Vendors / Adjacent encroachers — ordering, middleware & back-office
Fourth
Fourth (HotSchedules)
The enterprise back-of-house incumbent — HotSchedules scheduling plus payroll/HR/PEO, purchasing, recipe and menu engineering, production planning, earned wage access and tip payouts, with Adaco, MacromatiX and Red Book alongside — that deliberately sells no POS or KDS and instead integrates with Toast, SpotOn and PAR, so it encroaches on labor and inventory rather than on order capture.
scored live legacy rubric
- Claims in scope
- 255
- Scored
- 36
- Assessed
- 28
- Unknown
- 227
- Not applicable
- 59
- Cells challenged
- 0
unknown, never as no.Identity
- Owner
- Private; Fourth and HotSchedules operate as a single company after their merger, but no parent or PE owner is disclosed on the vendor site and none was verifiable from a primary source in this pass
- Parent
- Fourth Enterprises
- Who it is for
- Multi-unit and enterprise restaurant chains — the site cites 120,000 locations and names Taco Bell, Dunkin', KFC and Pizza Hut — needing workforce management, payroll/HR/PEO, inventory and purchasing across a large estate
- Site
- https://www.fourth.com/
Pricing
transparency: quote-only · unit: unknown (quote-only; enterprise contract, likely per location plus per employee, not verified) · processor lock-in: unknown
- Software
- Not published. No dollar figures, per-location rate, or per-seat price appear on the public site for any product line (HotSchedules, payroll/HR/PEO, inventory, analytics, Adaco, MacromatiX, Red Book). Quote-only enterprise sales.
Capabilities
Every claim is binary and checkable. Grades: A primary documentation · B product documentation · C pricing or feature page · D marketing claim · E third-party reporting · F inference with no source. A yes on a differentiator claim requires A or B.
Menu, modifiers & pricing engine
menu-pricing-nested-modifiers
Menu management here is recipe and menu engineering for costing, not a POS modifier tree with min/max and forced selection. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
menu-pricing-modifier-price-by-parent-size
No POS pricing engine; item sell prices live in the integrated POS. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
menu-pricing-fractional-placement differentiator
Not scored by this record.
menu-pricing-half-and-half-rule differentiator
Not scored by this record.
menu-pricing-topping-quantity-tiers
No modifier model exists in the platform. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
menu-pricing-size-style-matrix differentiator
Not scored by this record.
menu-pricing-included-allowance differentiator
Not scored by this record.
menu-pricing-combos
Not scored by this record.
menu-pricing-upsell-prompts differentiator
Not scored by this record.
menu-pricing-86-propagation
Not scored by this record.
menu-pricing-countdown-auto-86 differentiator
Not scored by this record.
menu-pricing-dayparting
Not scored by this record.
menu-pricing-channel-price-books
Not scored by this record.
menu-pricing-dual-pricing differentiator
Not scored by this record.
menu-pricing-versioning-effective-dates differentiator
Not scored by this record.
menu-pricing-franchise-hierarchy differentiator
Not scored by this record.
menu-pricing-allergen-nutrition
Not scored by this record.
menu-pricing-recipe-linkage differentiator
Not scored by this record.
menu-pricing-3p-menu-push
Not scored by this record.
menu-pricing-dynamic-pricing
Not scored by this record.
Payments & money movement
payments-processor-choice differentiator
Not scored by this record.
payments-published-rates differentiator
Not scored by this record.
payments-dual-pricing differentiator
Not scored by this record.
payments-surcharge-guardrails differentiator
Not scored by this record.
payments-emv-nfc
No first-party payment terminals; money movement is payroll, earned wage access and tip payouts, not card acceptance. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
payments-softpos-tap-to-pay differentiator
Not scored by this record.
payments-pay-at-table
Not scored by this record.
payments-qr-guest-pay differentiator
Not scored by this record.
payments-tip-adjust
Not scored by this record.
payments-tip-pooling differentiator
Not scored by this record.
payments-offline-store-and-forward differentiator
Not scored by this record.
payments-offline-decline-liability differentiator
Not scored by this record.
payments-gift-cards
No gift card or stored-value product in the catalog. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
payments-house-accounts
Not scored by this record.
payments-split-tender
Not scored by this record.
payments-refund-void-controls
No tender or refund model; POS voids and refunds are governed by the integrated POS. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
payments-chargeback-tooling differentiator
Not scored by this record.
payments-card-on-file differentiator
Not scored by this record.
payments-payout-timing differentiator
Not scored by this record.
payments-multi-entity-routing differentiator
Not scored by this record.
payments-p2pe-pci4
Not scored by this record.
