April 24, 2010
Preparing A “Computer Checklist” For Your POS Systems Keeps Your Business Up and Running!
Start out the year right for your restaurant POS systems. Let’s talk about some of the most common and vital mistakes that retail business owners make in regard to some very simple configuration aspects of the computer system. Mistakes can heavily damage a restaurant or any other retail business, not to mention the huge amount of time and money. And even worse… it can frustrate your guests and staff.
Whether you already have a computer system or you’re going to configure a new one yourself — you better make sure that everything is done properly for your own sake.
Don’t let me give you the wrong idea. I do not always recommend configuring your own computer system! I recommend letting a professional do the work. But I know some of you will do it yourself no matter what I say. So this is for those of you that insist on doing your own computer installations and for everyone else to double check and make sure everything was done properly. This can help avoid major problems, be aware on the proper installations and save hours of your precious time.
So here’s your retail computer system configuration checklist for a Windows network:
1) Install a UPS
The number one cause of electronic component failure is from fluctuations in electricity (up and down). Having a good UPS can solve this problem by regulating the power. I recommend that you at least put a good UPS on your server. And it’s a good idea to use them on all your workstations too.
2) Plug All Your Cables Into the UPS
Make sure all cables that power your computer and network are plugged into your UPS. It’s also important to check if cables that can carry electrical charges are plugged into a surge protector or UPS. For example, the phone line for your modem can fry your computer if you don’t plug it into a surge protector. So make sure your modem line, network cables, and power cords are all plugged in properly.
3) Tightening Up Security
It is advisable that you lock your server with a hard-to-decode password on all Windows accounts so that no one will be able to access it especially hackers who love to mess up servers damage your server].
4) Install Anti-virus and Anti-Spyware Software and Configure For Automatic Updates
It’s also very important to configure that software to update automatically every day, so you don’t forget.
5) Limiting Employee Internet Access
Employees that surf the internet can cause more problems than anything. You mave the lastest antivirus and antispyware software installed but if an employee unwittingly downloads the wrong program or accepts the wrong message, it can bring your system down. You may limit them by disabling internet browsing on their computer stations. Or you could password protect internet access.
For a restaurant, this is very important! In order to protect secured files from evil hands, limiting employee internet access is a must. A retail business owner has to enforce rules to protect his business as well as his profit. Otherwise, what good will a restaurant POS system do if it’s run by a misbahaved or ignorant personnel.
6) Configuring Your Back Up To Run Regularly
In many situations, it’s still best to configure your back up to run after work hours automatically. Don’t forget you still need to remember to change your back up device (like tapes) every day.
7) Testing Your Back Up At Least Once A Month
I have talked to dozens people who think they have a good back up for restoring damaged files. When they try to restore they find it didn’t properly funciton. That’s why it is very important to test your back up at least once a month by restoring files so you would know that it your back up is working as it’s supposed to be. By the way, you should restore to an alternate file location so your existing software won’t be affected.
So please check your computer system now. If you don’t, you might regret it later. Have a happy and successful 2009!
With over 20 years of restaruant experience, the author and Vice President of Customer Relations at POS-for-Restaurants.com, helps you use your technology to be more efficient and more profitable.
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We are now living in a world filled with advanced technologies, so better get rid of those old-fashioned cash registers and hand-written ledgers! Today is a different world, new technologies have been developed to help boost restaurant Point of Sale system. So say goodbye to your tiring manual business system and say hello to the new POS systems that will surely boost your profit and make your customers happier than before.
As the retail business business owner, ensuring your business profit’s safety is one of the most important things you must learn. You can easily loose money from simple customer’s change mistakes and from an abusive employee of yours that keeps helping themselves to a few extra bucks or giving away free meals!
