Profit is crucial to any business as it impacts your future. Running a financially successful restaurant requires more than just good food, so many factors, internal and external, can lead to lower profits, but how can they be analysed to become helpful to your business?
A POS system is technology that has revolutionised the cash registers.
‘Point of Sale’ systems complete retail transactions by…
- Calculating the amount to be paid
- Indicating amount for employee and customer
- Prepares invoices
- Offers multiple forms of payment to the customer
The best restaurant POS systems, not only make transactions quicker and easier, but it can largely improve efficiency and accuracy within your restaurant, enhancing operations.
Employee Management
Staff are of utmost importance to a business, as they are the face the customers see and interact with and ensuring employee productivity and efficiency is one of the most important missions to carry out with your business.
– Costs
Many businesses have clocked in/out systems to monitor when their staff start and finished work to give accurate pay, however, some employees can take advantages of this system, causing a rise in costs due to these inaccuracies, lowering overall profits.
With a POS system, each sale is recorded and informs you which employees made each sale, giving more accurate insight as to when employees finished working and spending smaller amounts on employee pay.
– Theft
This monitoring of each sale can also avoid employee theft, as the system would highlight the individual responsible.
This is very common in restaurants as staff take advantage of their access to food, drink etc. This causes inventory costs to rise.
– Self-Evaluation
A POS system will also allow employees to monitor their performance and establish where they may need to improve. This self-evaluation can motivate staff and increase overall productivity which is always beneficial for a business, especially when the business deals with the public, better customer service and quicker/more accurate service will leave customers satisfied.
Customer Service
– Faster Paying
Thanks to the boom on online shopping and fast-food, customers now expect a flawless and speedy retail experience. Their satisfaction is of utmost importance as they keep your business going.
A POS system can give impatient customers a quick and easy paying experience, a positive way to end their experience. Human error is also minimised, enhancing accuracy all contributing to a happy customer and increase their chances of returning.
– A multitude of Payment Options
A POS allows customers to have options as to how they pay, preventing them any inconvenience when it comes to paying.
Cash, debit card, credit card, mobile pay etc. This diverse system eliminates the possibility of losing customers due to limited options, such as only accepting cash or a few debit cards.
The more convenience provided to customers, the more satisfied they will be.
Inventory
– Reduce waste
POS systems allow your business to determine which food is always popular and which are often thrown away. This will allow you to alter inventory orders in regards to what is used within the business and save money on food that is not used and reduce money wasted on food that ends up in the bin.
– Time-Efficient
Inventory monitoring can be very time consuming and so most businesses do not do so effectively. As well as taking a long time, it can be subject to human error when completed by staff. But when a POS is used, the system can quickly and accurately analyse misused, wasted, stolen or soiled inventory to minimise costs and optimise profits.
Personal Business Insights
– Popularity
Restaurants are rarely busy all seven days of the week and those slow days can sometimes cost more than they make.
A POS system can help analyse a pattern as to which days aren’t bringing in profits and allow you to alter decisions based on the data, easily determining your slow days.
You could choose to close the restaurant on a particular night or even introduce a special deal/promotion to encourage customers to eat out to boost profits on quiet nights.
– Personal Touches
Like a cash register, a POS system will provide receipts, but also allow businesses to add a personal message to the end of their receipts. This message could be the company logo/name or even special deals and money off to encourage them to return.
