Posts Tagged ‘restaurant computer’

Your computer hardware acts as the core component of your POS terminalrunning all the applications on your POS terminal such as the POS software you’ve installed. You can purchase a complete PC-based restaurant POS terminal for your restaurant or buy each component separately, just make sure you check them for their compatibility. If you’re going to buy your computer components separately, it wil be muh better buy them all with the same reseller. Because then it’ll be easier to setup and for ongoing support.

All your application can run perfectly on an average POS computer but don’t forget that some POS software requires newer versions of OS and regular updates. Now, if you baught your computer components separately with different resellers, you will need to coordinate with them and always keep in contact just in case any compatibility problems arise.

Do not use your restaurant POS computers for anything other than POS! Some business owners connects their POS computers to the internet to browse the web or send emails, many of them end up having corrupt files, data loss or suffer from system crashes. Although all of these can be repaired by having a good back up plan, it is still much safer that you do not use your POS computer for anything other than POS. You may be able to restore your files but once you ignorantly use it again to connect to the internet, you’ll end up with the same old problems. Loosing valuable time and spending loads of money on continues repairs.

Choosing For The Right POS Software

It is very important that you check first a POS software before buying it. Is it compatible with your system? Does it have the features your retail business needs? Is it affordable? Does the price seems reasonable? These are just some of the things you have to figure out before buying any POS software for your computer.

Powerful POS software tools allows you to easily create checks, place special orders, generate waiting list, move diners from the bar to a table and even track orders per server! you also consider adding more features to your POS terminal for handling larger volume of customers and for your convenience as well.

Using Internet data boards: This part of your POS terminal takes a snapshot of the day’s business which you can access from anywhere with a web connection, comes very handy if you want to view your other branch’s business performance. You can also donwload data from other branches and have total peace of mind, knowing that your other branches are doing fine.

Multimanagement: From the multi-manager approach in business management. This a very important factor to consider when it comes to managing multiple branches. Because different branch managers have different sets of skills and specialties in different areas, neither all of them or just by one manager can handle all branches. That’s why each branch manager’s assests is assessed and carefully pick two of the best to smoothly manage all the branches. Avoiding conflicts and making business management more efficient.

A multimanagement POS software allows sharing of data and allocation across multiple branches[By using a multimanagement POS software, it allows multiple branches to share data and allocation across multiple branches].

Frequent diner program: A frequent diner POS software program provides a better allocation of your customers’ accumulated points through meals or items they’ve purchased, which they can later exchange for free desserts or discounts. With this you can easily award points to your customers to keep them coming back. You can help boost your sales as well as your low-performing items.

As a restaurant owner, you may consider to add more POS software to enhance your business’ performance, and of course increase profit. It’s easy to add and change POS systems, install new software and replace old computer components. What’s important is you must know first the type of restaurant POS equipment or software your business needs before heading on to the nearest POS seller serving your area.

Further more, you may be able to receive free competitive price lists from from your local POS suppliers who will be willing to provide you any any POS systems your business needs. Just with a simple request for a FREE POS system quote, you’ll immediately get connected with the most qualified POS sellers serving your area. So there’s no need to tire yourself manually searching for reliable suppliers and POS systems.

Always rememeber to check a POS software or hardware first before purchasing. You may also want to check if your POS software has a user interface that is easy to learn and navigate, so your staff will waste no time serving customers.

For more information or to have a local POS professional serving the restaurant industry and your location see more information at POS-For-Restaurants.com.

What Are The Advantages I Can Get From My POS System?

I know a lot of you may think “Is a POS system really effective?”. You may not mind relying on your cash register and sales ledger for your transactions because it’s affordable and reliable. But is it really the most efficient way to run your business?

While it’s true that POS requires an initial investment, it’s important to understand the huge benefits a POS can bring to your business. Regardless of what industry you are in, the goal is to have more sales and generate more revenue. POS can be your stepping stone for achieving your goals – and a whole lot more. Here’s a sampling of what POS systems can do for your particular business:

Concentrate on your business - POS systems allow companies to concentrate on growing the business. Since POS systems can take of your transactions, scheduling and inventory, you can have more time strategically planning on new techniques, promotions, and other initiatives to improve your business.