Delivery, dispatch & third-party channels
delivery-driver-roster
Drivers can be scheduled as employees, but there is no dispatch-aware driver entity with assignment state or run history. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
delivery-dispatch-board
No order dispatch product exists. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
delivery-route-map differentiator
Not scored by this record.
delivery-driver-tracking differentiator
Not scored by this record.
delivery-zones-polygon differentiator
Not scored by this record.
delivery-zone-pricing
No delivery fee, zone or address model in the platform. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
delivery-address-validation
Not scored by this record.
delivery-driver-comp differentiator
Not scored by this record.
delivery-cash-reconcile
Not scored by this record.
delivery-daas-dispatch
Not scored by this record.
delivery-daas-fallback differentiator
Not scored by this record.
delivery-3p-direct-integration differentiator
Not scored by this record.
delivery-3p-injection
Not scored by this record.
delivery-menu-push
Not scored by this record.
delivery-86-sync
Not scored by this record.
delivery-store-pause
Not scored by this record.
delivery-3p-reconciliation differentiator
Not scored by this record.
delivery-injection-error-visibility differentiator
Not scored by this record.
delivery-tracking-page
Not scored by this record.
delivery-promise-time differentiator
Not scored by this record.
delivery-offline-behavior
Not scored by this record.
Digital ordering & guest-facing channels
digital-first-party-web
No guest-facing ordering channel; the platform is entirely back-of-house and staff-facing. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
digital-menu-single-source
Its menu record is a costing artifact, not a sellable digital ordering menu. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
digital-native-app differentiator
Not scored by this record.
digital-account-saved-payment
No guest accounts; user records are employees. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
digital-upsell-engine differentiator
Not scored by this record.
digital-scheduled-pacing
Not scored by this record.
digital-fulfillment-modes
Not scored by this record.
digital-qr-table
Not scored by this record.
digital-kiosk differentiator
Not scored by this record.
digital-group-ordering
Not scored by this record.
digital-catering-portal differentiator
Not scored by this record.
digital-voice-ai-phone differentiator
Not scored by this record.
digital-drivethru-ai
Not scored by this record.
digital-sms-ordering
Not scored by this record.
digital-google-order differentiator
Not scored by this record.
digital-apple-business-connect
Not scored by this record.
digital-loyalty-attach
Not scored by this record.
digital-subscriptions
Not scored by this record.
digital-promo-parity
Not scored by this record.
digital-guest-data-ownership differentiator
Not scored by this record.
digital-checkout-pci-sca
Not scored by this record.
digital-surcharge-transparency differentiator
Not scored by this record.
Guest data, loyalty & marketing
guest-loyalty-unified-profile
No guest data model exists in the platform. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
guest-loyalty-thirdparty-identity-attach differentiator
Not scored by this record.
guest-loyalty-accrual-models
No loyalty product is offered. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
guest-loyalty-tiers differentiator
Not scored by this record.
guest-loyalty-offline-behavior differentiator
Not scored by this record.
guest-loyalty-offer-stacking-rules differentiator
Not scored by this record.
guest-loyalty-targeted-offers differentiator
Not scored by this record.
guest-loyalty-rfm-segmentation differentiator
Not scored by this record.
guest-loyalty-lifecycle-automation
No guest marketing product; engagement features target employees. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
guest-loyalty-native-email-sms differentiator
Not scored by this record.
guest-loyalty-consent-management
Not scored by this record.
guest-loyalty-10dlc-registration
Not scored by this record.
guest-loyalty-campaign-attribution differentiator
Not scored by this record.
