Restaurant POS Systems: Enhancing Profit By Innovation – Make it Happen!

Restaurant and hospitality operators have become much more tech proficient in the pastyears, no wonder they’re really good in sourcing out POS software. They’re not only proficient in using new POS systems, but they are also demanding for more advance POS software to use. So if your planning for a big upgrade on your POS systems, check out this 2009 stuff on POS systems.

Not so long ago when hospitality operators were so excited in using the first restaurant POS systems available in the market. Do you still remember your first restaurant POS system? You had a sleek 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 instance in the kitchen. It was exciting, sleek, and revolutionary.

The world of restaurant POS systems has come a long way since those early days. Today’s hospitality operators are much more knowledgable in technology than they were before, and the POS industry is slowly responding. The big players in Point of Sale software systems are still out there, but a rapidly growing number of smaller companies have emerged through the years, and the big guys could see their portion of the POS pie gulped up quickly if they don’t furnish what today’s hospitality operators are demanding. So if you’re looking to invest on a new POS system this year, here’s what you should be looking for.

Data Reports -

The top two issues every hospitality-based business wants to get a handle on are food cost, and labor costs. Keep those things in check, and your chances of succeeding in such a competitive market are hugely 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 superb data reporting capabilities will allow you to forecast business volumes, which gives managers the info they need to fine tune scheduling and avoid unneeded expenses on labor. Time and attendance can be precisely monitored. Real time and instant access to data also allows managers to and make snap decisions to address discrepancies in cash flow and adjust inventory levels. Once your POS system is able to handle these issues, you’ll be able to run your business to success.

Back Office Management & Integration -

With all your POS terminals linked 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 a 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 the back office should be the first thing on your list.

Manage Your Customer Relationship -

Effective promotions can can boost up your profit for as long as it can satisfy your customers. 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, to avoid wasting time and money in spades. Having a POS system that can keep track of customer histories, their likes and dislikes, comments, suggestions, etc. can give you valuable insight into what future promotions to put in effect, and which ones should bite the dust. Having an effective loyalty and points program can make your customers happy and keep them coming back. When it comes to CRM, you can entrust most of the thinking to your point of sale system.

Wireless Mobile Computing & Hand Held Technology -

Wireless point of sale systems are imperative for businesses that operate outside of traditional, brick and mortar locations. Even venues like ski resorts, movie theaters or stadiums can benefit from from a wireless point of sale system (a portable concession stand or the ones used in private places). In a traditional environment, like restaurants, you can get great benefits from wireless hand held devices.

With wireless hand held units, your staff save time by not having to line up to get access to the POS terminal, and therefore are much more productive. And Because orders is sent instantly, at tables, the serving staff are able to go quickly from one table to the next. Managers can minimize staffing levels by scheduling only a few skilled employees, provide them with larger sections, and make their primary focus at greeting customers, take orders and up-selling. Non-serving staff can then be hired (at significant payroll savings) for dispatching food and cleaning tables. When your serving staff are able to remain on the floor, the result is a superior customer service experience for your patrons and greatly increase sales by up-selling and faster table turns. Also, it can decrease waste of food since taking orders from tables greatly reduces errors.

Another great feature of wireless hand held devices is that it can send evenly spaced orders to the kitchen, so you avoid overwhelming the kitchen with too many orders at once. This greatly increases the efficiency of your kitchen and further decreases waste. The wireless handheld technology has been greatly polished though the years, with increased battery life for hand held units and improved ease of use for staff. The time indeed has come to use wireless POS technology for retail businesses.

Payment Security -

Payment security is crucial in today’s marketplace. With the incidence of fraud and identity theft that have been widespread, safeguarding the safety of your client’s credit card information 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.

Self Service Technology -

Self-service technology have been the talk of the town in recent years. Having moved beyond kiosks, the self-service option give restaurant owners the ability to delegate the food ordering process to customers themselves. Touch screen POS terminals are now intuitive and easy to use, and offer add on/up sell items instantaneously, which effectively boost the average check totals. The traditional “server staff” is replaced by food runners, or counter staff, who’s also able to quality checks. Payments can even be done by customers, for faster table turns and increased cover counts.

Self-service terminals may not be attractive for patrons who wants fine dining experience, but it certainly is attractive for quick service restaurants and fast food chains. Remanco certainly didn’t offer all these features!

For Enterprise & Multi Unit -

If you are running large and multi-venue operations, it will still be easy for you to find the right POS systems for your business. Because to logistics and a host of other difficulties, businesses with multiple locations were forced to be creative in how they coordinated the collection of cash and data. Businesses such as these require enterprise wide systems that offer features such as client recognition capabilities, hospitality and retail sales, gift card processing, quick and easy debit and credit options, and more. It may also require a system that can get around cabling and network issues, and preserve precious data in case of a system failure. If your company fits in this category, an enterprise POS solution that is reliable and flexible would be the best way to go.

With the guide above, many might think that it would be hard to find the exact POS system that offers all of the above and more. In spite of everything, there’s still one POS system that consistently stands out and it isn’t grouped with the POS industry. Toronto based Volante POS Systems, is a state of the art, modern and flexible POS system. Volante has seamlessly embraced all the above features and more. It’s fully PCI compliant too! It first appeared in 1993, and is cross platform compatible, meaning it will run on Windows, Linux or Unix. But Linux POS solutions are quite attractive these days, because they are easy to use and helps retail business owners cut costs by saving on Windows licensing fees.

With the above guide as your shopping list, hospitality operators should feel even more prepared when looking to upgrade their current POS system. If the POS software you’re looking at doesn’t offer the features your business really needs, move on. But in today’s economy.

If you need more information or to acquire an online resource?

Go to 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.