Improved Functionality - POS systems are more than just sophisticated cash registers. They can also hold reservations, take special orders, easily communicates with other locations, and provide guest beeper systems to maintain the flow of your business.

Streamline Your Operations - There’s little room for error with a POS system. Every information is entered and recorded accurately so the lines of communication are always clearly outlined. It can speed up the ordering process with improved accuracy which in return improves your productivity and customer service level.

Inventory Management - One of the most important task in food service industries is to check whether your supplies, perishable goods, are still in good condition before you serve it to your customers and be able to stock enough supplies without letting them to go to waste when soldunsold. With POS systems, you know what’s in stock, what you’re running low on, and what your best sellers are so you can plan ahead.

Reducing Shrinkage – Having a POS system can help you keep your employees honest. With paper receipts and an old-fashioned cash register, the temptation will always be there to pocket a few bucks or give friends a free meal or two. With a POS, your business is in good hands by providing an accurate account of where your merchandise (and money) are going.

Reducing Errors – If you’re in the food service industry, you no longer need to decipher cramped hand-written orders from busy wait staff! POS allows you to easily input orders, including specifics, to decrease the chances that it will come out wrong. By this, you can keep your customers happy by not having to serve them the wrong orders, re-cook orders and waste food. So you will no longer have to re-cook orders and waste food, plus it’ll save you a great amount of money.

Track Costs - If you don’t have prices clearly entered in a database, you might as well let customers shop with their own pricing gun. Placing price stickers on items can make it too easy for thieves to swap labels. Using a POS, all items is bar coded and tracker so you can always know and input an item’s right price. And if you need to make changes, you can do all the changes at once using your POS termial!

Increase Customers That Patronize Your Restaurant - Serving quickly and accurately your customers waiting in line can help keep customers coming in your door. When customers don’t have to wait for wait staff to calculate checks, collect payment, and clear tables, your staff can servce more customers and increase profit.

Getting Accurate Reports - With POS, you can do more than what you could with multiple ledgers and spreadsheets. You can easily make record of sales, track, sort, organize data as well as make revisions whenever necessary. Reporting is an important. It allows you to track what is sold, see what is needed to be restocked and reordered, and help you plan for the next few months of business and beyond. It can also be a helpful reminder tool when you’re running low on supplies.

Track Customers’ Data - Build your customer loyalty and let the POS be your guide. Every customer you will ever greet through your doors will be entered into the system when they order something. Make tabs of meals they order and how often they visit your location. Then use this data to compile information for targeted sales and advertising campaigns. By this, you can identify and limit poor selling merchandise in stock and assign funds for the best sellers.

There are critical things to consider for your POS system purchase in any industry. Make sure to meet with at least 3-4 qualified POS vendors before making this important decision. In any case, request for a free POS system quote, where vendors will be able to help you meet your your needs once you’ve given them enough info about your POS needs. Provide them with the details of the information you wish to track and the features that can help you ease your job. Always be aware when the POS software appears to MAKE you do things unexpectedly. Follow this simple procedure in order to find the right software that can improve your business’ efficiency. With proper planning you will have a POS solution that makes your business more efficient, more profitable, more enjoyable, and keep your customers happy!

For more information or an online resource:

Check out POS-For-Restaurants.com

The author of this article is the Vice-President of Customer Relations at POS-For-Restaurants with over 20 years of experience serving restaurants of all types throughout the U.S.

Restaurant Software

Running a successful restaurant used to be about the basics: good food, good service and the right location. But today, there’s an addition to these basics: in order to run your POS system, you need a restaurant software you can rely on.

Though the physical components are more visible, your POS software is the heart that runs your POS systems. Doing a careful evaluation of restaurant POS software is key to getting a system that will satisfy both your staff and customers.

Looking for the right restaurant software
First, it’s important to know what exactly you need the software to do. A restaurant POS software should be able to handle checks per diner or per table, track orders per server, move diners from the bar to a table, manage list of customers that are waiting as well as the reservations, and more.

