Go into a restaurant, any restaurant, and you’ll find the staff using a POS system somewhere. POS hardware and software are everywhere in the food and drink industry, and you will likely need them when you open your own restaurant. A POS system helps you interact with customers in an efficient and orderly manner that boosts sales numbers and reduces the risks of errors and inaccuracies.
A POS system is short for Point of Sale. It is one of the most vital systems in the food and drink industry. The POS software and hardware is essential for transactions and other operations. Both the retail and restaurant industries need them to help with many tasks and responsibilities. A POS system allows business owners to track sales, inventory items, and cash flow. They can also help in completing transactions with customers and streamline other tasks.
Are POS systems Important to Your Restaurant?
Your restaurant experiences a high volume of cash from payments and other transactions. And not only does a POS system track the number of sales you make, but they also act as a processor for credit cards, debit cards, and other payment methods. A POS system can make credit card transactions much more secure for the customers and the business. They also increase security for you, the servers or managers will not be able to alter information in the system. You can cut instances of theft and mismanagement when you have a POS system.
A POS system plays an important role in your business. Without them, you will not be able to process payments for your restaurant and you might be exposing yourself to many security risks. A POS system is your buffer against these dangers. Imagine how easy your business will run if you have equipment such as a self service kiosk in your restaurant. You might not make as many mistakes and your customers will find it more convenient.
There are also other reasons why you should consider having a POS system like an electronic cash register for your business. Here are some great reasons why you should consider having a Point of Sale system in a restaurant.
1) The POS system facilitates the daily transactions of your business
With a POS system, you can accurately tell your profit margins, sales, and much more. Imagine the financial statements you have to write every period or so. They have to be perfect so you will know exactly what your restaurant earns. Every transaction has to be recorded perfectly for this to happen. Through mismanagement or misconduct, however, things can go wrong. You will need to review your statements to know more about whether there are mistakes or intentional changes to your profits.
But double-checking the financial statements can be a waste of time. With a restaurant POS system, you can submit and review reports much faster. You can also reduce the instances of human error because the recording and tracking of all transactions are automatic. You never have to contend with incorrect reports ever again.
2) You can give accurate information to your customers about certain dishes
Sometimes, it is difficult to answer questions on the spot. But in real life, customers ask these questions often to appease their curiosity. They also ask questions to choose a dish that fits their palette. Questions such as “What is your best-selling dish?” or “Does this meal contain peanuts? I am allergic to them”, are commonplace in the industry. An e-menu is hardly a waste of time for restaurants as it can include all the necessary information that can help them decide which dishes they might want and which ones they should skip.
If your servers have to go into the back of the kitchen to ask the kitchen staff, they will be wasting the precious time of both the staff and the customer. It is only prudent that they should be aided with a POS system that allows them to browse the information of each dish and answer the most frequently asked questions.
3) It helps the front of the house and back of the house communicate with each other
Once a customer has ordered, the waiters or servers have to communicate with kitchen staff so that the dish can be prepared and served. While it is perfectly acceptable to verbally communicate the orders and order details to the kitchen staff, this does increase the likelihood of human errors messing up the serving of the dish. Human errors could lead to losses in profits as the servers have to redo the dish if prepared incorrectly. What people need is a POS system such as a kitchen display system that lets people know more about the ongoings of the kitchen and in the serving areas. They may help inform the staff in real time about the orders going through the system and let them have an adequate amount of time to prepare for the meals to be served.
4) You can reduce the instances of theft and misconduct
No one wants to hire untrustworthy employees, but you don’t know the characteristics of certain people unless they have worked for you. Sometimes you can be the victim of theft if you do not have a good point of sales system that can catch losses in money. But with an all-in-one system, you can lock your POS system behind a password that lower-ranking employees will not know. Servers and other people in charge of taking bills for customers would not be able to hoodwink the system.
Suntoyo Singapore provides various point of sales systems for restaurants and other food establishments. You can find hardware such as an e-menu and more in their list of products and equipment. Check out their website to know more about what they can do for you.
