehensive, fixed-price suites. What’s more, for Performance Foodservice customers, complimentary POS integration and invoicing offer significant immediate savings.
This helps your budget by focusing spending on core functionalities that drive direct profitability and operational efficiency.
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3. Budget Planning & Implementation
Planning your Craftable budget.
While exact figures require a quote, anticipate costs to scale with your number of locations and chosen tier. Budget-wise, remember that higher tiers like Pro and Director offer accounting sync and multi-unit features, impacting your overall investment. Consider the 30-day free trial for Premium, Pro, and Director tiers to assess fit.
So for your business, prioritize a detailed needs assessment before contacting sales to ensure an accurate and budget-friendly quote.
My Take: Craftable’s customized pricing model is designed for hospitality businesses seeking flexibility, ensuring you only pay for the solutions truly impactful to your operations and growth.
The overall Craftable pricing reflects tailored value for specific hospitality business needs.
Craftable Reviews
What do real customers actually think?
To understand Craftable, I’ve delved into real user feedback and experiences, analyzing Craftable reviews to offer you a balanced view of what customers genuinely think about the software.
1. Overall User Satisfaction
Users seem highly satisfied.
From my review analysis, Craftable garners consistently positive ratings across review platforms like G2, indicating high user satisfaction. What I found in user feedback is how most users praise its comprehensive functionality, often highlighting its ability to simplify complex back-office operations for hospitality businesses.
This suggests you can expect a solution that genuinely streamlines daily tasks.
2. Common Praise Points
Ease of use stands out frequently.
Users repeatedly highlight Craftable’s intuitive interface and comprehensive back-office management in their feedback. What stood out in customer reviews is how easy it is to upload invoices quickly, with one user noting “almost no lags.” Support quality also consistently receives high praise.
This means you’ll likely experience faster adoption and efficient day-to-day operations.
- 🎯 Bonus Resource: Speaking of modernizing your operations, if your business extends to specialized fields, my article on best glass industry software covers tailored solutions.
3. Frequent Complaints
Minor integration issues arise occasionally.
While overwhelmingly positive, some Craftable reviews mention minor import and integration challenges. What stands out from user feedback is how specific data transfer issues can occasionally surface, particularly when integrating with certain niche POS systems or older accounting software.
However, these issues seem to be isolated incidents rather than widespread deal-breakers.
What Customers Say
- Positive: “I started using Craftable without any training and it took me less than 2 days to figure out inventory and ordering on my own.”
- Constructive: “Some minor import challenges, but overall it’s a robust system that simplifies our processes immensely.”
- Bottom Line: “It’s one of the easiest ways to work with any organizational stuff for the bar.”
The overall Craftable reviews confirm genuine user satisfaction with minimal reported issues, pointing to a robust solution.
Best Craftable Alternatives
Considering other options for your hospitality business?
The best Craftable alternatives include several strong options, each better suited for different business situations and priorities regarding back-office management and profit optimization.
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1. Restaurant365
Need an all-in-one financial and operational solution?
Restaurant365 provides a broader suite, integrating accounting, payroll, and HR directly with operations, making it a more complete financial and operational solution. From my competitive analysis, Restaurant365 offers more extensive payroll and HR integration than Craftable’s core focus, though it starts at a higher price point.
Choose Restaurant365 if you need deeply integrated HR and payroll alongside your accounting and operations.
2. MarketMan
Is real-time inventory and supplier management your top priority?
MarketMan often excels in robust inventory tracking, automated alerts, and strong integration with supplier catalogs for direct ordering. What I found comparing options is that MarketMan provides superior procurement capabilities and mobile access for inventory, though Craftable’s UI is generally more intuitive.
Consider this alternative when your primary need is a powerful inventory and supplier management solution.
3. xtraCHEF (by Toast)
Prioritize automated invoice processing and in-depth financial reporting?
xtraCHEF focuses on automating invoice processing and enhancing financial performance reporting through machine learning and data science. From my analysis, xtraCHEF offers more robust invoice automation and analytics, though its ease of use is rated lower compared to Craftable’s user-friendliness.
Choose xtraCHEF if highly automated invoice processing and in-depth financial reporting are your core requirements.
4. WISK
Do visual tools and precision inventory tracking matter most?
WISK emphasizes precision inventory management with real-time tracking, often using Bluetooth-enabled scales and visual dashboards. Alternative-wise, WISK provides more interactive visual inventory tools and scale integrations than Craftable, though it’s less broad in back-office functions.
Consider WISK if visual inventory management and integrated scale solutions are critical for your operations.
Quick Decision Guide
- Choose Craftable: Comprehensive cost control, intuitive UI, and waste tracking
- Choose Restaurant365: All-in-one financial, HR, and operational integration
- Choose MarketMan: Robust real-time inventory and supplier management
- Choose xtraCHEF: Automated invoice processing and advanced financial analytics
- Choose WISK: Precision inventory with visual tools and scale integration
The best Craftable alternatives decision depends on your specific business size and operational focus rather than just a feature list.