Once you’ve found that restaurant software that can meet your needs, test it and see for your self how to use it. While there will always be a learning curve for your staff when you adopt a new POS system, choosing restaurant software that’s easy to use can reduce the learning curve to manageable levels.

You may learn more about ease of use by having one or two of your servers involved in the evaluation. They’ll be able to try out the kinds of oddball situations and changes that can cause problems with some software.

• Security – create login accounts for each employee. You should be able to limit access to sensitive data and functions (such as comping meals) to managers, if desired.
• Flexibility – waiters should be able to manipulate checks to match your patrons’ whims: easily splitting checks and tracking special orders, for example.
• Reporting – a POS software can create detailed report which is a great advantage for restaurant owners. So you better make sure the software you choose gets the neccessary detailed information on your business transactions either by per server or over all sales from day to day or to annual.
• Multiple location support – if applicable, make sure the system is capable of tracking and reporting on multiple locations, including local differences in staffing and pricing.

Don’t forget your hardware
Of course you’ll need to invest in restaurant POS hardware as well: computers to run the restaurant software on, touch-screen displays for servers to enter order, and printers to produce order slips for the kitchen. The software will use will dictate any special hardware requirements – the biggest hardware decision you’re going to to make is how many stations will you need.

Ready to start contacting restaurant software vendors? Find out more at POS-For-Restaurants.com and receive free unbiased quotes from the experts in point of sale systems serving your area.

The author of this article is the VP of Customer Relations at POS-For-Restaurants with over 20 years of experience meeting the automation needs of restaurants of all types throughout the U.S.

Bar/Restaurant: POS software features

Bar and restaurant owners shouldn’t have to to worry too much about product shrinkage or lack of inventory. If you have the right bar POS software, then there’s no need for worries like these, instead you can focus more on running the business and growing profits.

With the right bar POS software, taking care of any customer transaction is just a cinch. It can also display information such as the average bar tab in a given night, the number of open tabs, returns or invalid tabs, as well as credit card processing details. Using this software allows you to easily manage inventory, determine which top-selling items to keep in stock, and track the performance of new products.

Bar POS software features
The liquor inventory control is considered the most important feature of a bar POS software. It can track all the liquor, wine, and beer in stock as well as inform you if you’re running low on a resource. It can even track how much liquor goes into each glass, so you can have an idea how much money you can earn. It also helps keep bartender honest – since they know supplies are monitored, they’ll be less likely to give their friends free drinks.

This POS software also offers other cool features to help you streamline your operations and track overall sales performance (you may want to request for a free POS system quote where a bar Point of Sale expert can tailor the right POS solution to meet your needs):

• Login secured– Requires authorized staff each time the software is used.
• Liquor control devices (LCDs) – Track the exact amount of alcohol the bartender pour from bottles to reduce shrinkage.
• Recipe lookup – Provides a “cheat sheet” reference for bartenders who need to look up the ingredients to certain mixed drinks.
• Data import and export – Downloads reports into your word processing or spreadsheet software for your personal bookkeeping efforts.
• Email list maintenance – Keeps customers informed on new product releases, and special events at your establishment. It can also build up customer loyalty thus it increase your profit.
• Gift card management – Adds gift card capabilities to your bar POS software that can support your brand and bring in repeat business.
• Schedule promotions – Automatically manages price changes for limited time promotions like “happy hour.”
• Barcode readers – Speeds up customer serving by easily scanning barcodes of beer and malt beverage bottles.
• Employee scheduling – This features helps determine the exact number of employees neeeded for certain shifts based on your sales history.
• Customer management tools – Help manage open bar tabs, check split requests, and gratuities.
• Food service integration – Processes food and drink orders on one screen.
• Menu management – Toggles between different liquors so you can accurately track the amount of liquor that goes into certain drinks.

Need more information or an online resource?

Go to POS-For-Restaurants.com

The author of this article is the Vice-President on Customer Relations at POS-For-Restaurants with over 20 years of experience serving restaurants of all types throughout the U.S.

There are a lot more things a Point of Sale system can do for your business other than automating your transactions. Let our POS professionals teach you how you can take control of your business, be more efficient and increase your profits without having to spend a great amount of money on POS systems.

