Often, restaurant owners take restaurant point of sale (POS) systems for a cash register or a tool that only accepts payments. However, having this attitude toward POS limits efficiency and growth. If used to its full potential, a top-tier POS system can transform a restaurant and drive its success.
A reliable POS system facilitates everything from handling finances to selling services, managing staff, inventory accounting, and marketing. The actual capacity of a POS system can only be unfurled when restaurateurs know how to fully operate them.
Presently, food, beverage, and labor costs contribute five to 75 percent of a restaurant’s total expenses. Restaurant owners have to devise ways to overcome food wastage, overstaffing, and unnecessary spending. This is where the POS system comes in.
Utilizing a POS will save time, money, and increase customer satisfaction by improving communication between front-of-the-house and kitchen staff. It also collects data about restaurant sales, labor costs, payroll reports, peak business hours, and customer loyalty to generate reports, helping you make important business decisions.
The Best of POS
To realize the potential of your restaurant, you need to constantly stay a few steps ahead of your competitors. Investing in an advanced and integrated POS system will start you off with a significant advantage. While shopping around for the right POS, you should keep in mind the latest tech features. Right now, cloud-based POS systems are the most state-of-the-art option.
Cloud-based restaurant POS software comes with a multitude of benefits, but most importantly it brings greater efficiency. Being a restaurant owner means you’re always on the run, trying to attend to various issues and making essential business decisions. By installing a cloud-based POS, you can access data and monitor your restaurant wherever you have an internet connection. This is especially beneficial for restaurant owners who manage a chain of restaurants scattered across the country.
Putting Your POS System to Work
If you already have a POS system for your restaurant, how can you use it to increase efficiency? Consider using the software for each of the following tasks:
1. Optimize Your Menu Options
Your menu options and prices can make or break your restaurant. You need to ensure that items on your menu suit your customers’ tastes and they aren’t overly priced to retain customers.
A POS system will help you optimize your menu by providing insights into your customers’ everyday behaviors and preferences. It will tell you which items are your customers’ favorites and what they don’t like on your menu.
Additionally, it breaks down the food cost percentages and contribution margins helping you find opportunities to optimize your menu prices. When you use a cloud-based POS, you can instantly update your menu at any time from anywhere.
2. Schedule Staff
The restaurant POS system helps you create schedules for your staff based on target labor ratios, historical data, and employee skill levels. You can easily enter employee data ranging from average table turnover to past performance, and pull it up when making scheduling decisions in the future.
The employees will then have access to the schedule to see when they work and allow them to switch shifts as needed. The POS scheduling system is easy to update and adapt to employee’s requests for time off.
3. Oversee Inventory
One of the vital benefits of a POS system is its ability to keep track of the inventory and reduce shrinkage in the restaurant. Shrinkage refers to the part of the inventory that vanishes from your restaurant because of various reasons including misuse, theft, or waste.
A POS system can automate this entire process, taking account of every item used in the kitchen. By keeping track of all the items, you will be able to keep an eye on your inventory and schedule orders accordingly. Plus, you’ll reduce waste and avoid overspending.
4. Analyze Sales Data
A restaurant POS system collects all the data that should influence your business decisions. From inventory shrinkage to tracking sales of individual items, POS systems offer actionable insights.
5. Manage and Measure Marketing Campaigns
A POS system acts as a marketing tool to help your restaurant attract more traffic and sales. You can execute this in the form of printed receipts or even virtual codes. At the end of the day, customers visit your restaurant which increases sales and promotes repeated visits.
Additionally, when the promo code is redeemed, it offers valuable insights into which promotions are working effectively and generating the best results.
6. Easily Manage Front and Back of House
A POS system will allow you to immediately enter an order that will then be sent to the back of the house (or kitchen). This will ensure you avoid excessive wait times, incorrect orders, or log jams. As you seamlessly enter in orders and avoid backups, you will contribute to your restaurant’s satisfaction.
Wait times or delayed orders are one thing that can lead to a customer not returning to your restaurant. This is where an efficient POS system can help you out. Most integrated POS systems come digital displays that show the customer’s order number, name, and status of the order. With a digital display, you can quickly check off the order as it is fulfilled.
7. Promote Customer Loyalty
Loyalty programs and rewards are great ways to enhance customer retention. Even better, it pushes your customers to bring their friends along. The restaurant POS system integrates a loyalty program into the system and creates a customer database that tracks customer interaction.
For instance, your loyalty program allows customers to save their points for a free brunch. This will craft the perfect environment for your customers to repeatedly come to you for regular business.
Make the Most of What You Have
Restaurant technologies like POS systems immensely improve your restaurant’s day-to-day operations, and in turn, your bottom line. Once you’ve invested in a POS system, it’s up to you to put it to use. If you notice your restaurant struggling in any areas, your first course of action should be to consult data collected by your POS and use the system to implement change.