POS

• Tab Management

The ability to efficiently manage tabs is critical, a good POS system makes splitting a tab among multiple people and transferring tabs between servers and dining areas as simple as a tap on the screen.

• Employee management

Modern POS systems can double as employee management tools, allowing you to manage both front-of-house and backof-house employees through hours tracking, sales, and shift performance.

• Comprehensive reporting

Do you know which servers are performing the best? Are you aware of your top-selling items? Sales (by item, hour, department, etc.), food costs, and labour expenses are just a few of the metrics that a good restaurant POS should be able to track.

For example, POS reports can show you when you’re busiest and what the most popular drinks are, so you know how to stock and staff accordingly.

Buying a POS system for your establishment is a big commitment, so it’s important that you do your research before making the purchase. One thing to also keep in mind is the ease of use for your employees. When everything runs smoothly, a good POS system provides them with the right tools to do their jobs as efficiently as possible — reducing stress and turnover and increasing productivity and profits.

PICKING THE BEST POS SYSTEM

The best POS systems for restaurants and cafes are feature-rich with restaurant-specific integrations and are designed for both back and front of house use. Beyond helping you manage inventory and staff, a POS system should champion swift, secure payment processing with flexibility to work online or offline.

Afully integrated POS system can help you run your business in the most efficient way possible, increasing customer satisfaction, employee welfare, and your bottom line. Modern POS systems have long replaced old-fashioned POS cash registers as the physical point of sale where sales and other transactions take place. But that’s not all they do.

These days, restaurant POS systems come with a slew of functions and capabilities, including employee shift management, order processing, reservations, table-side ordering for contactless dining, and much more.

TIPS FOR CHOOSING THE RIGHT POS SYSTEM:

educated decision about a restaurant POS system, you must define your needs and your budget. A full-service restaurant is going to have different requirements than a quick-service restaurant, the latter of which may require the ability to quickly process orders and payments to keep the lines moving.

Take into consideration key features and what your business will require, then create a list of ‘Must-Haves’ and ‘Nice to Haves’.

Important Key Features

• Inventory Management

Look for a platform that tracks inventory based on orders, that will notify your wait staff when an item runs out, and that will generate purchase orders when stock of an item gets low.

In addition, raw ingredient tracking is something specific to hospitality/foodservice POS systems that can’t be overstated. Having an inventory system that keeps track of both raw ingredients and complete products gives you an accurate look at what you need and what gets wasted.

• Menu Management

There are drink specials, dining specials, seasonal items — and you need a POS platform that can keep up with all those situations, plus all the inventory changes you have every day and every week.

Being able to program your POS to automatically accommodate these changes means servers won’t have to remember all the specials, or that someone won’t get charged the happy hour price instead of the regular price.