Taking Control of Your Business

Using the right POS system will provide a new level of control over your operations, it helps fine-tune your business model, boost your profits, as well as your efficiency. The wrong choice of system, however, is just wasting time and money, and giving yourself a huge frustration.

In other terms, a POS system is a glorified cash register. The most basic POS system that consists of a computer, a cash drawer, receipt printer, and an input device such as a keyboard or scanner. In addition to being more efficient than the traditional cash registers, POS systems are able to create detailed reports which gives you all the information you will need to study and make future plans for your business’ success.

A POS system saves money, provide productivity gains, and can cut down the amount of time you spend away from the primary focus of your business.

Saving more money, getting more control over your business, and be more productive; sounds like an excellent combination for your business, right? Well here are some of the best ways a modern point of sale (POS) system can help you out.

Reducing shrinkage

A computerized POS system can drastically cut down on shrinkage, the inventory that disappears from your store or restaurant due to theft, waste and employee misuse. Because employees will know that you’re carefully tracking inventory, internal shrinkage will diminish.

Accuracy

Whether you use barcode scanning or not, POS systems ensure that every item in your store or on your menu is sold for the right price. Your staff will never have to guess prices again, and prices can easily be change with a single click of the mouse.

Getting margins

Detailed sales reports can help you focus on higher-margin items. By moving items within a retail location, or promoting poor-performing dishes in a restaurant, you can help boost sales of high-profit items.

Know where you stand

You can easily know which of your items have been sold today, yesterday, last week last month, and so on, with the help of a POS systems. It can even tell how much money is in the cash drawer and how much of that money is profit.

Better inventory management

Detailed sales reports make it much easier for you to keep the right stock on hand. You can easily track your inventory, see what’s on stock, spot sales trends, and use historical data to better forecast your needs. The software can alert you to reorder when stocks run low. Many store owners who think they know exactly what trends affect them find a couple of surprises once they have this data.

Build a customer list

You can collect the names and addresses of your regular customers as part of standard transactions. Then use the list for targeted advertising or incentive programs.

Reduce paperwork

POS systems can dramatically reduce the time you have to spend doing inventory, sales figures, and other repetitive but important paperwork. The savings here: time and peace of mind.

Efficiency in transactions

For retail, barcode scanners and other POS features make checkout much, much faster. And since processes are greatly streamlined, orders from the dining room is quick and accurately relayed to the kitchen. With either of the two, your customers can get a much faster and more accurate service.

You have to keep in mind that these benefits requires a commitment to utilizing the POS system capabilities to their fullest. Without proper training and analysis, any sophisticated POS system will be just another cash register with no special functionality.

Retail vs. Hospitality Needs

Since there are two segments in the POS market, they require different needs: restaurants, bars, and hotels and other retail operations and hospitality businesses.

Retail

Of these two segments, retails are the ones who needs simpler POS. Retails can complete their transactions all at once and they even use less variation for the items that they sell. Because there are some POS features retailers that specifically want to include the ability to support kits (e.g. 3 for deals), returns and exchanges, and support for digital scales. If you run a business that sells items in a variety of styles, a POS system that supports matrixes would satisfy your needs. As an example, matrixes ables yout to create one inventory and price entry for a particular sweater, but can still track sales according to size and color of the sweater.

Hospitality

Business have different requirements depending on the establishment, like in restaurants and other hospitality businesses.

Efficiency is the main focus for casual restaurants. For retail-style restaurants like sub shops, a POS system can greatly increase accuracy and cut down on time-per-transaction compared to hastily-scrawled order tabs being passed to the kitchen. And for quick-service style restaurants, POS systems are practically a requirement for living up to their name: orders entered on terminals in the front are automatically displayed on monitors of the kitchen, ready to be quickly assembled and delivered to the customer.

For fine dining restaurants, point of sale requires a bit different. They need to know which staff is handling which table, and being able to create and store open checks. The efficiency gains from better management can be impressive. If a restaurant with 20 tables and an average check of can increase turnover by one party per table, that would be an extra 0 on one busy night.

Return of Investment (ROI)

Migrating from your old system to a computers POS system can be difficult. There are many factors to consider and some pitfalls to avoid. However, the return of investment (ROI) can really make it worth all the effort you put into it.