If the above issues have already happened to you, well don’t let it happen again! I suggest now would be the right time to have a POS for your business. With the features a POS can offer your business, you can prevent these issues from happening and may even be able to completely eliminate them:
- Long lines which prevent you from working with as many customers as possible
- Frequent customer complaints
- Limited staff
- Overstocking of poor performing items
- Shrinkage (lost or stolen inventory that eats into your profit margins)
- Spending too much time going over the books
- Financial inaccuracies (overbilling, underbilling, thin profit margins)
- Poor data organization
Since money is involved here, you might want to consider inveting on quality POS systems that will take care of the job smoothly and improve your business’ efficiencies. So buying cheap, poor quality POS systems can lead to the downfall of your business. You’ll risk loosing more money because of its poor features.
Any reliable POS vendor can tailor the appropriate POS solution for your needs, which will allow you to enhance your business’ performance and be able to serve your customers much better. So requesting for a free POS system quote would be a great idea, since expert POS vendors can provide the exact needs of your business, complete with the features that can help your business boost its sales, without spending more money.
Questions to consider
When requesting for a free POS system quote, below are some of the things you might want to consider asking to a POS vendor. What’s great about this service is that when you submit your details, it will be matched to the most qualified POS sellers in your area. And only they will be able to acquire your details which in return tailor the proper POS solution that will meet your needs and then send you their offers. Below are some of the questions you might consider asking:
- Is the POS software user friendly? Which OS will it run?
- Is POS software compatible with my current business management applications?
- Can I have a try out of the POS system before buying it?
- Do I need extra POS terminals? About cash registers?
- Can I use the same POS for other marketing methods like a gift card system?
- How robust are the reporting features?
- Will I be able to point out where my profit losses are coming from?
- Can a POS system be set up fast?
- Does it require extensive staff training?
- When it comes to customer support, at what level can I expect?
- Is loaner available if equipment repairs can’t be made on-site?
- Are there all-in-one solutions available or do I have to buy everything according to its package?
More information and an online resource
If you wish to know more about restaurant point of sale system, please visit POS-For-Restaurants.com
The author of this article is the VP of Customer Relations at POS-For-estaurants.com with over 20 years of restaurant POS experience serving all types of restaurants in the U.S. with their automation needs
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Click here for a video that explains the risk of non-PCI compliance
PCI & Credit Card Security: Background
Restaurant owners and their customers have enjoyed the convenience brought by credit and debit cards for many years. However, given the skyrocketing cost and frequency of credit fraud, well established card brands (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and JCB) have taken steps to protect all stakeholders.
It was in 1968 when IBM invented the mag stripe on credit cards and became the industry standard. Given that the track data on the mag stripe is easy to read and duplicate, the card brands, with the set of standards that the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council has built, it clearly stated the first directive: ‘Don’t store track data.’
The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Standards
There’s the three-pronged approach that the PCI Security Standards Council took to protect consumers, merchants/restaurateurs and banks:
- Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard or PCI DSS ‐ covers all entities that store, process, or transmit cardholder data (Merchants, restaurateurs, service providers, processors, etc.)
Deadline for Compliance: Month of January 2007 (deadlines are long passed)
It Means – Restaurant owners, regardless of their establishments’ size, must all complete and submit a PCI Self-Assessment Questionnaire to their Acquiring Bank every year.
- Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS) ‐ it covers all applications used to store, process, or transmit cardholder data as part of authorization or settlement. (Point of Sale (POS) application developers)
Deadlines for Compliance:
Oct. 1, 2008 ‐ Payment processors, agents and merchants must use software that is compliant with the new payment application security standards.
Oct. 1, 2009 ‐ Terminate any noncompliant payment applications that merchants might still be using in their environments will be required.
July 1, 2010 ‐ Mandatory use of only the payment applications that support the new standards.
Which Means – If, after the deadline, a merchant/restaurateur is not running a PA DSS-validated application, they will automatically fail their PCI assessment and possibly may lose their ability to accept credit cards.
- PED (Pin Entry Devices) Standard – this covers all PEDs and it aims to ensure that the cardholder’s personal identification number or PIN, including any sensitive information are protected consistently at a PIN acceptance device, like your resident keys.
