EPOS & POS Systems for Germany
From the restaurant scene of Berlin and Munich's legendary beer halls to Frankfurt's hotel district and the döner shops of every high street, HDS Cloud Apps powers hospitality operations across Germany. KassenSichV compliant with integrated TSE support, Euro-native, MwSt 19%/7% fully configured — and the same platform trusted across the UK and Europe.
The Germany Market
Europe's Largest Economy Demands Reliable EPOS
Germany is the largest economy in the EU, with 84 million people and a deeply rooted dining and hospitality culture. From Bavarian beer halls to Berlin's international restaurant scene, every venue needs fast, auditable, KassenSichV-compliant point-of-sale.
Tourism & Hospitality
Germany attracts tens of millions of visitors every year, with a strong domestic dining culture that rivals inbound tourism. From seasonal Christmas markets and summer biergartens to year-round city restaurants in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg and Cologne — hospitality businesses need EPOS built for speed, table management and KassenSichV compliance from day one.
Beer Halls & Bars
Bavaria's beer hall tradition is world-famous, but Germany's bar and pub scene extends far beyond Munich. Craft beer bars, cocktail lounges and sports bars operate in every major city, each needing high-speed counter service, tab management and integrated card payment. HDS Cloud Apps handles it all — and with KassenSichV-compliant TSE built in, every round is recorded correctly for the Finanzamt.
Hotels & Corporate Travel
Frankfurt's financial district and Munich's corporate hotel belt generate year-round demand for multi-outlet hotel EPOS. HDS Cloud Apps handles restaurant, bar, room service and conference billing from a single platform — with PMS integration, resident account posting and consolidated reporting built in. Business travellers expect seamless payment and accurate receipts, and HDS delivers both.
Retail & Events
Germany hosts Europe's most celebrated Christmas markets, drawing millions of visitors to Nuremberg, Cologne, Dresden and Düsseldorf each year. Trade fairs including Messe Frankfurt and IFA Berlin generate concentrated hospitality demand over short windows. HDS Cloud Apps with Viva SoftPOS turns any smartphone into a card terminal — ideal for stalls, pop-ups and event catering that needs KassenSichV compliance without fixed hardware.
KassenSichV & TSE Compliance Built Into Every Installation
Since 2020, German law requires every electronic cash register and POS system to include a certified TSE (Technische Sicherheitseinrichtung — Technical Security Device). Every transaction must be cryptographically signed by the TSE, and the TSE serial number and signature must appear on the receipt. HDS Cloud Apps is KassenSichV compliant with integrated TSE support — there is no separate device to manage, no middleware to install, and no manual processes. Compliance is built directly into the platform.
The Finanzamt can request a DSFinV-K audit file from any business at any time. HDS Cloud Apps generates this export on demand — a structured file covering all transactions, receipts and TSE signatures in the format required by the German tax authority. Businesses operating non-compliant systems face significant fines during tax audits. With HDS, that risk is eliminated from the start.
Where We Work in Germany
The Venues We Supply Across Germany
From full table-service restaurants in the Berlin restaurant scene to Munich's legendary beer halls and Frankfurt's hotel district, HDS Cloud Apps is built around the specific needs of each venue — not a one-size-fits-all system.
Restaurants
Full table service with floor plan management, course-by-course ordering, kitchen display screens and split-bill capability. From a quiet neighbourhood bistro in Hamburg to a high-cover tourist restaurant in the heart of Berlin — KassenSichV compliant and ready for every service.
Bars
Fast counter service designed for volume — quick product lookup, tab management and integrated card payment. Whether you are running a traditional Bavarian Biergarten in Munich, a craft beer bar in Cologne or a late-night bar in Düsseldorf's Altstadt, HDS keeps pace with your busiest nights.
Hotels
Multi-outlet hotel operations across restaurant, bar, room service and conference facilities — all in a single reporting view. Integrates with property management systems and handles resident account posting, corporate billing and external covers within the same KassenSichV-compliant platform. Ideal for Frankfurt's business hotel district and Munich's conference venues.
Takeaways
Counter service and collection order management built for speed. Germany is home to one of Europe's largest quick-service and döner sectors, with tens of thousands of takeaway operators across every city. Customer-facing order displays, kitchen tickets and collection workflows are fully supported — all KassenSichV compliant as standard.
Operating Across Borders
Manage Germany Alongside Every Other Market
HDS Cloud Apps is built for hospitality groups, contract caterers and multi-site operators running across more than one country. Germany sites sit alongside UK, Maltese or Spanish sites in the same account — each configured for local compliance, managed from one place.
What HDS Provides for Cross-Border Operators
Running hospitality operations across Germany and the UK — or across Germany and the rest of Europe — means managing different tax regimes, currencies and compliance requirements in parallel. HDS Cloud Apps handles all of it centrally, so the operator manages menus, prices and staff accounts once and the platform applies the right rules at each site.
