Restaurant Software

Running a successful restaurant? Let’s go back to the basics: good location, good food, good service. These days, there’s another important consideration added: a reliable software running your POS systems.

Though the harware are more visible, your POS software is the the core of your POS systems. Doing a careful evaluation of restaurant POS software is key to getting a system that will greatly satisfy your customers and employees.

Looking for the right restaurant software
First of all, it’s important to know what exactly you need the software to do. Any reasonable restaurant software is able to handle checks per customer or per table, track orders per server, move diners from the bar to a table, manage waiting and reservation lists, and many more.

Once you’ve found that restaurant software that can meet your needs, give it a test drive to learn how to use it. While there will always be a learning curve for your staff when you adopt a new POS system, having a 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 inputs and changes to the system that can cause problems with some software.

• Security – you may need to create accounts for each employee for safety reasons. You should be able to limit access to sensitive data and functions (such as comping meals) to managers, for as long as you desire.
• Flexibility – your servers should be able to control checks to match the whims of your patrons: easily splitting checks and tracking special orders, for example.
• Reporting – this is one of the best features of POS software it can create detailed report which is a great advantage for restaurant owners. Make sure the software you choose lets you get detailed information either per check, per server, or overall, ranging from daily to annually.
• 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.

What to look for in a 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 you need.

Now, are you willing to start your business right? Find out more at POS-For-Restaurants.com and receive free unbiased quotes from the Restaurant POS professionals 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 many restaurants in the U.S.

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Still relying on that old-fashioned cash registers and hand-written notes handed down to you by your father and his father before him? You do no longer need those manual business systems, because today is a different world! New technologies have been develop for POS Systems to help every retail business grow bigger. So say goodbye to your tiring, time-consuming manual business system and say hello to the new POS systems that will surely boost your profit and make your customers happier than before.

As any restaurant owner would do, ensuring the safety of your profit is a tough task. You can easily loose money from simple customer’s change mistakes and from an abusive employee of yours that keeps helping themselves to a few extra dollars or by giving away free meals!

If these has happened to you before, well don’t let it happen again! Now would be the right time to have a POS for your business. 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)
• Poor data organization

For as long as money is involved, might as well invest on quality POS systems can improve your business’ efficiencies as well as take good care of your customers. So if you buy a poor, cheap POS system you risk flushing money down the drain because of its poor features and easy-to-break components.

A good and reliable POS vendor can tailor the appropriate POS solution for your needs, which will allow you to enhance your business’ performance and be able to serve your customers much better. So requesting for a free POS system quote would be a great idea, since expert POS vendors will provide you exactly what you need, complete with the features that will make your business boost its sales, at an affordable cost.

Questions to consider

When you request for a free POS system quote, below are some of the pointers you might want to consider asking to a POS vendor. The main key to this service is that when you submit your details, it will be matched to the most qualified POS sellers serving your area. And only they will be able to receive your details where they’ll tailor the proper POS solution for your business and they send you their offers. Below are some of the questions you might consider asking:

• Is the software user-friendly? Will I be able to make changes on my own?
• Is POS software compatible with my current business management applications?
• Can I have a try out of the POS system before buying it?
• Do I need more than one terminal? What about POS cash registers?
• Can I use the same POS for other marketing tools such as gift card systems?
• How reliable are the reporting features?
• Will I be able to point out where my profit losses are coming from?
• Can I get set up immediately?
• Does it require extensive staff training?
• What level of customer support can I expect?
• Is loaner equipment available if repairs can’t be made on-site?
• Are there all-in-one solutions available or do I have to buy everything ala carte?

More information and an online resource

Go to POS-For-Restaurants.com

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

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For the longest time, most restaurant owners thought of their POS system as a fancy cash register. Since technology has become more advance and slowly becoming a necessity in the retail systems, many innovations have become standard features within the POS industry.

1. Wireless Hand Held Devices. Wireless hand held devices has become one of the brilliant restaurant handheld POS equipment that can serve your customers faster and with improved accuracy. Servers can present your daily specials to your customers on the spot, process credit cards while walking to the next table, send a bread request for table 37 to the kitchen, and add walk-ins to the waiting list - right from the handheld device. Your servers can spend more time interacting with more customers keeping them happy and keeping them coming back.