Need more information or an online resource?

Go to POS-For-Restaurants.com

The author of this article is the Vice-President of Customer Relations at POS-For-Restaurants with over 20 years of experience serving restaurants of all types throughout the U.S.

Spam e-mails are not only annoying, irritating and time consuming, but they are also becoming more dangerous to you and the security of your computer.Think twice when you’re about to open e-mails from unknown senders, especially if you’re using a computer from the office where all your important business documents are instored. Thousands of computer users and restaurant owners are getting infected by spam e-mails every month, forcing them to pay huge fees for cleaning and restoring their computer POS systems back to normal.

Here are the 3 computer dangers you should keep away from:

1. An increase in hijacked and spoofed e-mail addresses. Spammers are now using a new tool used to make you believe that their spam e-mail is coming from YOUR own computer. This could result in having your Internet connection be temporarily terminated or put on hold by your Internet Service Provider(ISP) – all without your knowledge. That is why good spam blocking software will not only block inbound spam from your inbox, but also unauthorized outbound spam from your serves.

2. Virus infected spam e-mails. Accidentally or intentionally opening an e-mail from an unknown sender can cause you a lot of problems. Most of these unknown senders are the spammers who merrily speard their virus-infected e-mails and waits for the unlucky person to open it and/or download its content. This can cause your computer to slow down, identity theft, loose data, endless popping of unapproved sites or even crashes the system! What’s worst is that the personal information collected from your PC can be uploaded to the internet without your permission and use it to comit crime.

3. Phishing spam – spam e-mails that leads to a phishing web site. A phishing e-mail may appear to be a legitimate e-mail from a bank, vendor, friend, or other trusted source. The purpose is to trick you into giving sentive information such as bank accounts, social security numbers, passwords, and credit card information. You’ve probably already received you’ve verified your information|e-mails from banks you don’t use, or even from Paypal, that notifies you to verify your account in order to continue using their service|e-mails from banks you don’t use, or even from Paypal, that notifies you to verify your account or else they will close it]. It will then direct you to a very convincing web site where you input certain information the spammer is trying to reap. In reality, this is a malicious third party that is going to use your information to open credit card accounts, access your account, steal money, and cause you other major identity and financial problems.

Here’s what you can do to pervent this:

Before everything else, install a sam blocking software as this will serve as your first line of defense, and make sure it’s a good one.

Many retail business owner over look into this, so their restaruant POS system is the one who suffers the most.

Next, you want to make sure you don’t get included on a spammers list in the first place. Once you’re on a spammer’s list, it will stay there forever and possibly get distributed to more spammers; and changing your e-mail address can be a major inconvenience especially if you rely on it to keep in touch with important business and personal contacts.

The following are some advices that can help you protect your e-mail from getting listed on a spammer’s list:

1. Using disposable e-mail accounts.

Using a free e-mail address like with Yahoo or Gmail can reduce the chance of ending up on a spammer’s list. To avoid ending up on a spammer’s broadcast list, always use free e-mail accounts whether it’s Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail so don’t think that it’s just a waste of time registering for them.

2. Pay attention to check boxes that are automatically filled in.

Make sure you don’t check on the box that says “Yes! I want to receive offers from third party companies.” when you shop online. Chances are, your e-mail address can be sold to every online advertiser.

3. Refrain from posting your main e-mail address in public places like your website or blog.

Spammers have special programs that can collect e-mail addresses from web sites without your knowledge. If you really want to post an e-mail address on your home page, I suggest you use “info@” so all replies are forwarded to a folder in your in-box that won’t interfere with your main address.

4. If you have a hunch that it’s a spam e-mail, don’t open it!

Opening, replying to, or even clicking a bogus opt-out link in an obvious spam e-mail signals that your e-mail account is active, and more spam will follow.

The only time it is safe to click or reply to the e-mail is when the message was sent from a company you know or do business with (for example, a company that you purchase from or a newsletter you subscribed to).

For more information or to have a local POS professional serving the restaurant industry and your location see more information at POS-For-Restaurants.com.

