The Top 10 Reasons You Need A Restaurant Point Of Sale System

over 25 years of consulting and helping businessor through an accounting service. In addition, most
owners like yourself analyze their business and decidebusinesses have an electronic payroll service or
to invest in a point of sale system I have found thatsoftware that creates payroll. Point of sale systems
many reasons drove their decision. I have seen theircapture critical data for you and then export this data
problems, listened to their complaints and caught quitein formats that automatically put this information into
a few employees taken extra benefits directly fromaccounting and payroll packages, eliminating hours of
the cash register. To simplify things just a little, let's looktedious manual input that often leads to mistakes and
at the top 10 reasons you need a point of sale system.human error. If you have an electronic accounting or
10. You have employees.payroll service/software or even if you want to track
If you have employees you are open to theft,your sales in Excel, you need a point of sale system.
sweet-hearting and careless mistakes. You need a3. Integrated Credit Cards.
point of sale system to manage your employees,If you are not currently taking credit cards as a form
enforce your policies and insure that your money getsof payment you need to start today. Never mind the
to you.fees. The loss of business that you are suffering in
9. Pricing and Math Errors.today’s plastic minded economy will more than
It is still amazing how many restaurants still use acompensate for the fees charged. If you are currently
calculator and hand written tickets. According totaking credit cards through a stand-alone terminal you
studies done by various institutions you are open tocould be being charged exorbitant fees for the terminal
math and pricing mistakes totaling in excess of 1% ofwhen you could be processing through your point of
your annual volume. In a restaurant doing as little assale system. In some cases, the elimination of the
$1,300 per day that would add up to $4,700 per year.terminal rental will pay for the credit card interface in
(Less than the price of our 2-terminal Sweet Dealless than a year. With integrated credit card
Package) To eliminate pricing and math errors youprocessing you are assured that the amount of the
need a point of sale system.sale will match the amount charged on the credit card,
8. Time In Attendance.eliminating the need to go back and match individual
Employee payroll is one of the most overlooked andsales when the credit card batch does not match
most easily managed portions of your profit and losscredit card sales. When high-speed Internet
statement. If you have 12 employees and each ofconnections are used to process credit cards we
them clocks in 5 minutes early a day, that equates to 1receive approvals in less than 2 seconds. No longer is
hour per day of extra payroll. Even with minimumslower speed of service an excuse not to take credit
wage plus benefits this could add up to $6 - $8 percards. If you want to quickly, accurately and smoothly
day or over $2,900 per year. This figureprocess credit cards you need a point of sale system.
doesn’t take into account the total man-hours it2. Competitive Marketing.a. Frequent Diner Modules.
takes to compute time cards and then report on theWho are your customers? What do they buy? How
hours worked for each employee. This is time that youoften do they visit? Of your frequent visitors, who
could be spending elsewhere. If you have a few as 5hasn’t been in to see you during the past
employees you need a point of sale system.month? Of your frequent visitors, who has a special
7. Reducing Theft.day coming up this month? These are questions that
This is the original reason for the invention of the cashyou should have the answer to. All the major chains
register back in the late 1800’s. Even whenand all of your competitors are after the people who
most of the businesses were family owned and runcome to your restaurant. They want to take them for
there was a need for a cash register to reduce theft.themselves. How are you going to compete with the
In today’s world of hiring employees to helpbillions of dollars being spent to draw your customer
staff and manage your store there is even greateraway? By marketing your operation and your menu.