Deadline for Compliance:
Jan. 1, 2004 ‐ All newly purchased Point-of-Sale (POS) PIN Entry Devices must have passed testing by a Visa recognized laboratory and been approved by Visa.
July 1, 2010 ‐ Mandates that every POS PIN Entry Devices must pass and get approved by PCI SSC from one of its recognized laboratories.
What this Means ‐ Merchants/restaurant owners have two years to replace older, un-approved PEDs.
Payment Card Industry (PCI) Do’s
- Do routine vulnerability scans of your systems.
- You must have a security awareness training for your staff.
- Do audits of system access.
- Do monitor your system activity logs.
- Remove access privileges of separated employees.
- Install software patches for your system.
- When it comes to any threats, be serious - have an incident response plan in place.
PCI Don’ts
- Whole credit card numbers should not be stored or archived.
- Transmitting credit card information unencrypted should not be practiced.
- With Payment Card Industry, it’s not about making you compliant with these standards – it’s all about keeping you and your customers protected.
PCI’s Effect on Restaurateurs
Given consumers’ expectation of omnipresent acceptance of credit and debit cards, merchants’/restaurateurs’ validation that they are giving protection to their customers’ personal data is good for business:
Business Reputation / Image
In a competitive business – no operator would want to be coined as the restaurant where a customer’s card data was stolen.
Protects Ability to Accept Credit / Debit Card Payments - neglecting the rules and/or a breach can jeopardize a restaurant owner’s ability to accept credit/debit payments. In many cases, credit/debit payments account for 80% to 90% of transactions. Losing your store’s ability to accept credit cards = reduced traffic/customers.
Impact of State Privacy Laws
A breach that discloses individual’s credit card info in one of the 40+ States governed with privacy laws may experience double impact on the side of the restaurateur. Being off-side with the Payment Card Industry might result in fines and lawsuit costs. Being off-side with State Privacy Laws is a crime punishable by confinement with potentially more serious penalties.
Complying / Security Strategy
- By making sure you’re using only PA‐DSS or PABP validated POS systems
- Make sure you’re using an approved PED
- Have regular security awareness training for your staff - particularly supervisors
- Doing a background check on all employees with administrative access to your system is a must
- Have a ‘Confidentiality Agreement’ contract with your employees
- When it comes to your PCI Self Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ), carefully and accurately complete the form and when you’re not sure with your answers, just ask
- If you experience gaps in the PCI compliance, develop a realistic plan to straighten it out
- Maintain mature controls to sustain compliance
- Accessing controls
- In system and device management, always have a dual factor
- Properly store your strong passwords and secure passwords
- Monitor system activities for possible attacks as well as record evidences
- Control wireless access points
- Maintain a secure configuration
- Segment networks
- Have an Incident Response Plan and test it to make sure that it’s always ready for action
- Test and audit the cardholder environment carefully
It may be a discouraging task on the first run but when everything’s in place, ongoing PCI compliance is not an expensive undertaking. It is good business practice to protect the sensitive information that your customers entrust with you.
Want To Ask a Point of Sale (POS) Expert?
You can visit www.POS-For-Restaurants.com anytime for more information or advice about this topic, a Restaurant POS professional serving your area will be willing to answer your questions.
The author of this article is the Vice President of Customer Relations at
POS-For-Restaurants.com with over 20 years experience in the restaurant point of sale industry.
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February 1, 2010
Knowing Your Restaurant POS System
How Many Restaurant POS Stations Will I Need?
- Peak volume of customers
When handling peak customer volume, you need to have a plan to be able to sufficiently serve them all. - Number of staff taking orders
One station per 3-5 servers would be sufficient in a table service environment. You might want to add extra stations for handling high volume areas like the bar or cashier station. When switching to a POS system from a cash register many people unintentionally forget that their POS system is not only used to to cash out customers but can also be used for order entry as well. - Manage your restaurant layout wisely
A good restaurant layout affects your employees service. So if you have a bar, assigning a separate station for your bar tender would be easier since he can serve customers from there quickly. - How and where you plan to have customers pay for their meals
Having proper locations where customers can pay for their meals is also important, you don’t want to keep them waiting do you? For paying at the front, you should have 1 or 2 dedicated cashier stations to allow speedy transactions.