If you’re still relying on the old-fashioned cash registers and hand-written books of yours, well now would be the right time to get rid of them! Today is a different world, new technologies have been developed to help boost restaurant Point of Sale system. So say goodbye to your tiring manual business system and say hello to the new POS systems that will help increase your profit and make your customers happier than before.

As any retail establishment owner would do, ensuring the safety of your profit is a tough task. Money can easily float down the drain if you do not watch carefully! Just by a simple customer’s change mistake, you loose money, especially when a staff of yours abuses their power and help themselves take a few extra bucks from the cash register or give away huge discounts to their friends and families.

If the above issues have already happened to you, well don’t let it happen again! I suggest now would be the best time to consider having a POS system. With the features a POS can offer your business, you can prevent these issues from happening and may even be able to completely eliminate them:

• Long lines which prevent you from working with as many customers as possible
• Frequent customer complaints
• Limited sales staff resources
• Overstocking of poor performing items
• Shrinkage (lost or stolen inventory that eats into your profit margins)
• Spending too much time going over the books
• Financial inaccuracies (overbilling, underbilling, thin profit margins)
• Unorganized data

Since money is involved here, you might want to consider inveting on quality POS systems that will take care of the job smoothly and improve your business’ efficiencies. So buying cheap, poor quality POS systems can lead to the downfall of your business. You’ll be throwing away money because of its poor features.

A good and reliable POS vendor can tailor the appropriate POS solution for your needs, which can improve your business’ performance and satisfying more customers. So requesting for a free POS system quote would be a great idea, because expert POS vendors can provide the exact needs of your business, complete with the features that will make your business boost its sales, without having to spend an extra thousand dollars.

Questions to consider

If you plan to request for a free POS system quote, below are some of the things you might want to consider asking to a POS vendor. What’s great about this service is that when you submit your details, it will be matched to the most qualified POS suppliers in your area. And only they will be able to acquire your details which in return prepare the proper POS solution that fits your business needs and then send you their offers. The below information are some of the questions you might want to ask:

• Is the POS software user friendly? Which OS will it run?
• Is POS software compatible with my current business management applications?
• Can I try the software out before buying?
• Do I need more than one terminal? What about POS cash registers?
• Will I be able to use the same POS for other marketing strategies like a gift card system?
• How robust are the reporting features?
• Will I be able to pinpoint where some of my losses are coming from?
• Can I get set up fast?
• Does it require extensive staff training?
• When it comes to customer support, what level can I expect?
• Is there a lender available if my equipment repairs can’t be made on-site?
• Are there POS all-in-one solutions available or do I have to buy everything according to its package?

More information and an online resource

For further information on how to request for a free POS system quote, kindly visit POS-For-Restaurants.com

The author of this article is the Customer Relations Vice-President for POS-For-estaurants.com with its 20 years and more of restaurant POS systems experience serving the automation needs of restaurants of all types throughout the U.S.

For the longest time, most restaurant owners thought of their POS system as a fancy cash register. Now technology has evolved and became more advanced it is slowly becoming vital part in the retail systems, many innovations today have become standard features within the POS industry.

1. Wireless Hand Held POS Devices. Wireless hand held devices has become one of the superb restaurant handheld POS equipment that can serve your customers faster and more accurate. Servers can present your daily specials to your customers on the spot, process credit cards while walking to the next table, send a quick bread requests to the kitchen, and add walk-ins to the waiting list – all from the handheld device. Your servers will be able to spend more time interacting and keeping your customers happy.

2. The “Sticky” Paper Printer. One of the newest innovations are the printers that uses “sticky” paper. These printers use paper that is similar to a Post-It which allows you to reposition the receipt over and over again. The paper can be printed to whatever length is needed, and then stick to almost any surface where it will remain unless you remove and/or plan to stick it elsewhere. With these kind of printers, the paper can stay with the order through the entire order process. The new paper is also liner-free so no need to manage non-recyclable waste and can be easily removed and restuck to a different surface – again and again, whenever you want. You can use it for all orders, exceptions, specials, as bag tags or any combination.

