Restaurant POS Systems Guide 

Buying restaurant POS systems involves making critical business decisions. The installation of a restaurant point of sale system can either provide the business with significant amounts of savings or increase the direct costs due to lost sales and poor inventory.

Before buying a restaurant POS system, there is a need to understand how the system works, what the hardware requirements are, and what important functionalities and features it offers. A good restaurant POS system lowers the direct costs, improves the sales and operations, and meets the over-all business needs.

The following are some guidelines in purchasing restaurant POS systems

# of Point of Sale Systems Required

Before making any decision to purchase, it is important to determine the number of POS systems to be used in the restaurant. The size of the restaurant, the kind of food sold, the kind of services offered, and the expansion plans for the business must also be considered in determining the number of systems that need to be purchased. Obtaining this information places the business owners in a better position to bargain with suppliers and ask for discounts or free items. The supplier will perform a site survey to verify the number of POS systems needed and will discuss other system details to ensure that the business needs are addressed.

Level of Security

Another consideration is the security level that must be implemented for the restaurant point of sale system. ID codes can be used for a staff to log in or staff members can be assigned individual magnetic keys. This is critical since access levels will differ among managers, service crews, and part-time members of the staff. Business owners can decide to give complete access only to the senior manager for the creation of sales transaction reports and grant limited access to the bar staff. Security levels must also be defined to limit access to the cash register and credit card machines.

Required Reports

Identify the type of reports that are needed by the business owner. Determine if the POS system can provide owners with the information that enables them to create various business reports. Using a POS system, a restaurant owner can quickly identify the particular food item that sells the most and that which sells the least at any given time of the day. Information on the products with the least sales enables the creation of discounts or promotions to increase the sales. This information also enables the purchasing manager to identify the supplies that are consumed the most and effectively manage the inventory of goods and supplies.

A basic POS system is often limited to printing the basic kinds of reports that are generated from only one unit. On the other hand, a good POS system is equipped with features that can assist managers in creating various consolidated sales and inventory reports that are needed at the end of the day or on a weekly or monthly basis.

Cash registers, Handheld Terminals or Both

Consider the need to use cash registers or handheld terminals for the restaurant. Handheld terminals are more expensive but offer the best in flexibility. Establishments that use handheld terminals have a centralized cash register system that sends the orders of food and drinks with the table numbers directly to the kitchen through a printer. Cash registers can also be linked so that the sales in every cash register within the establishment can be easily monitored.

Level of Control

Determine the control levels between the sales and the stocks of the business. Complete control over the stocks can either be operated from restaurant POS systems or outsourced to a different stock company.
Business owners usually opt to hire independent controllers for their stocks to save time and to receive independent stock control reports that they can compare with their own. Discuss these details with the POS system supplier and ask how their package supplements this business need.

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