What type of POS computer should I use for my restaurant?
- Desktop: standard desktop computers.
- Least expensive computer option
- Has onsite warranty for 3 years
- Takes more space but can be hidden away underneath a counter
- Flexible for addition of extra ports
- Latest CPU speeds and memory
- Screen and computer are separate; in case of technical difficulties problems are isolated.
- Small form factor: smaller than desktops.
- More stylish than the desktop
- 3 Year Onsite Warranty Standard for this component
- More Space Saving
- Fewer options for expandability
- Latest CPU speeds and memory
- Screen and computer are separate; in case of technical difficulties problems are isolated.
- All-in-one terminals: combined computer with touchscreen technology.
- More efficient because it requires fewer wires least space, even more stylish
- Manufacturers warranty: 1-2 years (Not onsite)
- Comes standard with sufficient ports for almost any operation
- CPU speed is generally slower than the other two options but sufficient for the Point of Sale needs.
- Screen and computer are combined
How many cash drawers should I use?
- Unless you want your servers to carry their own cash banks, placing cash drawer at every station you want to use to end transactions is advisable.
Should I consider having integrated debit cards?
- Your POS systems can be used to process all credit card transactions, keep a record and allows you to store them in one convenient location.
- You can reduce 3-4 seconds per transaction using with the advance of high speed internet.
- In case you do not have high speed internet, a standalone terminal can be used for processing.
How many kitchen/bar printers?
- Having one printer for your kitchen will probably be sufficient for many restaurants; however, if you have different sections in your kitchen handling different dishes you may want a printer for each section.
- Think about this, you can print all appetizer orders on one printer and have all your main dish printed on another.
- When choosing for printers to use for your kitchen and bar, use impact (dot-matrix) printers instead of thermal printers. Why? Because tickets that are printed on thermal printers becomes unreadable when exposed to heat, and the loud printing of impact printers can alert your cooks and bartenders of incoming orders.
Is it essential to have more than 1 receipt printer?
- It’s a good idea for every station to have a receipt printer.
Does having a back office computer helps in restaurant management?
- Having a back office computer allows managers to access POS systems for checking inventory levels, changing a menu, and even adjusting employee clock times.
- It’s not quite necessary to have a back office computer for your restaurant, if you have less than 4 stations.. But if you do, it’s always a great idea that you host your database on a back office computer when you have 4 or more stations so none of them has extra load of running the database.
More information is available at POS-For-Restaurants.com
The author of this article is the Vice-President of Customer Relations at POS-For-Restaurants with over 20 years of experience serving restaurants of all types and sizes throughout the U.S.
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January 15, 2010
Take Control Of Your Business And Grow Your Profits!
Restaurant Point of Sale (POS) Systems has many factors you must consider in order to run a successful business. Let our Point Of Sale experts teach you how you can take control of your business, be more efficient and increase your profits without having to spend a great amount of money on POS systems.
Having A Control Over Your Business
The right POS system can provide a new level of control over your operations, it helps fine-tune your business model, boost your profits, as well as your efficiency. The wrong system, however, can be a waste of money and a source of ongoing frustration.
In a sense, your POS system is a glorified cash register! The most basic POS system which consists of a computer, a cash drawer, receipt printer, and an input device such as a keyboard or scanner. However, in addition to being more efficient than cash registers, POS systems can create detailed reports that can help you make more informed business decisions.
A POS system is a great way to increase your profits, provide productivity gains and lessen the amount of time you use from the primary focus of your business.
Saving money, getting more control over your business, and be more productive; sounds like an excellent combination for your business, right? Well here are some of the best ways a modern POS system can help you.
