Little Rock restaurants charge 10.625% on prepared food and 32.625% on mixed drinks. Private clubs reach 27.625% on mixed drinks. A point of sale system in Little Rock needs at least two tax groups configured correctly, and a private club needs membership tracking as well. We program that for you, install it in person and train your staff on it.
“We are with you every step of the way, and we want to see your restaurant thrive.”
What do Little Rock restaurants charge in tax?
Prepared food is 10.625%: 6.5% state, 1% Pulaski County, 1.125% City of Little Rock and 2% hospitality tax. Mixed drinks are 32.625%: the same 8.625% sales tax base, plus a 14% state mixed drink tax and a 10% city tax on restaurant liquor, with the hospitality tax not applying at all.
Private clubs, which matter across much of Arkansas, reach 27.625% on mixed drinks because the city portion is lower.
Who provides restaurant POS systems in Little Rock?
Little Rock restaurants pick between two very different paths. National cloud platforms, Square, Toast, SpotOn, sell online and ship the hardware in a box: setup, menu programming and tax configuration land on you or on a national phone queue. The local path is a dealer who does the configuration and the install in person. Arkansas Point of Sale is the local option: we sell, program and install SkyTab and Clover systems in Little Rock, build your menu and Little Rock's 10.625% prepared-food stack before the hardware arrives, train your staff in your own building, and answer an Arkansas number afterward.
The honest trade-off: a box-shipped national system starts faster and can be fine for a simple counter. The moment a bar program, a private club permit, or Little Rock's four stacked tax layers enter the picture, hands-on local configuration is what keeps the register and the audit agreeing with each other.
Which Little Rock restaurants does this hit hardest?
Anywhere with a serious bar program. The River Market district, the restaurants along President Clinton Avenue, the Heights along Kavanaugh Boulevard, Hillcrest, SoMa on South Main and the West Little Rock corridor out along Chenal Parkway all run food and liquor on the same checks all night.
A steakhouse in the Heights doing a strong cocktail program has a very different tax profile from a counter service lunch spot downtown. The POS configuration should reflect that. A template copied off somebody else's job will not.
Against 10.625% on prepared food. Two tax groups, one ticket.
What we do for a Little Rock install
Program the menu with the correct tax groups for your permit type. Install in person. Train the staff. Stand in your dining room on go live night. Then stay reachable through the week after, which is when the real questions start.
If you are on the Pulaski County line or you operate a second location in North Little Rock, tell us. The city portion differs and the two locations should not share a tax configuration.
Questions restaurant owners ask
What is the restaurant tax rate in Little Rock?
Prepared food is taxed at a combined 10.625% and mixed drinks at 32.625%. Private clubs reach 27.625% on mixed drinks. The difference comes from state and city mixed drink taxes that food never carries, and from the 2% hospitality tax that applies to food but not to liquor.
Do you install in Little Rock in person?
Yes. Judd Alsup leads our Arkansas team and we install in person. No box, no login emailed to you. Someone is in your dining room on go live night, whether that is a grand opening or a switchover in the middle of service.
Is North Little Rock the same rate?
No. Separate city, its own city rate, same county. If you operate on both sides, the two locations need separate tax configurations. Do not let a vendor copy one site's setup to the other.
Vendor pricing and tax rates change without notice. Confirm current figures with the vendor, the city or your accountant before you rely on them. Not tax, legal or accounting advice.
Every number on this page traces to a primary source
- Little Rock combined rates on prepared food and mixed drinkslittlerock.gov / tax information
- Arkansas state sales and use tax rate and mixed drink tax ratesdfa.arkansas.gov / sales use tax