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POS Systems: Restaurant Innovation Helps Increase Profit
Restaurant Point of Sale Systems: Innovation That Can Enhance Profit - Start it NOW!
Restaurant and hospitality operators these days have become much more more tech savvy in recent years, no wonder they're really good in sourcing out POS software. Not only are they more comfortable choosing new POS systems, but they're also demanding a bigger bang for their buck when it comes to their restaurant POS software choices. So if you're thinking of upgrading a POS system, here's what you would be looking for in 2009.
It's only been a while when hospitality operators used to be so excited to use their first ever restaurant POS system. Can you still remember what your first restaurant POS system was? You had a neat looking keypad, a little black plastic "key" and a bible 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 are printed at the same instance in the kitchen. It was revolutionary! Everyone was so excited to use it.
It has come a very long way, restaurant POS systems now still thrives for more improvement in order to meet the needs of people. Today's hospitality operators are becoming much more knowledgable in technology than ever before, and the POS industry is slowly responding. The big players in Point of Sale software systems are still active, but a growing number of smaller companies have emerged in recent years, and the big guys could see their portion of the POS pie gorged up quickly if they do not provide the demands of today's hospitality operators. Below are the top features in 2009 you should be looking for in a new POS system.
Data Reports -
The top two issues every hospitality-based business wants to get a handle on are food cost, and labor costs. Always keep those things in check, and your chances of succeeding in such a competitive market are remarkably increased. A modern POS can help you handle these profit killers properly by allowing your managers to access important data with ease and in real time. A POS system with superb data reporting capabilities will allow you to forecast business volumes, which gives managers the info they need to handle scheduling and avoid costly mistakes. Time and attendance can be precisely monitored. Real time and instant access to data also allows managers to spot problems quickly 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.
Management and Integration of Back Office -
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 an efficient and profitable business. A modern POS system will allow you to do these tasks fast and effortless, all from the back office. Integration and management of your back office should be at the top of your "to do" list.
Proper Customer Relationship Management -
Successful promotions can go a long way in boosting profits. Determining if your coupon or gift card program is working as it should, however, can be difficult. If your POS system can quickly help you evaluate which promotions are performing well and which are not, so you no longer need to waste money and time. Having a POS system that can keep track of customer histories, their likes and dislikes, comments, etc. can give you valuable insight into what future promotions might work for your business, 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 Technology: Mobile Computing & Hand Held Devices -
Wireless point of sale systems plays a very important role 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 traditional environments, like restaurants, there are many great benefits that wireless devices can provide, especially wireless hand held devices.
With wireless hand held units, your serving staff can save time taking orders with out having to line up to get access to the POS terminal, and therefore are much more productive. And Because each order is transmitted instantly, at the table, the serving staff are able to roam around taking orders. Managers can minimize staffing levels by scheduling just a few skilled staff, provide them with larger sections, and set their main focus at greeting customers, taking 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 high quality customer service experience for your patrons and increased sales for you through up-selling and faster table turns. Also, waste is cut down considerably, since placing orders at the table greatly reduces errors.
Another important feature of wireless hand held technology is that orders sent to the kitchen are more evenly spaced, so you avoid overwhelming the kitchen with too many orders at once. By this, you can greatly decrease waste and increase efficiency of your kitchen. The wireless hand held technology has been greatly enhanced in recent years, with its increased battery life and ease of usage it can improve staff performance. The time indeed has come to use wireless POS technology for retail businesses.
Payment Security -
Having payment security is very important for restaurants and any retail businesses today. With the incidence of fraud and identity theft that have been widespread, keeping your client's credit card data safely is very important. The PCI Security Standards Council is an open global forum for the ongoing development, enhancement, storage, dissemination and implementation of security standards for account data protection, you can visit here anytime. Are you sure your POS system is secured and PCI compliant? Well, if it's not, it needs to be.
The Technology of Self Service -
The self-service technology have been the talk of the town in recent years. Having moved beyond kiosks, the self-service option gave business owners in the food-service the ability to delegate the food ordering process to customers themselves. Touch screen terminals are now intuitive and easy to use, and offer add on/up sell items instantaneously, which can boost average check totals. The traditional "server staff" can be replaced by food runners, or counter staff, who can also do quality checks. Payments can even be done by customers, for faster table turns and increased cover counts.
Self-service stations may not be attractive for patrons who wants fine dining experience, but it certainly is attractive for quick service dining establishments 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, you may still be able to choose for the right POS systems easily. Due to logistics and a host of other obstructions, businesses with multiple locations were forced to seek alternatives in how they coordinated the collection of cash and data. With this kind of business, you may need enterprise wide systems that has features such as client recognition capabilities, hospitality and retail sales, as well as quick and easy debit and credit options and many more. It may also require a system that can get around cabling and network issues, and preserve precious data in case of a system or network failure. And if your company matches into this category, an enterprise POS solution that is reliable and flexible would be the best way to go.
With all the things said above, many might think that it would be hard to find a 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 is without peer in the POS industry. The state of the art POS system, the modern and flexible Toronto based Volante POS Systems. The Volante seemingly posses all these features and more. It's fully PCI compliant too! Volante first appeared on the scene in 1993, and is cross platform compatible, so no need to worry if you're using Windows, Linux or Unix. Linux POS solutions are very attractive these days, since they allow business owners to cut costs by saving on Windows licensing fees, and are easy to use.
With the above guide as your shopping list, so as a hospitality operator you should feel prepared when looking to upgrade your current POS system. If the POS software you're looking at doesn't offer the features mentioned above, move on. But in today's economy.
If you need more information or to acquire an online resource?
You may visit 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.
Richard Dreyfuss on Real Time