German sites run in Euro with MwSt 19%/7% configured and KassenSichV-compliant TSE active. UK sites run in GBP with UK VAT. Both operate from the same cloud account with no data duplication, no manual reconciliation and no per-country IT overhead.
HDS Cloud Apps is already serving customers across multiple European markets from a single platform. Hospitality groups expanding into Germany from the UK can add German sites to their existing account — no new software, no new training, no new support contract. The same system your team already knows, now KassenSichV compliant and Euro-ready for Germany.
Contract caterers operating German corporate dining sites alongside UK operations benefit from consolidated reporting across the full estate, with each country's compliance handled automatically within the platform.
Payment Providers in Germany
Card Payments That Work in Germany
HDS Cloud Apps integrates with payment providers that are fully operational in Germany. All three providers below support Euro transactions and German card infrastructure including girocard.
Getting Started in Germany
Up and Running in Three Steps
Get a FREE Demo
Book a live walkthrough with the HDS team. We will show you the system in English, with Euro pricing, MwSt 19% and 7% configured, KassenSichV TSE compliance active and your chosen payment provider integrated. Whether you are setting up a restaurant in Berlin or a hotel operation in Frankfurt, we tailor the demo to your environment.
Configure for Germany
We set up your menus, products and payment integration before you go live. MwSt rates are configured correctly — 19% standard on most products, 7% reduced on food and applicable items. KassenSichV TSE is activated and tested. DSFinV-K export is available from day one. For multi-site operators, we configure all sites and link them to your central account during onboarding.
Go Live with Full Support
HDS provides 24/7 remote support from day one. Because the system is entirely cloud-based, updates deploy automatically and any change — a new menu item, a revised price, a new site added — takes effect instantly across all terminals. No local engineer visit required, no compliance updates to manage manually, and no downtime for software maintenance.
Inside Germany's food, drink and retail economy
Germany's hospitality sector spans one of the most diverse and economically significant markets in Europe. Berlin alone has over 7,000 restaurants, bars and cafes, with the highest density of late-night venues concentrated in neighbourhoods such as Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg, Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg. The city's mixed population of approximately 3.7 million residents, a large student community spread across Humboldt-Universitat and Freie Universitat, and over 14 million overnight visitors per year produces year-round demand that shifts sharply between lunch, evening service and late night. Hamburg's Reeperbahn district, Cologne's Altstadt, and Dusseldorf's Altstadt -- often called the longest bar in the world -- each create concentrated trading corridors where dozens of bars and restaurants compete within a few hundred metres. In Munich, the Viktualienmarkt and the surrounding old town draw both tourists and locals into a dense hospitality zone that operates from morning coffee through to late-evening biergarten service, with Oktoberfest alone generating roughly 500 million euros in hospitality revenue across the Theresienwiese site and the surrounding Maxvorstadt district each autumn.
Germany's trade fair economy adds a distinct layer of complexity for hospitality operators. Frankfurt's Messe Frankfurt is one of the largest exhibition centres in the world, hosting events including Ambiente, Automechanika and the Frankfurt Book Fair, each of which fills the city's hotels, bars and restaurants to capacity for short, intensive windows. The same pattern repeats at Messe Munchen, Messe Berlin (home to IFA and ITB), and Messe Dusseldorf. Operators near these venues face the challenge of staffing and stocking for sudden high-volume periods followed by quieter trading -- a cycle that demands real-time reporting, flexible staff access controls and the ability to adjust menus and prices centrally without relying on on-site technical support. Across the country's Autobahn service areas, motorway-adjacent retail parks and international airport terminals -- Frankfurt Airport alone handles over 60 million passengers annually -- quick-service and branded food operators run multi-terminal environments where consistent EPOS configuration and centralised reporting are not optional extras but operational necessities.
The quick-service sector presents its own operational pressures. Germany has one of Europe's highest concentrations of independent doner kebab and Turkish food businesses, estimated at over 16,000 outlets nationally, the majority of which are small owner-operated units with high staff turnover and limited back-office resource. For these operators, a system that is straightforward to train new staff on, handles girocard and contactless reliably, and generates the KassenSichV-compliant TSE receipts required by law is a practical necessity rather than a premium feature. Seasonal trading adds further pressure: Christmas market stalls in Nuremberg's Christkindlesmarkt, Cologne's Dom-side markets and Strasbourg-adjacent border venues operate for as few as four weeks per year, yet still require fully compliant POS infrastructure. The combination of strict fiscal regulation, a varied and season-sensitive hospitality landscape, and a market that spans everything from Michelin-starred restaurants in Hamburg's Eppendorf to roadside Imbiss stalls means German operators need a platform that handles compliance automatically and scales up or down without friction.
Frequently Asked Questions
EPOS in Germany Explained
What EPOS systems are available in Germany?