3. Digital Menu Board or Signage. Your POS system can be used to deliver media rich content, using video, audio and pictures. You’ll find some POS packages have fully integrated and seamless digital menu board software that allow you to create content using the same database. Menu pages, titles, menu items and prices can all be twined with high-quality multimedia to give your restaurant menu board a dramatic, interactive display without having to purchase an additional system.

With a digital menu board, you can easily sent to display content from your restaruant’s database in real-time, so the menu board continually updates throughout the day!

4. Self-Service Kiosk. Have you thought about a customer self service kiosk for your restaurant? Many of our clients have. There are POS packages out there that allow adding a kiosk with no separate software required. With this method, adding a Kiosk to your restaurant has never been so easy. Most kiosk software is designed to cut down on labor costs and speed up the ordering process, enabling a whole new level of profitability. The Kiosk will pull menu items directly from your menu database on the POS terminal, providing a seamless integration into your POS system. Most packages can enhance the customer’s user experience even further, using sound and motion graphics, to engage your customer.

5. Paging Customer Cell Phones. Some restaurants are opting to take a more modern approach by paging customers’ personal cell phones. You can do this by letting your host or hostest take the customer’s cell phone number and inputs it into the cell phone paging system keypad. When the table is ready, the paging system calls the cell phone with an automated voice message to notify the guest to report to the front of the restaurant so they can be seated. This may be convenient way for guests who want to roam around farther than ordinary pagers will allow and you won’t fear of the customer walking away with your pager.

The tips I gave you above are just the tip of the iceberg when is comes to knowing what restaurant POS solutions is best for your business. Better watch out for more…

The author Michael Tash is Vice President of Customer Relations at POS-for-Restaurants.com. With over 20 years of restaurant experience, POS-for-Restaurants.com helps you use your technology to be more efficient and more profitable.

This article is more of a continuation of what I wrote last month about Spring cleaning for your PC. Since computers are something most people use but neglect to maintain properly, I figured I’d continue down that track with some more of what I consider the basics.

This is very important for restaurant owners and other retail business owners out there. whether you are using the latest restaurant POS equipment or not, computer problems can still greatly affect your business’ performance. By following these few reminders, you’ll be able to keep your business in tip top shape.

1. Your Computer Needs Maintenance. Just like your car needs an oil change, your computer needs regular maintenance to keep it up and running smoothly and extend its usable life. Tools like disk cleanup, defragmentation, and updating your virus protection files are vital to keep your machine running at its’ best and to avoid small problems before they become really big problems.

2. An Anti-virus Software is A Must. As I always say, the most important piece of software you should have is an anti-virus program. By now you should probably be aware of the attacks coming from the internet and sneaky virus-infected emails. Anti-virus software will notify you before you open the infected file and release the virus to do damage. What you should also remember is anti-virus software cannot repair the damage a virus has already done. The anti-virus software requires updates and you can do this at least once a month so it’s using the latest protection against sneaky viruses that may infect and damage your system.

3. Never Forget To Backup! I cannot stress the importance of a good backup plan! CDs and DVDs, memory sticks and external USB hard drives are all make good backup media. And once your backup plan is ready, use it regularly!

All computers will eventually retire one day. I hate to tell you this, but no matter how new or old your computer is, it will stop working one day. Like any other computers, yours is also a machine that’s expert in calculating, storing and processing data. Unfortunately, machines don’t last forever.

Files your computer holds can be priceless to replace. Think of all those financial data, e-mail contacts in your email address book, pictures, recipes, and on and on. One day you’ll open your computer wait for it to start and get disappointed because it has already retired! At the same moment you’ll begin to realize how important it is to have a BACKUP. Well, what are you doing to backup all of your computer data? I find it surprising that most people don’t even have a backup plan. You will never realize just how much you have on your computer until it is gone! So if you don’t have a backup yet, better start planning on it.

In the retail industry, like in restaraunts and fast food chains, having a backup is gravely important. Why? Because there are so many business info you’ll be needing for future references, just like your employee and customer information, products and services data of the retail establishment, and so on. To be able to effectively track down sales and inventories, a reliable restaurant POS system must be used. And by maintainning your POS systems in good condition is the perfect way to protect it.

