MarketMan is inventory and purchasing software. It learns what you pay from the invoices you scan and from vendors connected by EDI, a direct data feed from a distributor. RestaurantMate checks the price at every website vendor you use, on your own login, before you order. Both read your invoices, cost your recipes and value your counts.
If you are checking MarketMan pricing or reviews, or looking for a MarketMan alternative, this page covers what each tool does and costs, including where MarketMan is stronger. MarketMan facts come from its own website and from Capterra, checked on October 9, 2026. Sources are at the end.
The short answer
MarketMan suits an operator who wants deep inventory control, demand forecasting, a central kitchen (commissary) module or an accounting sync, and who has time for a full setup.
RestaurantMate suits a restaurant or restaurant group that buys from several vendors and wants to know who is cheaper before placing the order. Setup is $0 and done with you. It is free for your first 60 days, then $99 a month per location.
At a glance
| RestaurantMate | MarketMan | |
|---|---|---|
| When you see a vendor's price | Before you order. Website vendors are checked nightly on your login. | From invoice scans after delivery, and from EDI (1, 2 or unlimited vendors by plan). |
| Which vendors | Any vendor you buy from, by website login or the RestaurantMate inbox | Any vendor through invoices. EDI vendors limited by plan. |
| Suggested order quantities | Yes, from a count's shortage below par | Yes, par-based suggested purchase orders |
| Demand forecasting | Not offered | Yes, Smart Ordering on Growth and Enterprise |
| Sending the order | Fills each vendor's online cart and checks every line. You check out. | You approve the purchase order and it goes to the supplier. |
| Actual vs theoretical food cost | Yes, with two counts | Yes, on every plan |
| Recipe setup | Send recipes in any format. We set them up and ask only about the unclear ones. | Set up in the app, with implementation guided by MarketMan's experts |
| Central kitchen (commissary) | Not offered | Add-on, $499 or $749 a month |
| POS sales | Toast and SpotOn today. We add your POS on request. | Toast, Square, Lightspeed and TouchBistro shown on its site |
| Accounting sync | Not offered | QuickBooks and Xero shown on its site |
| Price | Free for your first 60 days, then $99 a month per location, plus a $300 refundable device deposit | Starter $249 and Growth $299 a month. Enterprise from $449. |
| Setup | $0, done with you | Price not listed on the pricing page |
Where MarketMan is stronger
MarketMan goes deeper on inventory. Every plan includes recipe costing, actual vs theoretical reports and waste tracking. At delivery, staff receive the order in the mobile app.
MarketMan forecasts. Its Smart Ordering feature, on Growth and Enterprise, suggests order quantities and is described as forecasting demand. RestaurantMate does not forecast.
MarketMan has a commissary module. A commissary is a central kitchen that cooks for your other locations or sells to other businesses. The add-on costs $499 a month, or $749 if you sell to outside restaurants. RestaurantMate has nothing like it.
MarketMan connects to more systems. Its site shows Toast, Square, Lightspeed and TouchBistro for sales, and QuickBooks and Xero for accounting. RestaurantMate syncs sales from Toast and SpotOn today and has no accounting sync.
MarketMan is much bigger. It says it is trusted by more than 15,000 restaurants. RestaurantMate is live in 10+ restaurants across Columbia (MO), Kansas City, Los Angeles and Boston. On Capterra, many reviewers praise its onboarding and support.
How RestaurantMate is different
You see the price before you buy
MarketMan's pricing page lists two ways purchase data gets in: invoice scans and EDI. EDI, short for electronic data interchange, is a direct data feed between a distributor and the software, and your plan sets how many vendors you can connect that way. MarketMan says it tracks ingredient prices across all of your vendors. For a vendor without EDI, the price it sees usually comes from the invoice you scan, after the delivery.
RestaurantMate works before the order. Every night it signs in to each of your website vendors with your own login and checks the price of the items you buy. You see your account's prices, including any contract pricing. It uses the pack size the vendor publishes to turn every price into a price per pound, per ounce or per each. If a pack size is missing, it asks you once instead of guessing.
Pack sizes differ, so the same unit matters. Say Heartland Foodservice sells chicken thighs in a 40 lb case for $87.60, and Club Wholesale sells a 4 x 10 lb case for $83.60. That is $2.19 a pound against $2.09 a pound. RestaurantMate shows both per pound, side by side, before you order.
Every vendor you already use
Buy from a distributor, a club store and a local produce company? RestaurantMate works with all three. Website vendors connect with your own login. Email-only vendors send invoices and price sheets to your location's RestaurantMate inbox. We connect to any vendor you buy from. If we haven't connected one yet, we build it for you, usually within days. You keep your vendors and your reps.
A small device in your restaurant
Vendor websites block logins from cloud servers. So the vendor logins run on the RestaurantMate device, a small box that plugs into your router and uses your restaurant's own internet. We ship it ready. It is a $300 refundable deposit, and one device covers up to two locations. Your vendor logins are stored privately, used only to sign in to that vendor, and never shown back.
Ordering, side by side
Par is the amount you want on the shelf when the next delivery arrives. Both tools use it.
In MarketMan, when stock falls below the par you set, it writes a suggested purchase order for that supplier. You review it, approve it with one click, and it is sent to the supplier.
