Restaurant POS Software

Tag: Pos System

  • How to Choose the Right POS System for Your Restaurant

    How to Choose the Right POS System for Your Restaurant

    For every business it is important to have the right tools for success and as anyone who runs a restaurant will tell you, a professional point of sale system is a must for a restaurant’s success. But how to choose the right one? Well, our guide below is here to help you figure this out.

    Step One: Define your business needs.

    It’s important before choosing a restaurant management solution to identify all the features, functions, and services you use and need for your business to run smoothly, by this we mean all the important features such as billing and order processing, sales, stock control and inventory, staff management and a way to manage customer relationships through a loyalty scheme.

    You may already have a POS Solution in place that isn’t quite meeting your needs. If you do, you need to identify the features that are missing from your current system and take note of any problems you find, talk to your employees, ask them what they think of the current system and what upgrades they would like in a new POS solution.

    Step 2: Figure out what hardware you need.

    Although the main part of a restaurant management system is software based, it will require hardware to perform most tasks. It may be that you already have the required hardware and you can just buy a new restaurant software solution but it’s more than likely that at least a small amount of new hardware will be needed, whether that’s  portable windows tablets for table ordering or a credit card solution, or a complete update to a faster computer system.

    Check with any new potential software solution what the recommend hardware requirements are and check this against your current installed hardware. Check with the new restaurant software provider, compatibility requirements and price for new hardware if required. Weigh up before deciding on the solution you think is right for your business.

    Step 3. Set yourself a realistic budget.

    It can be difficult to work out the cost of a restaurant management solution as it will vary depending on multiple factors, such as the size of your business, number of restaurants, the number number of facilities and services you offer, etc. The price will also vary depending in whether you buy a single use licence or opt for a subscription model, with licences costing between

    £500 and £2,000 and subscriptions costing between £20 and £60 per month per licence
    Cloud based services are also an option and range in price from £50 to £200 per month depending on the size and complexity of a restaurant’s needs. There’s no doubt cloud based services are an option and generally offer reasonable range of options without the need to maintain and update software, but they also lack the security of a desktop solution and are reliant on good, reliable internet connectivity to run.

    The choice and type of system at the end of the day will be dictated by the needs and finances of the business. A one off fee might entice you with its one time cost, but normally is less flexible and upgrades or changes will require further fees. Subscription based options on the other hand, are scalable and upgrades and maintenance of the software is generally included in the monthly subscription cost.

    Step 4: Compare the options.

    Before making any decision make sure you do your research on the different types of hospitality software systems available. Reach out to others and ask them about their own system. Call the software vendors yourself and ask as many questions about their solutions as you can. What features do each offer? How much do they cost? How easy are they to implement? Ask anything that you think is important to your own business. Only once you have all the answers to these questions will you be in a position to select the POS system for your business.

    Step 5: Trial a POS system.

    Don’t jump in with both feet until you get a chance to test a system for yourself. Ask the vendor if there is a trial option and give the software/hardware a good run. It’s all right reading about the system’s potential on paper but how it works in the real world may be quite different.

    Most Restaurant software vendors will let customers trial  free for 30 days so you can see how it works first-hand. Use this time to fully assess how it works against your business requirements. Check how fast it runs and if its user-friendly.

    If you are upgrading consider how you will transition to the new system or software. Is it easy to transfer your current data about customers, products, suppliers into the new system?

    Step 6: Make sure your hardware and software are setup correctly.

    So, you’ve picked your vendor and you have the software and equipment you need. Now all you need to do is set it up and get it running.
    The time and resources to transition to the new system will vary depending on your current solution as well as the size and needs of your business. You should get full installation instructions from your POS vendor. They may help with the physical set-up. Once it is up and running get them to walk you through how it works, a good vendor will also provide help videos and full setup and configuration information.

    Step 7. Enjoy your POS system.

    Once your new system is up and running, it’s time to make the most of it. Check to see if there are any add-ons or extra hardware that can make the experience of using it easier.

    Keep in touch with the software vendor and nurture a good business relationship. Don’t just go to them with technical problems and instead see them as a long-term partner who can help you expand your business in the future. Check to see it they do any training programs that can help you understand the system further.

  • Why Your Restaurant Needs a POS System

    Why Your Restaurant Needs a POS System

    For those who don’t know, POS stands for Point of Sale, and is commonly used when referring to the system of tracking sales transactions, payments, controlling stock and tracking food inventory within the hospitality sector for hotels, restaurants and quick service outlets.

    So, What Are the Benefits of Using a POS System?

    One of the many benefits of using a POS system is that it helps simplify communication between waiters, bar staff and kitchen staff. Whenever a food order is placed it goes directly to the kitchen to be printed out and acted upon.

    A POS system allows you to easily track everything in your business, from food usage to table bookings. Some pos solutions allow the tracking of staff though clocking in and out which can be used in conjunction accounts for payroll and tax calculations.

    Along with the daily operation of running a restaurant, a POS system can help with the organisation of profit and loss and sales tax statements.

    Other benefits include:

    Using a POS system can help reduce customers waiting times giving guests a better dining experience.
    A good restaurant management software solution will allow you to be efficient in ordering and preparing customer food, as well as keeping things running smoothly behind the scenes in terms of stock and staff management thus reducing mistakes.

    Easier control of multiple restaurants.

    If your business covers more than one restaurant then keeping track of menus, offers, pricing staff etc can be difficult. Using a POS solution will make the task of managing your chain easier as updates to a menu can easily be transferred to all your outlets with the click of a button. On the other hand, if you want localised pricing/menus for each of your restaurants then this can be easily accomplished from one centralised system providing flexibility, adaptability and uniformity at your fingertips.

    Track Everything.

    Staff, ingredients, tables, prices, cooking times. Everything can be tracked. Being able to track the ingredients you need against what you have in stock helps ensure you should never run out and always able to offer that menu product.

    Ability to track how long it takes to prepare and cook a dish helps in planning menus and may allow you to see ways to become more efficient.

    Better data reporting = less waste

    As mentioned above a restaurant software tracks details of every sales transaction your restaurant has made and as such holds a wealth of useful data that can be used to prevent food waste, over-staffing, theft, under or over ordering and other valuable data

    Easy loyalty program creation

    According to recent research over 46% of UK customers are members of at least one restaurant loyalty program. A POS system will make creating a loyalty reward scheme easy and allow a business to offer targeted product, promotions, customer discounts, voucher schemes, points scheme and many other customer enhancement experiences all aimed at bringing repeat visits.

    Keep things mobile

    Mobile tablets are everywhere, using a software solution that integrates windows mobile tablets makes staff more efficient and productive hence speeding up service times and as a result reduce customer waiting.

    Using windows based devices to accept orders directly at the table from dining guests and sending this information directly to the bar or kitchen for preparation can greatly reduce waiting times, making a restaurant more efficient. This allows management to better control and check in real time the number of customers in house, orders in progress, wait times and other important factors.

    Warranty guarantee

    A new POS systems should come with at least a 1 year warranty as standard, this covers all hardware. Software support is normally an extra cost and depending on the type of support package purchased will depend on the support offered. Ranging from email, phone live remote and onsite visits.

    There is usually an option of extending the hardware support for a fee, giving your business peace of mind.
    If you purchase a yearly subscription model, then these will normally come with a set standard software support included in the price and the option to add more cover for an extra cost.