Eliminate shrinkage
A computerized point of sale system can drastically cut down on shrinkage, the inventory missing from your store or restaurant due to theft, waste and employee misuse. Because employees will know that you’re carefully tracking inventory, internal shrinkage will diminish.
Improve accuracy
When it comes to pricing, you need to make sure that have the correct price on every item you sold, a POS system can help ensure this. Your staff will no longer have to guess the price of an item, and prices can easily be change with a single tweak in the computer.
Get better margins
You can get better magins by having a detailed sales report, focusing on higher-margin items would be cinch. By moving items within a retail location, or promoting poor-performing dishes in a restaurant, you can help boost sales of well performing items.
Know where you stand
With the help of a POS system, you can instantly know how much money you have in your cash drawer, how much of that money is profit, as well as how many of a particular item you have sold today, yesterday, last week or even last month.
Manage inventory better
Knowing what stocks you need to keep on hand can easily be tracked using a detailed sales report. Track your remaining inventory, spot sales trends, and use historical data to better forecast your needs. Your POS software can alert you to reorder when stocks run low. There are many store owners who are caught by surprises when they have this data, because they think that they know exactly what trends affect them.
Build a customer list
List the names and address of your best customers, you might never know when they’ll come in handy! You can use it for targeted advertising or incentive programs.
Reducing paperwork
POS systems can dramatically reduce the time you have to spend doing inventory, sales figures, and other repetitive but important paperwork. The savings here: time and peace of mind.
Efficiency in transactions
In retail settings, checkouts can be made faster if you use a barcode scanner and other POS features to aid you. Restaurants will find their order process greatly streamlined as orders are relayed automatically to the kitchen from the dining room. Either with these two, you’ll be delivereing a faster and more accurate service to your customers.
Keep in mind that realizing these benefits requires a commitment to utilizing the POS system capabilities to their fullest. Without appropriate training and ongoing analysis, even the most sophisticated POS system will be no more useful than a basic cash register.
Retail vs. Hospitality Needs
Keep in mind that the POS market is divided into two segments which requires different needs: restaurants, bars, and hotels and other retail operations and hospitality businesses.
Retail
Of these two segments, retails are the ones who uses simpler POS. Retails can complete their transactions all at once and uses less variation for the items that they sell. Some POS features retailers may specifically want include the ability to support kits (3 for deals), returns and exchanges, and support for digital scales. A POS system that supports matrixes would best suit businesses that sells items of variety styles, such as shoes and clothes. For example, matrixes let you create one inventory and price entry for a particular sweater, but still track sales according to size and color.
Hospitality
Restaurants and other hospitality businesses differ in requirements.
Efficiency is the key focus for casual restaurants. For retail-style restaurants like sub shops, a POS system can greatly increase accuracy and cut down on time-per-transaction unlike with hastily-scrawled order tabs sent to the kitchen. For quick-service restaurants, a POS system would be required in order to live up to their name: orders entered on terminals in the front are automatically displayed on monitors in the kitchen, ready to be quickly assembled and delivered to the customer.
For table-service restaurants and fine dining, POS requirements are somewhat different. They need to know which staff is responsible for which table, and being able to create and store open checks. The efficiency gains from better management can be impressive. If a restaurant with 20 tables and an average check of can increase turnover by one party per table, that is an extra 0 on a busy night.
Return of Investment (ROI)
Switching from your old system to a computerized POS system can be difficult. There are several factors that needs to be considered and pitfalls to avoid. However, the return of investment (ROI) can really make it worth your time and effort.
Need more information or an online resource?
Go to POS-For-Restaurants.com
The author of this article is the Vice-President of Customer Relations at POS-For-Restaurants with over 20 years of experience serving restaurants of all types throughout the U.S.
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Filed under Uncategorized by conceptsprincess
Restaurant Point of Sale Systems has many factors you have to consider in order to run your business to success. Let our experts show you how you can increase your profits and get control of your business.
