Why a Restaurant POS System Is So Important
Restaurants today need to provide excellent customer service in a fast-paced environment. A point of sale system is essential to being able to accept credit card payments and easily track customer orders. But those aren’t the only reasons restaurants need a POS system in order to thrive. The best merchant solutions for restaurants keep the business running smoothly and prevent potentially damaging issues. Here’s why a POS system is so important for restaurant owners.
Streamline Ordering and Checkout
Taking a customer’s order and delivering food in a timely, accurate way is the baseline for restaurant service. It can be a higher bar to meet than you’d think, though, if communication breaks down between the server and the kitchen. A point of sale system prevents that break, tying the order a server types into the POS terminal to the order that prints on the kitchen line. Handheld POS services like the Cloverflex take service to the next level. Servers use the wireless device to take orders, run credit cards, get a signature and print a receipt, all tableside. Entering the order directly into the POS system at the table reduces errors. Running payment in one visit to the table gets customers out the door and back to their day.
Prevent Loss
Like retail outlets, restaurants are susceptible to “shrinkage,” or lost products. A certain amount of shrinkage happens naturally in restaurant kitchens, when cooks trim a piece of meat or a batch of soup passes its expiration date. What’s not natural is shrinkage due to employee theft, a problem many restaurants face. Keeping a careful eye on your food and beverage inventory can prevent that type of loss. A point of sale system with inventory tracking features allows restaurant owners to get a handle on how much product they should and do have at a given time. If you notice something is missing when there aren’t sale records to justify it, you’ll know the loss is happening another way.
Accept Any Type of Payment
Restaurant customers want to be able to pay their bill with the method most convenient for them. Modern POS systems like the booker clover MINI and the Cloverflex accept options including debit cards, credit cards, chip-enabled or EMV cards, and contactless methods like Apple Pay. You’ll be able to process payments quickly and securely.
Anticipate the Rush
In addition to tracking inventory and accepting payments, a POS system can also organize your sales data and provide valuable insights to guide your business decisions. Review past sales records to identify trends. Learn which items sell best, so you’ll know how often to order more ingredients. Manage employee timesheets through the system to get a sense of who to schedule when. The more you know about the daily ebb and flow of your restaurant, the better you’ll be able to predict what’s next.
A point of sale system helps restaurants take customer orders, accept payments, prevent loss and gain valuable business insights. Look for a trusted vendor of merchant solutions to find the best POS system for your restaurant.