guest-loyalty-data-export-portability differentiator
Not scored by this record.
guest-loyalty-cdp-event-api differentiator
Not scored by this record.
guest-loyalty-review-capture-routing differentiator
Not scored by this record.
guest-loyalty-referral-program
Not scored by this record.
guest-loyalty-wallet-pass differentiator
Not scored by this record.
guest-loyalty-privacy-rights-tooling
Not scored by this record.
guest-loyalty-redemption-fraud-controls
Not scored by this record.
guest-loyalty-ai-offer-recommendation differentiator
Not scored by this record.
guest-loyalty-stored-value-gift
Not scored by this record.
Labor & workforce
labor-clock-in-at-pos
HotSchedules ships time and attendance and integrates with POS vendors, but whether punches are entered natively on the POS terminal is not documented publicly. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
labor-photo-punch-verification differentiator
Not scored by this record.
labor-geofenced-mobile-punch
Not scored by this record.
labor-offline-time-punch differentiator
Not scored by this record.
labor-granular-rbac
Enterprise WFM at this scale implies fine-grained permissions, but no per-action permission grid is documented on the public site.
labor-manager-override-audit
Compliance features are marketed, which implies audit trails, but approver attribution and immutability are not documented publicly.
labor-native-scheduling differentiator
Not scored by this record.
labor-demand-labor-forecast differentiator
Not scored by this record.
labor-realtime-labor-percent differentiator
Not scored by this record.
labor-overtime-prevention differentiator
Not scored by this record.
labor-break-compliance-by-state differentiator
Not scored by this record.
labor-fair-workweek-support
Not scored by this record.
labor-minor-labor-rules
Not scored by this record.
labor-tip-pooling-rules
Not scored by this record.
labor-tip-distribution-audit-trail
Not scored by this record.
labor-qualified-tips-w2-reporting differentiator
Not scored by this record.
labor-native-payroll differentiator
Not scored by this record.
labor-payroll-export-formats
Not scored by this record.
labor-shift-swap-workflow differentiator
Not scored by this record.
labor-digital-onboarding-i9
Not scored by this record.
labor-server-performance-metrics differentiator
Not scored by this record.
Inventory, purchasing & cost control
inventory-recipe-bom-costing
Site documents recipe and menu management plus recipe and menu engineering with AI inventory forecasting; multi-level sub-recipes and automatic plate-cost recalculation are not explicitly stated. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
inventory-unit-conversion-yields
Purchasing, receiving and invoicing are documented, which requires purchase-to-recipe unit handling, but conversion factors and yield percentages are not stated publicly.
inventory-theoretical-vs-actual differentiator
Not scored by this record.
inventory-realtime-depletion differentiator
Not scored by this record.
inventory-86-auto-sync differentiator
Not scored by this record.
inventory-count-modes
A full inventory product is documented, but the specific full/spot/cycle count modes and per-count variance history are not described publicly.
inventory-mobile-count-offline
Not scored by this record.
inventory-vendor-catalogs-edi differentiator
Not scored by this record.
inventory-invoice-ocr differentiator
Not scored by this record.
inventory-price-change-alerts differentiator
Not scored by this record.
inventory-par-auto-suggest differentiator
Not scored by this record.
inventory-waste-logging
Not scored by this record.
inventory-transfers
Not scored by this record.
inventory-commissary
Not scored by this record.
inventory-lot-traceability
Not scored by this record.
inventory-shelf-life-expiry
Not scored by this record.
inventory-bar-partial-bottle
Not scored by this record.
inventory-cogs-gl-export
Not scored by this record.
inventory-native-not-partner differentiator
Not scored by this record.
inventory-menu-margin-linkage differentiator
Not scored by this record.