need for this type of control. For years we haveYour point of sale system should be able to manage
known about the tendencies of people with regard toyour customer base, keep up with their buying habits,
theft. 10% of the people wouldn’t steal if givinghow often they visit, when was their last visit and what
the opportunity. 10 % of the people are going to stealspecial occasions they have coming up. Your point of
no matter what safeguards are in place. 80% of thesale system then should be able to sort these into
people will steal if given the opportunity. Point of salegroups that should be sent mailers, coupons, invitations
systems are put in place to guard against the 80%to special events or simply told that they are
and make it more difficult for them to steal from you.appreciated and asked to visit you again. If you have
6. Speed of Service.competition you need a point of sale system.b. Gift
There is only 1 thing we can think of that will drivecards have become the norm for so many businesses
customers away faster than bad food and that istoday. An entire industry has been formed around the
slow service. When a customer places their order theirold concept of giving a paper gift certificate. Today,
own internal clock is running in overdrive. No matteryou will find gift cards at most major checkout lines. A
how long they took to look over the menu and topoint of sale system should be able to sell, redeem and
place their order, once they have given your server orcontrol balances for your own gift card program. No
cashier their order their hunger clock is speeding alonglonger do you need a book of certificates that are
faster than a fan on high! You need a fast, reliablekept in the safe. Today, all you need is a stack of
way to get orders into your system. This should meanblank plastic cards with your colorful logo on them.
a terminal that is fast, easy to understand and quick toThese cards carry no balance and have no cash
respond to the touch of the server, cashier or barvalue until sold and a balance placed on account. As
tender. The system should also distribute the orderan owner you should keep a few of these cards with
properly to the kitchen prep station or bar. Your pointyou. Each of these cards might have a small balance
of sale system should also measure your speed ofon them for you to hand out to pull customers to your
service and report on how you are doing. Reducingrestaurant or to give in case of a poor experience to
the time it takes to get your customer’s theirhelp bring someone back. Think of these cards as
food is critical and can even make up for less quality.your personal marketing tool. When the customer
For proof I give you some of the major fast foodlooks in their purse or wallet and sees your logo they
chains. Is their popularity based upon the best tasting,will be reminded to come visit you. If you use gift
best dressed and best served burger or speed ofcertificates or gift cards you need a point of sale
service? If you want to speed up your customersystem.
service you need a point of sale system.1. You Don’t Need Any More
5. Enhanced Reporting.‘Partners’.
What is the use of having a computer and not takingSure you need gift cards. Yes you need to better
advantage of the power? If all you need is to have aunderstand your customer’s buying habits. You
total amount of cash in the drawer that sometimesabsolutely need to have credit cards integrated with
matches to the amount of sales shown you probablyyour point of sale system. You need enhanced
don’t need a point of sale system. However, ifreporting and export of these reports to electronic
you want more detail and information to help manageaccounting and payroll services. You need to eliminate
your operation and make it more profitable then youerrors, reduce mistakes and keep track of your payroll.
need a point of sale system. It used to be that havingBut more than any of these you don’t need
a good product was enough to get you by. Now itany more partners. Especially the ones that take their
takes a lot more information in order to compete withportion of the profits before you get yours. We are
all the other restaurants in your market that are alltalking about the servers, waitresses, bartenders and
looking for the same customer you have seated incashiers who:a. Undercharge customers in order to
your restaurant. You need to understand the buyingenhance their own tips. Show a $5 tab and a $50 tip.
habits of your customers. What are they ordering?(Yes, I have seen this!)b. Deliberately void or delete an
When are they ordering it? What is your mostitem after it has been paid for.c. Stuff coupons into the
profitable item? How many of it did you sell? Whatcash drawer in exchange for cash.d. Don’t
items on your menu are not selling? If you cannotcharge customers for soft beverages to enhance their
answer all of these questions with total confidence intips.e. Ring up a lower priced item (well brand) and
your answers then you need a point of sale system. Ifserve a higher priced item (premium brand)f. Give
you hesitate to correctly answer (without guessing)discounts to their friends.g. In a buffet line, ring up a
any of these questions you need a point of salebuffet and a tea. Reprint this ticket 10 times and sell
system.and collect for themselves these reprinted receipts
4. Exporting of Data to Other Systems.instead of ringing up new customers.
Even most small businesses today have some formIf you want to stay in business, you need a point of
of electronic accounting in place either in their operationsale system.