2. The “Sticky” Paper Printer. Another one of the newest and most brilliant innovations is the “sticky” paper printers. These printers use paper similar to a Post-It that will allow you to reposition the receipt over and over again. The paper can be printed to whatever length is needed, then stuck to almost any surface where it will remain until you remove and/or plan to stick it elsewhere. With these 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. It can be used for all orders, exceptions, specials, as bag tags or any combination.

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

With digital menu boards, content is sent to the displays from the store database in real-time, so the menu board continually updates throughout the day with menu changes, scheduled price changes, daily specials and so on.

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 more, using sound and motion graphics, to engage your customer.

5. Cell Phone Paging. Some restaurants are opting to take a more modern approach by paging customers’ personal cell phones. The restaurant host or hostess simply takes the guest’s cell phone number and enters 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 that he or she may now approach the host or hostess to be seated. This can be a convenient way for guests who want to roam farther than conventional pagers will allow and there is no fear of the customer walking away with your pager.

This small list is just the appetizer when it comes to restaurant technology. More to come in the following months…

The author Michael Tash is VP of Customer Relations of 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.

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For such a long time, most restaurant owners thought of their POS system as a fancy cash register. With technology moving forward at such a quick pace, many innovations have become standard features within the POS industry. Below are more tips that can help your business increase its sales:

1. Staff Scheduling. Many restaurant POS packages includes the feature “staff scheduling”. You can expect to increase efficiency and dramatically reduce overall labor costs by controlling clock-ins and clock-outs, utilizing forecasting tools and control staffing levels. Integrated features allow for easy schedule access, unlimited shifts and multiple job positions for each employee. You are also able to tie in any number of security functions to a job position. In addition, some of the packages allow you to post schedules to a website and even automatically email the schedule out to your staff. Keep your labor costs in check and increase employee performance by efficiently and effectively managing your time & attendance information.

2. Software Upgrade Assurance (SUA). SUA is a software maintenance program that gives you a distinct advantage when you purchase a POS system. You are able to help stretch your investment and prolong the usable life of your restaurant point of sale system. Customers who are on an SUA plan will always have the most current version of their POS software. This basically keeps their POS system new. Every time you receive a software upgrade it is as though they just bought the latest and most current POS system available with the newest, most up to date features for your restaurant. The most current feature set ensures that you have the best possible ROI by allowing you to take full advantage of the power the POS software offers.

One other advantage of having a SUA is that no additional software purchase is required for upgrading or replacing a hardware. When hardware needs to be replaced there is a drastically reduced cost to upgrade.

These programs typically works on a yearly small fee to get their benfits. Most customers agree that they receive huge benefits that help reap the full return on their POS investment.

3. Proper Restaurant Tip Handling. Some of the POS software products has a builtin tip tracking feature in their time in attendance module. Once a staff is set as a tipped employee, your POS system will require a tip declation before clocking out. Servers and waiters who ring sales will have their total sales tracked. Tips collected through credit card sales are tracked and shown on the server closeout report. Prior to clock out, server/waiter will be shown their total sales for the day, collected charge tips and then will be asked to declare their cash tips. This functionality will help you enforce tip regulations and manage the tracking declared tips, charge tips and hours worked for every tipped employee.

4. Frequent Diner & Customer Loyalty Programs. As the business owner you would like your restaurant POS system to provide accurate information on your customer’s number and frequency of visits, buying habits, entice repeat visits and purchases using reward programs. You are able to do all this while managing the programs and preventing “sweet hearting” by employees. Prevent retail loss at all cost! Sweet hearting happens when an employee promises a deal to a customer so that he/she can close a sale.

Some of the restaurant POS packages come standard with a frequent diner or customer loyalty package that eases things within your business. By accuratly tracking down your guests and their buying habits, you can prevent retail loss. Establish a secure database of guest’s information with an account number. This number can be their phone number or any number system you desire. However, the most popular and most secure method is by using magnetic cards with your logo on them. These cards may act as a constant reminder of your restaurant by having your logo in their wallet or purse. The software will secure the reward programs you put in place to prevent your server or waiter from giving away food. Rewards are given only when earned through purchases, frequent visits or for items on your menu that you wish to highlight. Establishing reward programs takes your employees out of the game and puts you in total control of everything.

As you can see, there are so many ways to run your restaurant more efficiently by using restaurant technology. Back to basics next month..

Michael Cummings 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.

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