Taking Control of Your Business
Using the right POS system will provide a new level of control over your operations, increasing profits, efficiency as well as fine-tuning your business model. The wrong system, however, can be a source of ongoing frustration, not to mention the amount of time and money you waste on it.
In a sense, your POS system is a glorified cash register! The basic POS system can see in any quick service restaurants, that consists of a computer, cash drawer, receipt printer, keyboard and/or a scanner. In addition to being more efficient than the traditional cash registers, POS systems are able to create detailed reports which can help you plan ahead for your business’ future.
A POS system saves money, provide productivity gains, and can cut down the amount of time you spend away from the primary focus of your business.
Save money, getting more control over your business, and being more productive; sounds like a great combination, right? Here are some of the ways a modern point of sale system can help your business.
Eliminate shrinkage
A computerized point of sale system can drastically cut down on shrinkage, missing inventories due to theft, waste and misuse of your staff. Because employees will know inventory is being carefully tracked, internal shrinkage will diminish.
Improve accuracy
Whether you use barcode scanning or not, POS systems ensure that every item in your store or on your menu is sold for the correct price. Your staff will no longer have to guess the price of an item, and you can change prices with just one tweak in the computer.
Get better margins
You can get better magins by having a detailed sales report, focusing on higher-margin items would be cinch. By moving items within a retail location, or promoting under-performing foods in a restaurant, you can help boost sales of high-profit items.
Knowing your stats
You can easily know which of your products have been sold today, yesterday, last week or months ago, with the help of a POS systems. It can even tell how much money is in the cash drawer as well as how much of that money is profit.
Better inventory management
Detailed sales reports make it much easier for you to keep the right stock on hand. Track your remaining inventory, spot sales trends, and use historical data to better forecast your needs. The software can alert you to reorder when stocks run low. Because many store owners thinks that they know exactly what trends affects their business, they are mostly caught by a big surprise when they find out these data.
Building a customer list
Gather names and address of your best customers, you might never know when they’ll come in handy! You can use it for targeted advertising or incentive programs.
Reducing paperwork
POS systems can dramatically reduce the time you have to spend doing inventory, sales figures, and other repetitive but important paperwork. The savings here: time and peace of mind.
More efficient transactions
In retail settings, barcode scanners and other POS features make checkout much, much faster. Restaurants will find their order process greatly streamlined as orders are relayed automatically to the kitchen from the dining room. Either with these two, you’ll be delivereing a faster and more accurate service to your customers.
Keep in mind that realizing these benefits requires a commitment to utilizing the POS system capabilities to their fullest. Without proper training and analysis, any sophisticated POS system will be just another cash register with no special functionality.
Retail vs. Hospitality Needs
The POS market is divided into two segments with very different needs: restaurants, bars, and hotels and other retail operations and hospitality businesses.
Retail
Of the two groups, retailers have simpler POS needs. Their transactions are completed all at once, and there is often less variation in the types of products they sell. Because there are some POS features retailers that specifically want to include the ability to support kits (3 for deals), support for digital scales and returns/exchanges. A POS system that supports matrixes would best suit businesses that sells items of variety styles, such as shoes and clothes. For example, matrixes let you create one inventory and price entry for a particular sweater, but still track sales according to size and color.
Hospitality
Depending on the type of establishment, restaurants and other hospitality businesses have different requirements from POS systems.
Efficiency is the key focus for casual restaurants. For retail-style restaurants like sandwich shops, a POS system can greatly increase accuracy and cut down on time-per-transaction unlike with hastily-scrawled order tabs being passed to the kitchen. And for quick-service style restaurants, POS systems are practically a requirement for living up to their name: a customers’ order is entered on the terminal at the front which sends the order and displays them on a monitor at the food preparation area where the order is assembled and delivered to the appropriate customer.
