Anil Kondla
Last Updated on July 6, 2024 by Team Experts
Are you struggling to manage your restaurant’s operations?
Managing accounts, orders, staff payroll, inventory, bookings, and menus all by yourself can be quite exhaustive. Plus, you also need to have an efficient billing system, a financial reporting process and Kitchen Display Systems (KDS). These are just the tip of the iceberg. You need a whole well-connected tech system to effectively run your restaurant.
While it seems like a lot on your plate to take in, getting a POS system is the way to go.
POS systems have become a necessity for restaurants nowadays. From unifying your offline and online payments to bringing data from the back of the house to servers and managers at the front, the POS system is transforming the way you manage your restaurant business.
An ideal restaurant POS system is one that simplifies your restaurant operations and frees you from unnecessary workload to focus on what’s important – serving your customers better.
This blog outlines how you can use a POS system in your restaurant to boost its productivity and efficiency.
What Is A Restaurant POS System?
A POS or Point Of Sale system is simply a system made for restaurants to accept customers’ payments. It is simply a system that accepts debit card, credit card, UPI, or QR code payments from customers.
In simple words, your POS is where your customers pay for your services. It can be at the reception, table, or even online at the time of reservation.
In a traditional setting, the payment was accepted at the reception and tracked via a register. But times have changed now. Plus, with the advent of online payments and online order services, you need a system that can facilitate, track, and monitor all your online and offline payments under one umbrella.
The best thing about these modern POS systems is that they come with features that enable you to manage your inventory, table bookings, financial reporting, sales, staff attendance, and payroll.
So, if a customer asks to clear the bill at the table or garden area, you can use a handheld POS device. They can also pay with a card or cash at the reception. Further, because everything is interconnected, the customer can book their room or table and pay in advance online too.
In addition to all these, you can manage your employees, run a loyalty program, track online orders & deliveries, and analyze reports all in one place.
To sum up, a POS system takes the burden off the shoulders of the restaurant owner. Thus allowing them time and resources to give quality customer service and look for opportunities for business expansion.
How You Can Use A POS System For Your Restaurant Business?
In restaurants nowadays, POS is the central processing system for managing everything.
However, here are the top 8 things you can do with your POSY system at the restaurant.
Fast ordering and delivery needs
With a POS system, you can take orders quickly. Whether it’s taking direct orders at a table, at self-service kiosks, or online, you can accept, track, and manage all orders efficiently in one place.
This reduces the wait times for customers and gives your staff extra time to serve them.
Managing the accounts
Managing payments in this digital age can be tiring. Sometimes cards are declined, online payments get stuck and worse, customers ask to split the bills.
However, with a restaurant POS system, you can converge all your payment gateways into one system and track everything together. Whether it’s card payments, online banking, UPI, cash, or bill splits, you can do all of them within your POS system. Plus, you can track tips too.
Generating reports
Data is the new gold. Modern POS systems also help you process data and generate reports so that you can get insights into your sales and other analytics.
You can even analyze the sales numbers by time of day, menu category, and weekdays. Plus, you can easily identify your popular dishes, busy time periods and more.
This equips you to optimize your menu and allocate staff to manage the restaurant better.
Staff management
Managing your staff will take a toll on you if you don’t have a system for it.
You will have servers, managers, receptionists, chefs, cleaning people, gardeners, bartenders, and other staff at your restaurant. Monitoring all their work hours and salaries is a herculean job.
However, with a POS system, you can track their attendance, register work hours, manage work schedules, and handle payrolls effortlessly.
Payout management
A POS system can also help you manage server and delivery driver payouts.
The system can automatically calculate the server payouts based on your pre-set rules. You can set a fixed percentage of sales, a flat rate per hour/ shift, or a combination of both.
Plus, you can also manage server tips with the POS system. This eliminates the manual time-consuming process and avoids potential calculation errors.
If you have delivery drivers on your payroll, you can use the POS system to process their GPS data for mileage calculation. This comes in handy to calculate their mileage-based compensation.
Additionally, you can also allocate a fixed portion of your order amount or delivery fee to driver payouts.
The best thing is that you can automate the driver payment calculation and processing within your POS system on your terms.
Inventory management
A restaurant POS system can track your inventory levels in real time, allowing you to reorder supplies before they run out. This helps to prevent stockouts and ensures that you always have the ingredients you need to fulfill orders.
Every time an item is sold or used in a recipe, the POS system automatically updates inventory levels. This eliminates the need for manual counting and provides a constantly refreshed picture of your stock.
You can track how much of each ingredient is used in recipes and compare it to actual sales data. This helps identify areas where food waste might be occurring and allows you to optimize recipe portions or purchasing decisions.
Plus, you can also create purchase orders directly from the POS system based on real-time inventory levels and pre-set reorder points. This streamlines the ordering process and reduces the risk of overstocking.
Further, you can also track the cost of goods sold, recipe costs, and menu planning with your POS.
Menu management
Menu management is not only about launching new dishes and replacing the old ones in the menu pamphlet.
At the backend, a lot happens with the inventory and recipe costs to add a new dish to the menu.
However, a POSY system simplifies and automates this process by enabling you to easily create, edit, and update your menu.
This includes adding new items, changing prices, and managing seasonal offerings. Plus, you can also use the POS system to display your menu on tablets or kiosks for customers to browse.
Table management
Table reservations, birthday bookings, and banquet hall management create havoc if you don’t have a proper system in place.
With a POS system, you can create a digital floor plan of your restaurant and track the status of each table (available, occupied, reserved, etc.). This helps to improve table turnover and seating efficiency.
Also, you can manage your banquet hall reservations with your POS system. You can show the slots for which your banquet hall is open for bookings and those that have already been booked on your portal.
This streamlines the entire process and avoids confusion, false promises made by staff, and overbooking.
Conclusion
A POS system is a powerful tool for managing your restaurant. But you cannot choose any POS system on the market.
You should consider factors like your restaurant’s needs, the features of the POS system, and your budget when making a final decision. Make a list of the best restaurant POS systems that suit your needs. Then research and compare all the systems based on their features, ease of use, pricing, and customer reviews.
Some POS providers also offer free trials. So, you should consider getting a demo before you pay for it.
An ideal POS system is one that empowers your operations, streamlines processes, and helps you run a more profitable business.
