"Hello chef, What's special on today's menu?"
"POS, specially garnished with all the requirements for the restaurant!"
Wish, it could be that easy to get POS, in the restaurant, which can have all the required ingredient tied up! We can also have an argument against that, it's quite difficult to have that, as there will be different requirements for each one, as they have a unique pattern for services. More or less, we can agree with this argument, but here we are trying to think (or understand) such points, which can't be ignored while you are choosing/selecting/implementing POS for your restaurant, which in the end make a huge difference for your cash drawer as well. This article will be the menu card for you with full of POS requirements for your restaurant.
It's all about the ideal selection
Waiting! Hurts most food lovers, when they get this at the restaurant. Though a dedicated customer does not move away and will wait till their turn comes. In those previous days, when it was just at dawn of wireless communication, many restaurant adopted such scenario to give a pager to their customers. So they can move around and when their turn comes, servers can send messages to them to come and collect the food.Now time has changed, mobile phone and online apps have changed the restaurant industries from top to bottom. The same thing can be said to inside restaurant management. From taking an order from table to table, to use iPad POS Screen transferring order directly to the kitchen, helping to save lot's of time. One needs to well identify that what will be their flow of managing orders, and also manage accounting/stock in a restaurant, and taking such things in mind, one need to do right selecting of POS which can manage all those things. Here, one more thing needs to be taken care of, is that it should be much simpler for the end user to use it.
Get the POS Right Now!
Why there is such (one can say, extreme) need of POS now in a restaurant? Simple, get things done in a simple way with great speed and efficiency. Lets take example of drive-through restaurant. As we know from starting window, a person from their car, places an order, and service of that restaurant needs to be that fast, that when that person reaches to delivery window, that order has to be ready. Now, for example, if this stuff can be done manually, than such concept could have never been discovered. This can only possible from POS, where one person takes an order, and that order directly goes to the kitchen. Such software has added a whole new dimension to the restaurant business, with such slogans like "Food in one minute or get your order for free!" attracts more customers. With this and other such marketing strategies help business to set and achieve higher goals.
Basic things will never change
Quick, good service, and quality food with reasonable price are basic for every restaurant. From those, POS relates to service. Like we know, you can satisfy more customers with quick services. Here we are not talking for such scenario for ready to eat stuff, but we're discussing where the kitchen is far away from where the order has been given. You must have noticed, that when there were no computer system, their staff had developed their unique sigh language (like players communicating in baseball), to pass messages without going to the kitchen, especially when there is heavy traffic! Same stuffs are handled by POS, in no time, the chef can get all the details related to a particular order, even there has been a last minute change for that as well. Also, things like any time bill payment directly from the table, split bills and printing receipts from POS directly makes it more and more spicy.
Manage your accounting and stocks
At any point of time in our business, it is important to manage accounting and stock management as well, and it'll advantageous that we should select such POS, through which all the related stuff be managed automatically. Like when making payment for any order, POS should manage that as well, and also from a security aspect, especially when the customer makes payment via credit card, it should be capable to deal with. However, as far as inventory goes, yes, it might be a tough task for food industries, but even though, with good efforts, we can try to manage that one as well. With many different kinds of reports generated from the back - end side, it can be very much effective system overall.
KDS, key aspect of restaurant POS
This has been a very key and important aspect of any POS which is designed for restaurant. Kitchen Display System shows all orders in the kitchen, which has been taken by waiters for a particular table, and when any order gets update, that can also be reflected in KDS for a chef. With KDS having in front, chefs, working in the kitchen, can view on their screen full of same/different orders, also they can get/set priority of orders and based on that plan their cooking, and when their order gets done, they can send information to waiters to serve it.
Innovate it your own way
In current fast age, you need to pace your business according to it. People tend to be smarter with the usage of smart phone/tablets. You can identify many innovative ideas to attract them, for example, on each of your tables, you can have a QR code, engraved, so, people can come there, scan code for their devices, and they can directly view the POS screen from the web, to place their order, which goes directly to the kitchen. Or else the stuff like, you can set an LED screen on table with POS screen there, and from there, customer can place order, and until their order arrives, they can play games on that screen, may listen songs etc. With such innovations, you can attract customers to your restaurant. Another main aspect of the restaurant is home delivery, and nowadays with having friendly apps to order food directly, you need to have that option in mind as well, however, that may not directly related to POS, but you can integrate such apps with your KDS, and get those orders ready on time, to be delivered to the customer.
There may be more than 100+ different POS systems on the market. The numbers continue to grow as more and more iPad & mobile based solutions are entering into the market. Finding the right POS system for a restaurant can be a daunting task for you. You want one that is easy to use, that matches your budget, that has good customer support, and that offers the features you need for your specific business. Knowing exactly what you need in a system is a great start. It helps you to narrow down the field a bit. Once you’ve narrowed down the options, all that’s left is to test them out. However, in the restaurant, you never know, what's happening behind the door! But we certainly cannot relate that with POS, as we have to know each and every trick of it, so that one can get the most from it. At Emipro, we have implemented POS for many kinds of restaurants and other business profiles. So we are well aware about the limitations of system and the needs of the businesses.
Wishing you a healthy meal today !