Reporting, BI & data access
reporting-realtime-dashboard
Analytics with AI forecasting and business intelligence is marketed; refresh latency and off-premise browser plus mobile access are not specified. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
reporting-eod-closeout
No tender, tax or cash deposit model, so no POS end-of-day close-out document can be produced. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
reporting-pmix-modifier-level
It ingests POS sales for theoretical-vs-actual costing, which implies item-level mix, but modifier-level PMIX filterable by daypart is not documented.
reporting-comps-voids-audit
Not scored by this record.
reporting-cash-over-short
Not scored by this record.
reporting-labor-productivity
Not scored by this record.
reporting-server-scorecards differentiator
Not scored by this record.
reporting-channel-profitability differentiator
Not scored by this record.
reporting-multiloc-drilldown differentiator
Not scored by this record.
reporting-custom-report-builder differentiator
Not scored by this record.
reporting-scheduled-delivery
Not scored by this record.
reporting-raw-warehouse-export differentiator
Not scored by this record.
reporting-public-api differentiator
Not scored by this record.
reporting-webhooks differentiator
Not scored by this record.
reporting-api-not-upcharged differentiator
Not scored by this record.
reporting-tier-paywall differentiator
Not scored by this record.
reporting-history-retention differentiator
Not scored by this record.
reporting-anomaly-alerts differentiator
Not scored by this record.
reporting-nl-query
Not scored by this record.
reporting-guest-cohorts differentiator
Not scored by this record.
reporting-sales-forecast differentiator
Not scored by this record.
reporting-tip-tax-compliance
Not scored by this record.
Multi-location, franchise & enterprise governance
multi-location-org-hierarchy
Serving 120,000 locations for brands like Taco Bell and KFC implies a real hierarchy, but no named multi-level org object is documented publicly.
multi-location-central-menu-publish
Central recipe and menu management across an estate is implied, but no publish action with version history showing what, when and by whom is documented.
multi-location-local-override-policy differentiator
Not scored by this record.
multi-location-price-zones
Sell-price tiers live in the integrated POS; Fourth manages cost, not menu sell pricing. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
multi-location-scheduled-publish differentiator
Not scored by this record.
multi-location-new-store-template differentiator
Not scored by this record.
multi-location-corp-vs-franchisee-roles differentiator
Not scored by this record.
multi-location-royalty-calculation differentiator
Not scored by this record.
multi-location-royalty-collection
Not scored by this record.
multi-location-consolidated-reporting
Not scored by this record.
multi-location-normalized-item-rollup differentiator
Not scored by this record.
multi-location-cross-location-giftcard
Not scored by this record.
multi-location-cross-location-loyalty
Not scored by this record.
multi-location-multi-brand differentiator
Not scored by this record.
multi-location-multi-tax-jurisdiction
Not scored by this record.
multi-location-multi-currency-locale
Not scored by this record.
multi-location-config-audit-log differentiator
Not scored by this record.
multi-location-enterprise-sso differentiator
Not scored by this record.
multi-location-enterprise-api differentiator
Not scored by this record.
multi-location-central-labor-policy
Not scored by this record.
Integrations, API & extensibility
extensibility-public-api-docs
REPLACES an undated first-pass placeholder that said 'no publicly readable, self-serve API reference was reachable without a partner or sales flow' -- while two cells in this same record cite developer.fourth.com at grade B, retrieved 2026-08-04 (extensibility-oauth-partner-apps quoting the OAuth scopes, extensibility-webhooks-push quoting the Menu Cycles webhook retry policy). Re-fetched 2026-09-01: HTTP 200 anonymously; the host's robots.txt (2,005 b) permits this path, its Disallow list covering only Drupal internals (/core/, /profiles/, /admin/, /user/login and the like -- /core/ was carried as a must-refuse control and the decision site correctly refused it). The portal's own navigation is the reference index: POS Gateway Guide, POS Gateway Reference, POS Transaction API Reference, RME Export API Guide and Reference, RME Import API Guide and Reference, Menu Cycles API Guide and Reference, Fourth Account SCIM API Guide and Reference, Notifications API Guide and Reference, Tasks API Guide and Reference, UK Employee API, Labor Productivity API, Schedules API, and the Adaco Sales Item, Budget, Vendor and Web API references -- alongside Getting Started, What's New, System Status, Integration Options, Authenticating with OAuth, Troubleshooting & FAQs and a Glossary. https://developer.fourth.com/en-gb/docs/authenticating-oauth · retrieved 2026-09-01
extensibility-api-access-cost differentiator
Not scored by this record.
