Restaurants handle a high volume to cash and credit cards every day, which means a great POS system is a breath of fresh air for owners and bookkeepers. POS simply means “point of sale” and it generally refers to a computerized system used to manage your business. This can include everything from tracking sales to keeping track of inventory and generating easy-to-use reports, which will change the way you do business.
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Modern POS Makes hospitality Beautiful
Modern POS systems aren’t just in the “nice-to-have” column. They’re an essential part of running a successful business, because they reduce accounting errors, make payment much more convenient for both customers and staff, automate repetitive tasks like preparing the payroll, improve efficiency across your whole business, and increase security. Have we convinced you to upgrade yet?
Critically, when it comes to running a fast-paced restaurant, it also improves communications between front-of-house staff and the kitchen. This means orders go through correctly the first time, every time, optimizing workflows. Not only does this improve the customer experience, by ensuring the right food arrives on their table still steaming, but it reduces waste in food preparation.
And the benefits don’t finish there. POS systems can do all kinds of cool things, but loyalty cards and gift cards are undoubtedly at the top of the list. Rewarding your best customers doesn’t just improve their experience and increase the chance of a word-of-mouth recommendation, it keeps them coming back over and over again. Next time, they may even bring family or friends! It’s simple and easy to track loyalty and gift cards through a POS system, which means you can keep an eye on conversions.
Good POS Systems Make Good Business Sense
As a business owner, what percentage of your time do you spend picking your way through administrative tasks? And what percentage of your time do you actually spend running your business? The bigger your business gets, the more paperwork appears, meaning you spend more time in the office every day.
A good POS system can automate a lot of those mundane tasks. Automation can be an intimidating word – but no, it doesn’t mean the machines are taking over. In real terms, it translates to merely simplifying your processes. Take cash flow, for example. Counting it all up and calculating it manually is satisfying but time-consuming. Your POS system can take care of this for you, keeping a running tally of all incoming and outgoing money to provide an up-to-date status report.
The same goes for things like time tracking. No-one has time to sort through piles of paper timesheets anymore, so why not automate it? There is a range of different ways you can do it, from giving employees cards to swipe in and out, to implementing modern-day time cards in the form of a code each person enters to clock on and clock off every shift. This data is automatically included in your payroll preparation, meaning all you need to do is review and approve.
Choosing the Right POS System for Your Restaurant
There are many different POS systems available on the market, each with different advantages to suit different businesses. When it comes to restaurants, and the wider hospitality industry, we recommend a product called Clover. It combines all your day-t0-day management tasks into one system, ensuring everything runs smoothly.
Clover has many advantages. It’s fully customizable, both in terms of hardware and software solutions, so you can do things like setting up one central payment terminal with mobile terminals your team members can take directly to the tables. It also has an industry-leading selection of apps that integrate with existing systems and expand your capacity – for example, you can use apps to create floor plans of your restaurant so you can keep tabs on each table, or integrate directly with accounting software like QuickBooks to make bookkeeping a breeze.
It’s super flexible, accepting all types of payments, and most importantly, it has great analytics. This lets you know at a glance everything from your busiest times to your most popular dishes.
We said it at the start and we’ll stay it again: a great POS system will change the way you do business. It’s time to embrace all the benefits of modern accounting so you can focus on growing your business.
Ready to get started? Call our friendly team to discuss your options.