How to Use a POS System in a Restaurant

POS system is an indispensable part of every restaurant business. It has come a long way from massive stationary cash registers to a mobile system. Today cloud POS system for restaurants has much more advantages due to the functionality offered by the system’s suppliers. But it’s important to know all the possibilities that can be given to your business. Cloud automation system is like a whole team of specialists working behind the scenes and making sure that everything goes according to plan, quickly and efficiently. Today every business owner has the ability to track sales, manage bookkeeping, inventory and monitor other business processes using a reliable POS system, which is much simpler, easier and faster.

Let’s take a closer look at the main functions of restaurant POS systems.

High level of data security

You can set up the selective access to the management console. For example, your accountant may see the financial data he needs for reports, but editing the menu, general system settings, and other functions won’t be available to him. This increases the confidentiality of your business data. Every waiter, barman or barista must have his own PIN code to enter the application. You decide which of them will have the access to financial operations, closing shifts, etc. Also with the cloud system, your data will always be secure on the remote server.

Fast order taking

Most of the restaurant POS software support iOS, Android and Windows devices like tablets and laptops, so the speed of orders processing significantly increased. The waiter can take the order on a tablet or a monoblock and instantly send tickets to the printer in the kitchen. In this case, the order will be immediately accepted for work and the client will receive his dish faster. Some automation systems have the function of transferring information directly to a large monitor, TV or a tablet placed in the kitchen. For example, Poster has an addition to the mobile POS system – the KitchenKit. The application works on every Android device, for example on a console with output to a large TV or printer. Orders are prepared even faster, waiters get a notification that dish is ready, customers are satisfied and the owner gets more profit.

Staff control

POS system allows you to control the work of your staff. The system tracks when the waiter has opened and closed his shift and displays all the money transactions that have been conducted during his work. You can view the statistics of each employee by average check, the day of the week or time of the day.

Creating a menu

POS system allows you to keep track of ingredients, create dishes and divide them into convenient categories. You can add the processing methods for each ingredient, then the gross and net weight will be calculated automatically. The chef of your restaurant or cafe can once set up a menu, and other staff will follow the instructions. For waiters is very convenient, when the menu is divided into categories and each of them has its own color and image. For example, instead of scrolling through the menu searching for lemonade, the waiter can go to the section “cold drinks” and quickly find the position he/she was looking for.

Financial management

After applying POS system to your business, you will always be aware of every part of your finances. You will have full control over the incomes and expenses of the cafe, cash register data, collection and much more. So that you won’t lose a single dollar. The actual data: revenue, the number of checks, the average check of a certain dish, category, waiter, or client, are available in real time in the management console.

Inventory

Inventory is a “must have” function to prevent theft in the restaurant. Long tables in Excel are in the past. POS system in a convenient form shows information about deliveries, write-offs, expenses, and balances for the inventory period. If your cafe has several storages, you can make an inventory just for the storage you chose. If the actual data is different from the balance calculated by the program, you will see the difference in quantity and in money. By setting up notifications for critical stock leftovers that will come to you by email, you’ll never miss the order in a new supply, and your kitchen will not be idle.

All this functions will be incredibly useful for your business, but not all vendors can offer you a complete list. Try to find the POS system that will provide you with the full range to make your restaurant more successful. We hope this article has improved your knowledge in restaurant POS system and helped to make a right decision for your business!

Good luck!