extensibility-partner-revshare
Not scored by this record.
extensibility-free-sandbox differentiator
Not scored by this record.
extensibility-oauth-partner-apps
Fourth's developer portal documents OAuth 2.0 with scopes ('when using the Notifications API, your OAuth request must specify the scope NotificationService') and client_credentials or password grants, returning access token, refresh token and scope. Shortfalls: it states 'Fourth has implemented OAuth 2.0 on several REST APIs' with the others on Basic authentication using the customer's own Fourth username and password base64-encoded in the header, i.e. credential sharing; and Getting Started says 'API credentials are linked to customer accounts. Therefore, you must ask your mutual Fourth customers to request credentials for your use. Credentials can take 2 to 4 weeks to provision.' There is no operator-facing consent screen and no documented per-app revocation. https://developer.fourth.com/en-gb/docs/authenticating-oauth · retrieved 2026-08-04
extensibility-webhooks-push
Exactly one webhook is documented across the whole portal: the Menu Cycles webhook, fired when a menu cycle update is published, delivered per location, retried 'using an exponential back-off algorithm', with an origin header and an optional configured OAuth 2.0 bearer token. Shortfalls: subscription is not self-serve ('To subscribe to the menu cycles webhook, or update your subscription, please contact Fourth Customer Support'), and no order-lifecycle events are pushed at all — the POS Gateway guide runs the other way, with the POS pushing transaction data into Fourth by REST API or SFTP 'normally once a day per customer location', and the Menu Cycles guide's own alternative is that POS systems 'poll daily for updates'. https://developer.fourth.com/en-gb/docs/menu-cycles-api/webhook · retrieved 2026-08-04
extensibility-webhook-reliability differentiator
Not scored by this record.
extensibility-order-injection-api
Not scored by this record.
extensibility-menu-write-api differentiator
Not scored by this record.
extensibility-data-symmetry differentiator
Not scored by this record.
extensibility-published-rate-limits
Not scored by this record.
extensibility-doordash-preferred differentiator
Not scored by this record.
extensibility-first-party-delivery-integrations differentiator
Not scored by this record.
extensibility-middleware-compatibility
Not scored by this record.
extensibility-accounting-connectors
Not scored by this record.
extensibility-payroll-export
Not scored by this record.
extensibility-bi-data-warehouse differentiator
Not scored by this record.
extensibility-app-marketplace
Not scored by this record.
extensibility-custom-fields-scripting
Not scored by this record.
extensibility-headless-embedded
Not scored by this record.
extensibility-api-versioning-deprecation
Not scored by this record.
extensibility-data-portability-exit differentiator
Not scored by this record.
Reliability, offline & operations
reliability-offline-order-entry
No on-terminal order entry exists to continue offline. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
reliability-offline-card-auth differentiator
Not scored by this record.
reliability-offline-decline-liability differentiator
Not scored by this record.
reliability-lan-degraded-multi-terminal differentiator
Not scored by this record.
reliability-local-transaction-engine differentiator
Not scored by this record.
reliability-offline-kds-printing
No kitchen printing or KDS product exists. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
reliability-printer-fallback
No kitchen printer routing product, so there is nothing to fail over. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
reliability-sync-conflict-handling
Not scored by this record.
reliability-offline-feature-matrix
Not scored by this record.
reliability-public-status-page
Not scored by this record.
reliability-contractual-uptime-sla differentiator
Not scored by this record.
reliability-incident-postmortems
Not scored by this record.
reliability-247-live-support
Not scored by this record.
reliability-onsite-install differentiator
Not scored by this record.
reliability-menu-build-service differentiator
Not scored by this record.
reliability-hardware-replacement-sla
Not scored by this record.
reliability-backup-restore
Not scored by this record.
reliability-pci-dss-4-attestation
Not scored by this record.
reliability-mfa-role-based-access
Not scored by this record.
reliability-self-serve-training
Not scored by this record.
reliability-failover-terminal-role differentiator
Not scored by this record.
reliability-cellular-backup
Not scored by this record.