In RestaurantMate, a count leads into a shopping run. Items the count found below par come first, with a suggested quantity filled in from the shortage. For each item you see every vendor's price per unit. The cart is split by vendor and shows each vendor's order minimum. If another vendor has the same item for less, the cart shows how much you would save by switching. When you send the order, RestaurantMate fills each vendor's online cart and checks every line. Then you open the vendor's cart and check out. Vendors without a website are ordered the way you order them today.
Food cost and inventory
COGS (cost of goods sold) is what your food costs you. There are two ways to measure it.
- Theoretical food cost is what your recipes say the food you sold should have cost.
- Actual food cost is what you used, measured from counts: opening count + purchases - closing count.
A worked example: you counted $8,200 of food on the 1st, bought $21,500 during the month and counted $7,900 on the 31st. Actual food cost is $8,200 + $21,500 - $7,900 = $21,800. If your recipes say the food you sold should have cost $20,600, you have a $1,200 gap to explain. Waste, over-portioning and out-of-date recipes are common causes.
MarketMan includes actual vs theoretical reporting on every plan.
RestaurantMate shows it once you have a count at the start and end of the period. The Overview tab on the COGS page then shows actual food cost next to theoretical. The Ingredients tab shows the variance for each ingredient, so you can see which ingredient the gap comes from.
Recipe prices come from what you paid on your invoices, down to POS modifiers such as extra cheese or no bun. AI never guesses a price. Counts are valued at the prices you paid.
Setup
On Capterra, a common theme in MarketMan reviews is that the first setup takes real work. Reviewers say entering recipes and building the item catalog take the most time. Many reviewers also praise the onboarding team and say the product pays off once it is running. MarketMan's pricing page says implementation is guided by experts and does not list a price for it.
RestaurantMate setup is $0 and done with you. You list your vendors on a short welcome form and our team connects them, which usually takes a few days. Send your recipes in any format (a photo, a PDF or a spreadsheet) to your agent or to our team. RestaurantMate sets them up and clears the obvious ones. It asks you only about the unclear ones.
Price
MarketMan's published plans, checked October 9, 2026:
- Starter, $249 a month. Recipe costing, actual vs theoretical, waste tracking, 50 invoice scans a month, 1 EDI vendor.
- Growth, $299 a month. Everything in Starter, plus Smart Ordering, order by recipe, unlimited invoice scans and 2 EDI vendors.
- Enterprise, from $449. Unlimited EDI vendors.
- Add-ons. Commissary $499 or $749 a month. API access $25 to $199 a month, by location count.
The pricing page does not say whether these prices are per location. If you have more than one location, ask MarketMan how it prices them.
RestaurantMate is 60 days free with no card, then $99 a month per location. The device is a $300 refundable deposit, and one device covers up to two locations. Setup is $0. You pay monthly and can leave whenever.
For one location in the first year, at list price, MarketMan Starter comes to $2,988 and Growth to $3,588. RestaurantMate comes to about $990, plus the $300 deposit you get back.
Who should pick which
MarketMan is the better fit if:
- you run a commissary
- demand forecasting matters to you
- you need QuickBooks or Xero sync, or your POS is Square, Lightspeed or TouchBistro
- most of your buying goes through one or two EDI distributors and you already know where to buy
- someone on your team has the time to own a full setup
RestaurantMate is the better fit if:
- you buy from several vendors with websites and want to see who is cheaper before you order
- you want setup done with you, starting from the recipe files you already have
- you want food cost per plate from what you paid, down to modifiers
- you use Toast or SpotOn, or you are happy to ask us to add your POS
- you want to pay $99 per location, month to month
What a RestaurantMate owner says
Miguel runs two restaurants in Los Angeles. RestaurantMate has cut his food purchases by about 10%, and by 20 to 30% on some items where he switched vendors, and his manager gets back 4 to 5 hours a week. When we asked him to wait three weeks for a new version before onboarding his second location, he wrote back:
"No, it would be great if you could onboard me today. I cannot imagine running my second location without RestaurantMate anymore."
FAQ
How much does MarketMan cost? Its pricing page lists Starter at $249 a month, Growth at $299 and Enterprise from $449 (checked October 9, 2026), with commissary and API access as add-ons. It does not list an implementation price or say whether prices are per location.
What do MarketMan reviews say? On Capterra, reviewers often say setup takes a lot of work, especially entering recipes and building the item catalog. Many also praise the onboarding help, and many reviewers say it pays off once it is running.
Is RestaurantMate a good MarketMan alternative? Yes, if you buy from several vendors and your main question is where to buy and at what price. If you need forecasting, a commissary module or accounting sync, stay with MarketMan.
Does RestaurantMate show actual vs theoretical food cost? Yes, once you have a count at the start and end of the period. The Ingredients tab also shows the variance for each ingredient.
Does RestaurantMate forecast demand? No. Suggested quantities come from your latest count and your par levels.
Does RestaurantMate place orders by itself? No. RestaurantMate fills each vendor's online cart and checks every line. You, or someone you give full ordering access, review the cart and check out.
How does RestaurantMate billing work? 60 days free with no card, then $99 a month per location, billed monthly. You can leave whenever.
Try RestaurantMate
Get started to create an account, or try the live demo to click through a sample restaurant first.
Sources (as of 2026-10-09)
- MarketMan pricing
- MarketMan purchasing and ordering
- MarketMan home page (15,000+ restaurants, integrations)
- MarketMan reviews on Capterra (setup and onboarding themes) Prices and features are as of October 2026, from each company's public website and Capterra. Product names are trademarks of their owners. RestaurantMate is not affiliated with MarketMan. If something here is out of date, email us and we will fix it.