Types of POS Systems

1. Restaurant POS Systems

Why is a point of sale system needed for a restaurant? The primary reason
you need a point of sale for a restaurant is to accept cash and credit card
payments. In addition to receiving payments, you need to be able to track all
your financial and tax data. Most restaurant POS solutions have reporting
features built-in to monitor your transactions by date, time, and type. But that’s
only the beginning of the awesomeness.

There can be hundreds of features that can streamline your operations and
make your restaurant more efficient. For instance, most restaurant POS
systems allow you to put in an order and send the request directly to a kitchen
printer reducing errors in the kitchen and increasing staff and food prep
efficiency. Another benefit would be tracking inventory and food usage. You
can also follow payroll with built-in time clock feature.

A restaurant management system is recommended if you’re a restaurateur

and want to be competitive in the business. Many types of restaurants need to
utilize a POS like full-service restaurants, quick-service restaurants, fast food,
take-out only, cafe’s, pizza shop, etc.

No matter what kind of restaurant you own or if you’re starting your dream
restaurant, you need to accept payments of all types securely. Also, you’ll
need all the features that a quality point of sale system provides to aid in
managing your operations and growing your store’s customer base.
Restaurant software offers many hospitality functions that help to make your
restaurant run smoothly and streamline the management of your
establishment. Utilizing features like inventory management will help you find
where to cut food costs and to boost profit margins by using recipe costing.
Most restaurant management systems offer an option or service to cost your
recipes so you can see recommended pricing to ensure you’re turning an
adequate profit.

Recipe costing is just one example of features a restaurant computer system

can provide. Some other features and services you’re going to need potentially
are restaurant marketing, customer management, online ordering, loyalty
program, server sales performance, new versus repeat customers, invoice
purchasing, menu performance, employee management, and sales reporting.
So you start to see with all the options available, that the advantage of using a
modern point of sale far exceeds not having one or using a simple cash
register.

Another significant advantage of using a restaurant management software is

the ability to send orders directly to the kitchen – this is a considerable
advantage by increasing food prep time, staff efficiency, and reducing errors
in the kitchen. If you’re doing handwritten tickets, think about how many
mistakes and the time loss that becomes of that method. With a POS, there is
fewer errors and faster prep times because the menu items are sent directly
to the kitchen, and the chef and prep staff can easily read the ticket to prepare
the meal.

The reality is your competition is using a modern restaurant management

system to improve customer service, so if you’re not, you’re potentially losing
customers to your competitors. The only negative to implementing a new
restaurant management system is the training time and challenge of learning
new software. But that’s only temporary, once you learn the back-end and
front-end of the software, you and your staff will be pros in no time.

Restaurant Pro Tip Summary:

If you’re starting out, make sure your restaurant POS system has all the
features you need to operate your business at a price point that’s affordable
with the features that allow you to grow. Always, always, get a demo of the
software online or in-person if possible. You want to make sure it’s user-
friendly, and you need to experience what you’re purchasing – this is a
significant investment in your business, so make it a smart one and compare
your restaurant POS options here.