Commercial, compliance & data ownership
commercial-month-to-month-contract differentiator
Not scored by this record.
commercial-no-early-termination-fee differentiator
Not scored by this record.
commercial-autorenew-terms-published
No publicly accessible contract terms, auto-renewal term, or cancellation notice window appear anywhere on the public site. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
commercial-processing-not-bundled differentiator
Not scored by this record.
commercial-interchange-plus-published differentiator
Not scored by this record.
commercial-rate-increase-clause differentiator
Not scored by this record.
commercial-pricing-published
No dollar figures are published for any product line; the site routes entirely to demo and contact-sales flows. https://www.fourth.com/ · retrieved 2026-08-01
commercial-module-unbundling differentiator
Not scored by this record.
commercial-hardware-purchase-outright
No first-party terminals, KDS screens or printers are sold, so the capability largely does not apply; not affirmatively documented.
commercial-hardware-not-locked differentiator
Not scored by this record.
commercial-implementation-fee-published
Not scored by this record.
commercial-data-export-self-serve
Not scored by this record.
commercial-export-customer-and-loyalty differentiator
Not scored by this record.
commercial-post-termination-export-window differentiator
Not scored by this record.
commercial-data-ownership-clause differentiator
Not scored by this record.
commercial-source-available-selfhost
Not scored by this record.
commercial-pci-p2pe-tokenization
Not scored by this record.
commercial-pci-dss-4-controls
Not scored by this record.
commercial-soc2-attestation
Not scored by this record.
commercial-privacy-dsar-tooling
Not scored by this record.
commercial-wcag-kiosk-accessibility differentiator
Not scored by this record.
commercial-dual-pricing-compliant differentiator
Not scored by this record.
Adversarial verification
An independent pass was instructed to refute this record, defaulting to downgrade when uncertain. It challenged 2 values — 0 upheld, 0 downgraded, 0 upgraded. This is published in full because a reader who can see which values were contested, on what evidence, and which way they moved has something no affiliate-funded comparison offers.
Capability claims
| Claim | As first scored | Verdict | What the verifier found |
|---|---|---|---|
| extensibility-oauth-partner-apps | unknown / F, placeholder: no public documentation located during the 2026-08-01 research pass | resolve-to-partial | The first pass missed developer.fourth.com entirely. Its OAuth page documents OAuth 2.0 with a scope parameter (NotificationService for the Notifications API) and client_credentials or password grants returning access token, refresh token and scope. It is not the operator-granted, individually revocable model the claim describes: the same page says OAuth is implemented on 'several' REST APIs while the rest use Basic auth with the customer's Fourth username and password base64-encoded, and Getting Started routes credential issuance through the mutual customer with a 2-4 week provisioning lead time. No consent screen, no per-app revocation page found in the portal. source |
| extensibility-webhooks-push | unknown / F, placeholder: no public documentation located during the 2026-08-01 research pass | resolve-to-partial | Fourth does publish a webhook, but only one: the Menu Cycles webhook, fired on menu cycle publication, aggregated per location, retried with exponential back-off, authenticated by origin header plus an optional configured OAuth bearer token, and subscribed only by contacting Fourth Customer Support. Nothing in the portal pushes order lifecycle events, which is what this claim asks for: the POS Gateway is inbound, with the POS pushing transactions to Fourth by REST or SFTP once a day per location, and the documented alternative to the menu-cycle webhook is daily polling. Partial on the named shortfall of one non-order event type and no self-serve subscription; not no, since no page states order events are unavailable and Fourth is not the order system of record. source |
Sources
Every URL this record cites. 6 in total.
- https://www.fourth.com/
- https://developer.fourth.com/en-gb/docs/authenticating-oauth
- https://developer.fourth.com/en-gb/docs/getting-started
- https://developer.fourth.com/en-gb/docs/menu-cycles-api/webhook
- https://developer.fourth.com/en-gb/docs/pos-gateway/guide
- https://developer.fourth.com/en-gb/docs/integration-options