4. Letting An Expert Do The Job. If you need a computer service, seek out a trained, qualified technician. Your friends’ son may know a bit about fixing your problem, but many times the problems become worse. This will cost you time and money in the end. Remember, your computer system is the ‘center’ of your business. Trained, qualified technician’s are experts in their field and will have the skills and resources to properly fix your problems in a timely, cost effective way.

The author of this article is the Vice President of Customer Relations for POS-for-Restaurants.com. With over 20 years of restaurant experience, POS-for-Restaurants.com helps you use your technology to be more efficient and more profitable.

Looking to buy  a new computer system? Regardless of whether you are looking at a system for your office or restaurant, there are a couple of things you must keep in mind when installing systems that will help run your operations and store all of your critical data.

1. Network cabling. The majority of systems are computer-based, designed to run on MS Windows technology. Which means your workstations and computer equipments communicates over standard Ethernet networking. Although wireless communications have been the talk of the town these days, it is still highly recommended to “hardwire” your computer stations. Some vendors include this service in their bid; while others specify that cabling must be arranged with a third-party vendor.

Regardless of who will work on the cabling, make sure all cables are properly plugged and tested before installing any equipment. Each computer equipment needs to have a cable drop. A cable drop is the wiring between a computer and its Ethernet transceiver.

For a restaurant POS system, the restaurant should be wired with CAT 5 or 6 network cabling that runs from every conceivable POS workstation, remote printer or KDS, office computer, hostess station, delivery order desks, cashier stations and network server to a “home run” area such as a central patch panel, preferably located in your telephone or electrical room or closet. Cabling routes need to ensure that cables are at least 24 inches from fluorescent fixtures, neon transformers and electrical motors, because these devices can sometimes cause communications interference.

2. Electrical. Installing a dedicated and isolated circuits for your equipmments such as your POS computers, network devices like hubs and routers, and phone systems that can share. There should be no other electrical equipment on this circuitry. Preferably, your network, phone, and electrical service will be near one another. An isolated circuit means its a separated ground from that of the main electrical service. This helps prevent spikes and surges that can damage motherboards and hard drives. Note, however, that you’ll still want to use surge protectors at each workstation.

3. Designing workspace. When designing workstation areas, make sure to leave some extra space to comfortably fit all equipments there. Tabletop space for server stations should be large enough to hold a computer monitor, guest check printer, and possibly a credit card terminal if you’re planning to use separate credit card equipment. Leave enough space below the tabletop to hold your computer, surge protector, power strip and a battery backup (UPS).

If you plan to place your workstations on millwork surfaces such as granite or woodwork, have your contractor pre-drill holes to place cables or power cords beneath the surface. A 2-inch hole should be enough space for cords and cables on most POS systems.

For cashier and bartender stations, tabletop space should also be large enough to fit a cash drawer and an order confirmation customer display. Most cash drawers have a footprint (space requirement) of 15- to 17-inch depth; 16- to 20-inch width; and 3.5 to 4 inch height. So better make sure you get the drawer specifications from your supplier in advance if you are building a custom countertop for your drawer to fit perfectly in.

4. Service Plans. Many vendors may offer service plans as part of your original purchase. The fact is, business grade systems are composed of hardware that will not last forever especially in a restaurant environment. Printers will eventually break, fans will fail, and hard drives will crash. How often they rely upon the conditions under which they operate. Dirt, dust, heat and moisture are not friendly allies to office and restaruant POS equipment.

There are those people who rarely experience problems wih their computers while others continue to deal with same problems. The best thing a retail business owner can do is to invest in good equipment and maintain it to prevent future damages. Many restaurant POS solutions provider will offer ongoing service agreements that are basically extended warranties. The annual cost for these services usually ranges from 10 percent to 20 percent of the original purchase price.

Remember that computer systems represents as a sizable investment. But if you set a time to make sure that the above steps are included in your checklist, then you are more apt to be rewarded a return on your investment by getting the most from your system in cost reduction, labor savings, and ensuring that you can account for all cash.

The Author of this article is the VP of Customer Relations at POS-for-Restaurants.com — With over 20 years of restaurant experience helping businesses like yours to use your technology more efficient and make your business more profitable .