Is a restaurant POS system right for your business?

When you are running a restaurant, you need all hands on deck, or rather any technology you can get to make the operations go smoothly. You should be able to offer top-notch service to your customers, supervise all your employees, and monitor the available inventory.

However, this can all be challenging when carried out manually, which is where a restaurant POS or point of sale system comes into the picture. No longer do you have to handle the chunky hardware system, forget to check on the inventory, or deal with dissatisfied customers whose order was missed.

In this blog, .. but first, you need to understand what a POS system is for restaurants.

Restaurant POS system - An overview

A point of sale system for restaurants is used by many businesses for the purpose of accepting payments and collecting data. Some POS systems can be used for the purpose of:

• Handling sales transactions

  It includes a comprehensive management system that can handle all transactions by utilising a POS cash register to accept cash, card or digital payments.

• Managing online orders

  Your customers can conveniently order from your restaurant, if a POS system is integrated with your online ordering platform. They can then place orders directly through your website or mobile app.

• Accommodating multiple restaurant types

  Whether you are running a small street cafe, food trucks, or a fancy restaurant, there is an extensive range of POS systems with various devices and functions. For instance, you have the option to choose between a cloud-based restaurant POS system or hybrid, based on your business needs.

• Providing robust reporting

  A good POS system allows you to monitor and control your restaurant’s functions remotely as well as in-house. You can check insightful sales reports informing you about staffing, pricing, and inventory decisions. And you can also gauge your customers’ buying trends through these reports.

This should help you understand what basic functions can be carried out by having a POS system for your restaurant.

7 Benefits of POS Systems for restaurants

Let’s now explore some of the benefits of a POS system for a restaurant business:

• Manage your restaurant from anywhere

  As pointed out above, a cloud-based restaurant management software is one of the features that is offered by a POS system.

  If you have multiple franchises in the country, you can check in with all your locations from anywhere with just an internet connection. A cloud-based POS system allows you to manage your restaurant remotely, while you are in another restaurant location or a vacation!

  Along with that, you can also update your menus, change prices, manage employees, and more through the mobile POS solution for restaurants.

• Reduce/Eliminate human errors

  In any fast-moving restaurant business, a human error can really cut down on the performance rate. Miscommunication, loss of record and other inefficiencies can really take a toll on your business. Also, the frequency at which transactions are carried out at restaurants is too much to keep up with manually.

  A well-designed POS system records all information regarding transaction, sales, refunds, etc. relieving you from any constant worry or future mishaps.

  Additionally, a POS system also includes restaurant management software that can also keep an eye on tracking inventory so that you are informed of low stock in a timely manner.

• Manage customer’s orders

  To increase sales for your restaurant, you need to provide excellent customer service, and a POS system can help with that.

  The online order integration for POS systems has been a total game changer. When a customer places an order from your restaurant, a profile is created by the POS system based on their personal information and order history. That helps your team to process their orders quickly and accurately.

  The information about customers’ order history also allows you to suggest other dishes and food items based on their likes.

• Identify popular items

  Based on all your customers’ records, the restaurant POS system can monitor which food items were popular, and which ones were the least popular.

  This allows you to tailor your restaurant menu based on each customer’s preferences and send them automated messages for discounts on the popular items.

  Additionally, you can also set alerts on the POS system to ensure that you do not run out of their favourite items.

• Automate ingredient management

  One of the most important aspects of the POS system is the tracking of ingredient levels to manage check and balance.

  The shortage of any item affects the whole menu. For instance, your chef cannot continue making a dish if they are short on salt or chicken. In such a case, it’s important to keep track of all ingredients and supplies that you use in your restaurant.

  With the POS system, you can get first-hand information on the availability of items and supplies so that you can fill up on the required items before they run out.

• Keep your kitchen staff in the loop

  Instead of your servers running around the kitchen to place orders, they can just input the customers’ orders through the restaurant POS system. All tickets just go directly to the kitchen where the required orders are prepared right away, without any confusion or delay.

  A lot of trouble regarding poor communication between chef and servers or angry frustrated customers could be saved by having a reliable POS system.

• Manage your staff’s schedules

  Even handling your staff’s schedules manually can be such a chore. More often than not, restaurants experience high employee turnover and the employees’ shifts can require different staffing levels

  Fortunately, the restaurant POS solution can help in automating such tasks to ensure that there is balance in staffing for all employees. It also helps the manager to keep track of their employees and their availability.

  What’s more, the POS system can also clock in hours of your employees.

Wrapping

There you have it! We have listed all the reasons how a restaurant POS system is right for your business! If you currently run a restaurant or any food joint, you must upgrade your system to the best possible for smooth operation. A comprehensive restaurant POS system should have all the features mentioned above

If you are looking for recommendations in the UAE, Fougito restaurant POS is the one you should consider. With its sustainable technology and efficient cloud-based system with mobile integration, your food business is off to a great start!