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Restaurant POS Systems: Enhancing Profit By Innovation – Start it NOW!

When it comes to sourcing out POS software, no doubt that restaurant and hospitality operators have become much more tech proficient in recent years. They do not only operate smoothly new POS systems, but they are also demanding for more advance POS software they can afford. Thinking of upgrading your POS system? Here’s what you should be looking for in 2009.

It hasn’t been that too long when hospitality operators were very eager to get their hands on the first ever restaurant POS systems when it became available. Do you still remember what your first restaurant POS system looked like? You had a sleek 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, the beverage orders printed out at the bar while the food orders printed at the same time in the kitchen. It was exciting, sleek, and revolutionary.

Since then, the world of restaurant POS systems have evolved to meet the needs of people. Today’s hospitality operators are much more tech savvy than ever before, and the POS industry is slowly responding. The big players in POS software systems are still active, 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 gobbled up quickly if they don’t furnish the current demands of today’s hospitality operators. So, as a restaurant & hospitality operator, here are the top features you must look for once you decide to invenst on a new POS system in 2009.

Data Reporting -

Food and labor cost are the top two issues you’ll be needing to handle carefully. Always keep those things in check, and your chances of succeeding in such a competitive market are remarkably 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 state of the art data reporting capabilities will allow you to forecast business volumes, which gives managers the information they need to handle scheduling and avoid unneeded expenses on labor. You can even monitor staff time and attendance more precisely. 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. You will be able to run your business to success once your POS system can handle these issues.

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 an efficient and profitable business. A modern POS system will allow you to do these tasks quick and with no effort, all from the back office. Integration and management of the back office should be the first thing on your list.

Management of Customer Relationship -

Effective promotions can can boost up your profit for as long as it can make your customers happy. 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, 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, suggestions, etc. can give you valuable insight into what future promotions might work for your business, and which ones are most likely to work. Having an effective loyalty and points program can make your customers happy and keep them coming back. So, when it comes to Customer Relationship Management, you can entrust most of the thinking to your point of sale system.

Wireless Mobile Computing & Hand Held Technology -

Wireless POS systems are perfect for businesses that operate outside of traditional, brick and mortar locations. Even venues like ski resorts, fairs or stadiums can benefit from from a wireless POS system (a portable concession stand or the ones used in private suites). In a traditional environment, like restaurants, there are many great benefits that wireless devices can provide, especially wireless hand held devices.

With wireless hand held units, your staff saves time by easily taking orders from table to table or customers in line without having to return the POS terminal, and therefore are much more productive. Since the order is sent instantly, at the table, the servers are able to serve from one table to the next. Managers can minimize staffing levels by scheduling just a few skilled staff, assign them at larger sections, and set 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 serving staff are able to remain on the floor, the result is a high quality customer service experience for your regular customers and increased sales for you through up-selling and faster table turns. Also, it can decrease waste of food since taking orders from tables greatly reduces errors.

Another great feature with wireless hand held devices is that it can send evenly spaced orders to the kitchen, so your kitchen isn’t overwhelmed by many orders at once. By this, you can greatly decrease waste and increase efficiency of your kitchen. Wireless hand held technology has been greatly enhanced in the recent 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 reaching epidemic proportions, keeping your client’s credit card data safely is very important. 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, it needs to be.

The Technology of Self Service -

Self-service technology has created quite a buzz 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 can boost average check totals. The traditional “Server” is replaceable 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 POS terminals may not be attractive for patrons who wants fine dining experience, but it certainly is attractive for those who operate fast food or quick serve/casual dining establishments. 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 hurdles, 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 has the ability to get around cabling and network issues, as well as precious data in case of a disaster that causes system or network failures. If your company fits in this category, an enterprise POS solution that is reliable and flexible is a must.

With the above list in mind, you might think that it would be difficult to find a POS system that offers all of the above and more. One POS system, on the other hand, consistently stands out and not in group 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 also fully PCI compliant. It first appeared 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 have the exact features you need, move on. But in our current economy.

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

Check out 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.