Restaurant Point of Sale Systems: Innovation Can Help Enhance Profit – Do It NOW!
When it comes to sourcing out POS software, you’ll find that restaurant and hospitality operators have become much more tech proficient in recent years. Not only are they more comfortable choosing new POS systems, but they’re also demanding a bigger bang for their buck when it comes to their restaurant POS software choices. So if your planning for a big upgrade on your POS systems, here’s what you would be looking for in 2009.
It’s only been a while when hospitality operators used to be so excited to use their first ever restaurant POS system. Does anyone remember their first restaurant POS system? You had a shiny and smooth looking keypad, a little black plastic “key” and a book of PLU codes to memorize. You punched in your food and beverage orders, and miraculously, your beverage orders printed out at the bar while the food orders printed at the same time in the kitchen. Everyone wanted to try it out!
Since then, the world of restaurant POS systems have evolved to meet the needs of people. Today’s hospitality operators are becoming much more tech savvy than they’ve ever been, and the POS industry is slowly responding. The big players in Point of Sale software systems are still active, but there has been a fast growing number of smaller companies have emerged in recent years, and the big guys could see their portion of the POS pie swallowed up quickly if they don’t furnish what today’s hospitality operators are demanding. Here are the top features every restaurant & hospitality operator should be looking for once they’ve decided to invest in a new POS system in 2009.
Data Reports -
The top two issues every hospitality-based business wants to get a handle on are food cost, and labor costs. Always keep those things in check, and your chances of succeeding in such a competitive market are remarkably increased. By simply allowing your managers to access important data with the use of a modern POS system, you can handle these profit killers with ease. A POS system with state of the art data reporting capabilities will allow you to forecast business volumes, which gives managers the information they need to handle scheduling and avoid unnecessary labor costs. Time and attendance can be precisely monitored. Real time and instant access to data also allows managers to spot problems quickly and make snap decisions to address discrepancies in cash flow and adjust inventory levels. The POS system will pay for itself many times over if it can help you get a handle on these two issues alone.
Management and Integration of Back Office -
By linking all your POS terminals together, combined with the ability to run reports, make menu and pricing changes on the fly, check inventory levels and consolidate payroll at one central location is crucial to running any retail business efficiently and profitably. A modern POS system will allow you to do this quickly and easily, all from the back office. Integration and management of your back office should be the first thing on your list.
Management of Customer Relationship -
A successful promotion can go a long way in boosting profits. Making sure your coupon or gift card programs are working perfectly is a bit hard. If your POS system can quickly help you evaluate which promotions are working and which ones aren’t, so you no longer need to waste money and time. Having a POS system that can keep track of customer histories, their likes and dislikes, comments, etc. can give you valuable insight into what future promotions you can come up with, and which ones are most likely to work. Effective customer loyalty and points programs make your customers happy and keep them coming back. So, when it comes to Customer Relationship Management, let your POS system do most of the thinking for you.
Wireless Technology -
Wireless POS systems are perfect for businesses that operate outside of traditional, brick and mortar locations. Even venues like ski resorts, fairs or stadiums can benefit from from a wireless point of sale system (a portable concession stand or use in a private suite). In traditional environments, like restaurants, there are many great benefits that wireless devices can provide, especially wireless hand held devices.
With wireless hand held units, your staff saves time taking orders with out having to line up to get access to the POS terminal, and therefore are much more productive. Since the order is sent instantly, at tables, servers are able to go quickly from one table to the next. Managers can lessen staffing levels by simply scheduling a few of his skilled employees, give them larger sections, and direct their primary focus at greeting customers, take orders and up-selling. Non-serving staff can then be hired (at significant payroll savings) to send off food and cleaning tables. When serving staff are able to remain on the floor, the result is a superb customer service experience for your regular customers and greatly increase sales by up-selling and faster table turns. Also, wasted food decreases because taking orders directly at tables greatly reduces errors.
Another very useful feature of wireless hand held technology is that orders going into the kitchen are more evenly spaced, so you avoid overwhelming the kitchen with too many orders at once. This greatly increases the efficiency of kitchen staff and further decreases waste. Wireless hand held technology has been greatly polished though the years, with its increased battery life and ease of usage it improves staff performance. The time indeed has come for restaurants to embrace wireless POS technology.
Payment Security -
Payment security is crucial in today’s marketplace. With the incidence of fraud and identity theft reaching epidemic proportions, safeguarding the safety of your client’s credit card data is vital. You may visit PCI Security Standards Council, the open global forum for the ongoing development, enhancement, storage, dissemination and implementation of security standards for account data protection. Are you sure your POS system is secured and PCI compliant? If it isn’t, then you better act now before it’s too late.
The Technology of Self Service -
Self-service technology have been the talk of the town in recent years. Having moved beyond kiosks, self serve options give business owners in the food-service the ability to let customers process their own orders, which greately reduces waste. Touch screen POS terminals are now intuitive and easy to use, and offer add on/up sell items instantaneously, which boosts the average check totals. The traditional “Server” is replaced by food runners, or counter staff, who can also do quality checks. Payments can even be done by customers, for faster table turns and increased cover counts.
Self-service terminals may not be appealing for patrons who wants to experience fine dining, but it certainly is attractive for fast food chains or quick service restaurants. Remanco certainly didn’t offer all these features!
For Enterprise & Multi Unit -
For those who operate large and multi-venue operations, searching for the right POS system can still be easy. Because to logistics and a host of other obstructions, businesses with multiple locations were forced to seek alternatives in how they coordinated the collection of cash and data. With this kind of business, you may need enterprise wide systems that has features such as client recognition capabilities, hospitality and retail sales, as well as quick and easy debit and credit options and many more. It may also require a system that has the ability to get around cabling and network issues, as well as precious data in case of a system failure. And if your company falls into this category, an enterprise POS solution that is reliable and flexible is just the right thing.
With all the things said above, many might think that it would be difficult to find a POS system that offers all of the above and more. One POS system, however, consistently stands out and not in group with the POS industry. The state of the art POS system, the modern and flexible Toronto based Volante POS Systems. Volante has seamlessly embraced all the above features and more. It’s fully PCI compliant too! Volante first boasted its superiority in 1993, and is cross platform compatible, meaning it will run on Windows, Linux or Unix. Linux POS solutions are very attractive these days, since they allow business owners to cut costs by saving on Windows licensing fees, and are easy to use.
With the above shopping list in hand, as a retail business owner you should feel prepared when looking for a new POS system to replace your old one. If the POS software you’re looking at doesn’t offer the features your business really needs, move on. In today’s economic times, you really can’t afford not to.
Seeking more information or for an online resource?
Kindly visit POS-For-Restaurants.com
The of this article author is the Vice-President of Customer Relations at POS-For-Restaurants with over 20 years of experience helping restaurants of all types become more efficient and profitable throughout the U.S.