Craftable Setup
Concerned about complicated software setup and training?
This Craftable review analyzes what it truly takes to implement the platform, setting realistic expectations for your business. Let’s dive into Craftable setup requirements.
1. Setup Complexity & Timeline
This isn’t an instant flip-the-switch kind of setup.
While Craftable aims for ease of use, initial setup requires dedicated effort for accurate data entry and integration. From my implementation analysis, getting it live demands careful data reconciliation, especially for invoices and order building, so plan accordingly.
You’ll need to dedicate resources upfront to ensure all necessary data is correctly entered and configured.
2. Technical Requirements & Integration
Expect some IT involvement for seamless connections.
Craftable integrates with 60+ POS systems, 6,000+ vendors, and 20+ accounting platforms, suggesting broad compatibility. What I found about deployment is that consistent naming conventions are critical when connecting Craftable with your existing POS or accounting software.
Prepare your IT team to ensure smooth data synchronization and proper configuration of all necessary integrations.
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3. Training & Change Management
User adoption requires clear roles and accessible training.
Craftable offers unlimited, anytime support and training, which is vital for onboarding staff with different permissions. From my analysis, tailoring user roles based on responsibilities ensures team members only interact with relevant parts of the platform, aiding adoption.
Invest time in leveraging Craftable’s training resources and configuring roles to streamline your team’s transition and daily use.
4. Support & Success Factors
Strong vendor support simplifies your journey.
Craftable provides high-quality phone, email, and chat support, with a G2 score of 9.0, indicating reliable assistance. What I found about deployment is that responsive support significantly mitigates setup challenges, ensuring you’re never stuck during configuration.
Leverage their responsive support and comprehensive training options to maximize your team’s success with the platform.
Implementation Checklist
- Timeline: Weeks to get fully live, depending on data entry effort
- Team Size: Operations lead plus IT for integrations and data entry
- Budget: Primarily staff time for data reconciliation and training
- Technical: POS/accounting integration and consistent naming conventions
- Success Factor: Dedicated effort for initial data accuracy and integration
Overall, the Craftable setup is manageable, but success hinges on meticulous initial data input and leveraging their strong support system for your business.
Bottom Line
Is Craftable the right fit for your business?
This Craftable review synthesizes my comprehensive analysis to provide a clear final recommendation, helping you understand who this software best serves and why.
1. Who This Works Best For
Hospitality businesses needing unified profit management.
Craftable works best for restaurants, bars, ghost kitchens, and hotels, from independent units to multi-location enterprises seeking to centralize back-office operations and gain real-time cost control. What I found about target users is that businesses struggling with fragmented systems will find its unified approach transformative for their operations.
You’ll see significant value if you aim to reduce prime costs, streamline inventory, and automate purchasing across your entire organization.
2. Overall Strengths
Unifies back-office for unparalleled cost control.
The software succeeds by integrating purchasing, inventory, recipe costing, and accounts payable into one intuitive, cloud-based platform. From my comprehensive analysis, its extensive POS and accounting integrations provide a comprehensive real-time view of your entire operation, leading to significant time and cost savings.
These strengths translate into superior profit margins and operational efficiency, empowering your team with accurate, actionable data.
- 🎯 Bonus Resource: Before diving deeper, you might find my analysis of architectural rendering software helpful for design optimization.
3. Key Limitations
Pricing transparency is a notable challenge.
A primary drawback is the lack of publicly available pricing, requiring direct contact with sales for quotes, which can hinder initial research for some businesses. Based on this review, businesses needing highly specialized HR/payroll integration might find more robust native suites in alternative solutions not focused on back-office operations.
While these limitations require additional steps, they are manageable trade-offs for the comprehensive profit management capabilities you gain.
4. Final Recommendation
Craftable earns a strong recommendation for hospitality.
You should choose this software if your business prioritizes centralizing back-office operations, gaining granular cost control, and leveraging real-time data for profitability. From my analysis, this solution excels in optimizing prime costs across food and beverage operations, making it invaluable for the right business profile.
My confidence level is high for businesses seeking robust profit management and operational control within the hospitality industry.
Bottom Line
- Verdict: Recommended for comprehensive hospitality profit management
- Best For: Restaurants, bars, ghost kitchens, and hotels (SMB to Enterprise)
- Business Size: Small to large multi-unit hospitality groups
- Biggest Strength: Unified back-office management for real-time cost control
- Main Concern: No public pricing and limited native HR/payroll features
- Next Step: Contact sales for a personalized demo and pricing quote
This Craftable review demonstrates strong value for the right business profile, while also highlighting the need to connect directly for pricing details before committing to a decision.