HDS Cloud Apps provides cloud-based EPOS for businesses across Germany — restaurants, bars, hotels and takeaways in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Cologne, Düsseldorf and beyond. The system runs on standard touchscreen terminals and tablets with no local server required. Euro currency and MwSt (19% standard, 7% reduced) are both fully supported, and the platform is KassenSichV compliant with integrated TSE support from day one. Pricing starts from £49 per month for the software licence.
What is KassenSichV and does HDS Cloud Apps comply?
KassenSichV (Kassensicherungsverordnung) is the German POS security regulation that has applied to all new cash register installations since 2020. It requires every POS system to include a certified TSE (Technische Sicherheitseinrichtung), which cryptographically signs every transaction. The TSE serial number and signature must appear on receipts, and businesses must be able to produce a DSFinV-K audit file for the Finanzamt on demand. HDS Cloud Apps is KassenSichV compliant with integrated TSE support — compliance is built into the platform, not added as an afterthought. Non-compliant systems risk significant fines during tax audits.
What are the VAT rates in Germany and how does EPOS handle them?
Germany applies MwSt (Mehrwertsteuer or Umsatzsteuer) at a standard rate of 19% on most goods and services, and a reduced rate of 7% on food consumed away from the premises, books, newspapers and certain other categories. HDS Cloud Apps is fully configured for both rates — products are assigned the correct MwSt rate, receipts show the proper breakdown, and all reports are produced in a format suitable for German tax returns. As an EU member state, Germany follows EU VAT directives, and HDS has handled EU VAT compliance across multiple European markets for years.
What payment terminals work in Germany?
Germany uses Euro and standard European card infrastructure. Visa, Mastercard, girocard (formerly EC-Karte), contactless, Apple Pay and Google Pay all work as standard. HDS Cloud Apps integrates with Viva (pan-European, active across Germany with SoftPOS capability), Musqet (AI-powered, cards, open banking and Bitcoin) and Trust Payments (enterprise gateway, multi-currency). Viva is a particularly strong fit for German venues that need mobile payment terminals or SoftPOS for seasonal and event-based trading.
Can I manage Germany sites alongside UK or other European sites from one account?
Yes. HDS Cloud Apps is designed for multi-country operators. German sites run in Euro with MwSt 19%/7% configured and KassenSichV-compliant TSE active, while UK sites run in GBP with UK VAT — both managed from the same cloud account. Reports can be viewed per site, per country or across the whole estate. This makes HDS Cloud Apps ideal for hospitality groups expanding from the UK into Germany, or for contract caterers running cross-border operations across the UK and Europe.
How does girocard work with HDS Cloud Apps in Germany?
Girocard (formerly EC-Karte) is the dominant domestic debit card in Germany, used by the vast majority of German consumers for in-person purchases. Unlike Visa Debit or Mastercard Debit, girocard operates on a separate German interbank network and requires specific acquirer support. HDS Cloud Apps integrates with Viva, which supports girocard alongside Visa, Mastercard and contactless payments across Germany. This means restaurants, bars and takeaways running HDS will accept girocard at the terminal without any additional configuration -- a practical necessity for venues in residential areas of Berlin, Hamburg or Cologne where most customers pay with their German bank card rather than an international scheme card.
Does HDS Cloud Apps suit seasonal venues such as Christmas market stalls and biergartens?
Yes. Seasonal operators across Germany -- from a Gluhwein stall on Cologne's cathedral square to a temporary biergarten at a Volksfest in Bavaria -- need KassenSichV-compliant EPOS that can be deployed quickly, requires no fixed hardware installation, and handles card payments without a wired terminal. HDS Cloud Apps combined with Viva SoftPOS turns any Android smartphone or tablet into a fully compliant card terminal. The EPOS software subscription can be activated and deactivated to match your trading season, and TSE compliance is maintained throughout. All transactions are recorded, signed and available for DSFinV-K export even on the last day of the market -- so there are no compliance gaps between opening and close of season.
How does EPOS handle the 7% reduced MwSt rate for food consumed off the premises?
Germany applies 7% MwSt to food items sold for takeaway or off-premises consumption, and 19% to food consumed on the premises (dine-in). This distinction is particularly relevant for venues such as bakeries, Imbiss counters and cafes that serve customers both in-house and to take away. HDS Cloud Apps allows each product to be assigned either rate, and can prompt staff at the point of sale to select dine-in or takeaway, applying the correct MwSt rate automatically. Receipts display the appropriate rate and amount, and end-of-day reports break down revenue by MwSt band -- giving you the figures your Steuerberater (tax adviser) needs for your monthly Umsatzsteuer-Voranmeldung filing without manual calculation.
Ready to Set Up EPOS in Germany?
Speak to the HDS team today. We will show you the system configured for Germany — Euro pricing, MwSt 19%/7%, KassenSichV TSE compliance, DSFinV-K export and your chosen payment provider integrated — and walk you through everything with no obligation. Whether you are opening a restaurant in Berlin, a bar in Munich or a hotel operation in Frankfurt, we have the experience to get you live fast.