For table-service restaurants and fine dining, POS requirements are somewhat different. They need a POS system that gives them the ability to create and store open checks, as parties order more over time, as well as track which staff is handling which table. With better management, comes better gains from improved efficiency. If your restaurant has 20 tables and has an average check of , it can increase turnover by one party per table, that is an extra 0 on a busy night.
Return of Investment (ROI)
Switching from a traditional cash register to a point of sale system can be difficult. There are many factors to consider and some pitfalls to avoid. However the return on investment and benefits to your business can really make it worth your time and effort.
Need more information or an online resource?
Go to POS-For-Restaurants.com
The author of this article is the Vice-President of Customer Relations at POS-For-Restaurants with over 20 years of experience serving restaurants of all types throughout the U.S.
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December 29, 2009
The Importance of Having Proper Restaurant POS Equipment - Part II
For the longest time, most people thought of their point of sale system as a fancy cash register. Since technology has become more advance and slowly becoming a necessity in the retail systems, several innovations have become a standard feature within the POS industry. Here are a few more:
1. Employee Scheduling. Some restaurant POS packages includes a “staff scheduling” feature. You can expect to increase efficiency and dramatically reduce overall labor costs by controlling time-ins and time-outs, utilizing forecasting tools and control staffing levels. This feature allows accessing staff schedule with ease, as well as shifts and multiple job positions. You are also able to tie in any number of security functions to multiple job position. In addition, some of the packages has a feature that allows you to post schedules to a website and even automatically email the schedule out to your staff. Keep your labor costs in check and increase employee performance by simply managing efficiently and effectively your time & attendance information.
2. Software Upgrade Assurance or SUA. SUA gives a bit different kind of advantage when you purchase a POS system. It enables you to prolong the usable life of your restaurant POS system and help stretch your investment. Customers who are on an SUA plan will always have the most current version of their POS software. This basically keeps their POS system new. Every time you receive a software upgrade it’s just like buying the latest and most current POS system in the market with the newest, most up to date features for your restaurant. The most current feature set ensures that you have the best possible ROI by allowing you to have full advantage of what its POS software features offer.
Another very important feature of SUA programs is that no software purchase is required if you upgrade or replace a hardware. If you need to replace hardware there’s a drastically lesser cost for upgrading it.
These programs typically works on a yearly small fee to get their benfits. Ma customers are satisfied receiving the huge benefits of this program that helps your business reap the full return on your POS investment.
3. Proper Tip Handling. Some point of sale software products have tip tracking built into their time in attendance module. Once a staff is set as a tipped employee, your POS system will require a tip declation before clocking out. Any server who ring sales will get their total sales tracked. Tips collected through credit card sales are also tracked and shown on the server closeout report. Before logging out, the server/waiter will be shown their total sales, the charge tips collected collected and then asked to declare their cash tips. By this, you will be able to track and manage smoothly all declared tips, charge tips and hours of work for every tipped employee.
4. Customer Loyalty Programs! As the business owner you would like your restaurant POS system to provide accurate customer information on their buying habits, number of visits, frequency of visits, entice repeat visits and purchases using reward programs. You are able to do all this while managing the programs and preventing “sweet hearting” by employees.
Some POS packages come standard with a frequent diner or customer loyalty package that does all these things and more. They utilize secure methods of tracking your guests and their buying habits. Establish a database of guest’s information with an account number. This number can be their phone number or any number system you desire. In what ever method you choose, the most popular and secured method is through magnetic cards with a logo of your business. These cards may act as a constant reminder of your restaurant by having your business logo in their wallet or purse. The POS software will secure the reward programs you put in place to prevent your employees from giving away food. Rewards are given only when earned through purchases, frequent visits or for items on your menu that you wish to highlight. Establishing reward programs takes your employees out of the game and place you in charge.
As you can see, there are so many ways to run your restaurant more efficiently by using restaurant technology. Back to basics next month..
Michael Cummings is Vice President of Customer Relations for POS-for-Restaurants.com. With over 20 years of restaurant experience, POS-for-Restaurants.com helps you use your technology to be more efficient and more profitable.
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