Running a POS system for your business is a key way to speed up orders and improve customer service; this is a universal truth for both restaurants and bars alike. Businesses like restaurants and bars use today’s advanced POS systems to their advantage, and you can benefit from them, too.
There are countless benefits, from keeping your costs down, boosting your profits, to reducing theft; we'll discuss the top reasons you should invest in a restaurant POS system.
Restaurant POS systems are a far cry from what was on the scene 10-to-20 years ago. Cash registers are still part of the equation, but today’s systems allow for greater flexibility in order taking and back-end organization and improved sales analytics. These are all things that add to the success and long-term growth of a restaurant.
How does a POS system work in a restaurant? Let’s take a close look.
As a business, you still need a cash register, and every point-of-sale system will include one. However, a cash register will never give you the critical features that directly make it easier to run your business.
Today POS systems include portable device capability to improve the staff’s mobility around the restaurant. The ordering programs are even compatible with smartphones. There are compact tablet systems that can be used in busy places around the restaurant for faster ordering. There are also table-side systems customers can operate directly on the tables in your restaurant. All of these systems speed up food orders, translating into more money for you.
We’re living in a digital world, and touch screens are THE way to communicate. Intuitive interfaces improve order taking and reduce training times. Some programs are intuitive that customers can order food themselves online or at the table and pay with their credit card. Easily navigable screens mean fewer errors, and automatic totals reduce math errors. Even tips and check-splitting totals are tabulated instantly. You won’t have to rely on your staff’s math skills. All of this means your staff is spending less time ringing up orders or manually passing them to your kitchen staff.
Cash is still a part of our lives, but it is less popular each year. More people are opting for credit cards, debit cards, and contactless payments through smartphones or smartwatches. Today’s POS systems accept them all, even checks! By increasing the payment methods, you increase sales and the possibility of the customers coming back.
When you invest in a restaurant POS, your wait staff can place orders faster, run checks quicker, auto-tabulate delivery fees and tips, and update customers on changes to menu items in real-time. But waiters aren’t the only ones who benefit.
Today’s POS programs help kitchen staff receive orders without waiting for staff to re-enter them into the main system. This not only speeds up orders, but it also prevents order mistakes from staff, keeping profits up and orders moving. Today’s mobile POS systems alert staff when food is ready, speeding up pickups to allow more room to prepare more orders. Even customer pickups happen faster by preparing customers with estimated cooking times and immediate texting when ready.
Improved stock readings help the kitchen ensure proper stock each day of the week while preventing food theft, resulting in greater profit for you.
POS Systems also offer benefits for you, the manager. From order notifications to end-of-the-day profit readings, you get instant views of employee performance to help you spot what or who needs improvement and make other value business decisions. You will know which meals performed well and which didn’t. Through clear stock readings, you know what needs replenishing to keep up with demand and maintain customer satisfaction.
Gone are the days of counting receipts and balancing books. You can now rely on instant and accurate profitability reporting, showing you gross and net profits to know immediately what menu items are working and more accurately strategize for improved growth. Many point-of-sale systems integrate into Quickbooks to eliminate a lot of the manual bookkeeping.
Restaurants often have menu items posted online, inside the restaurants, and with food delivery companies. POS systems allow instant access to menus to edit them on the fly, ensure the right menu is displayed at the right time of day, and flag out-of-stock foods to avoid revisiting orders with customers and slowing down turnover.
You most likely have “regulars” who come back often to your restaurant, and those people are valuable. POS helps you show your apperception while maintaining customer satisfaction. You can store a customer’s name, payment information, and a favorite meal. Do they want dressing on the side? Anyone who serves them will make sure it happens.
You can also offer loyalty programs for their continued business. No matter who serves them, your best customers can always get the meal they want and the appreciation they deserve.
Receipts are a great way to show appreciation and advertise special deals to keep customers coming back. POS systems in restaurants let you easily convey messages on receipts your customers can take with them, and those deals will keep them coming back.
Theft doesn’t just happen from masked bandits at the cash register; it can also come from employees. Whether it be handing out free drinks, ordering food for themselves, stealing credit card information, or pocketing the cash, employees are not always upright. You can use today’s POS systems to your advantage.
One powerful safeguard is a password-protected approval for free food. You can also closely monitor each server and food purchases in real-time anywhere you are, keeping an eye on suspicious activity and catching culprits in the act. Through tighter inventory tracking, your cooking staff will further guard against food theft.
Today’s POS systems in restaurants are PCI compliant, providing advanced protection against credit card theft in stores and online, as well as a safe way to hold card information for a bar tab.
In many ways, POS Systems work the same for retail and restaurants, such as mobile order taking and loyalty programs, but restaurant systems give you more of what you need. You can customize menus, save favorite meals of valued customers, add delivery options, text customers when their table or food is ready, and easily split checks and add tips. Customers can also order for themselves at the table. If you’re assuming any point-of-sale system will work for your business, reconsider and find a system that is meant for your industry.
What works for restaurants also works for bars. The ease-of-use of these POS systems leads to fewer mistakes, and improved stock readings of alcohol help you keep a tight eye on profit in an area of your restaurant where customers always hope for a freebie. Even if your staff indulges, you’ll be the first to know.
Want to learn more about how a POS system affects your business? Read how one traditional restaurant made the switch from a cash register to a full point-of-sale system.
