Increase Productivity And Customer Loyalty Long After You've Paid For Your System!

July 29, 2009 - PRLog -- Always getting undecipherable smeared order slips? Would you like to know for sure how much of each specific food item to to order tomorrow or next week - instead of just going by a best guess? Then you're prepared to make this valuable investment in your business.

A point of sale (POS) system can give you a new level of control over your restaurant operations, helping you increase efficiency, boost profits, and fine-tune inventory management. Transitioning from a traditional cash register using a paper-based order system to a restaurant point of sale system can be hard, but the result is a system that will pay for itself in a very short time then drop additional profit to your bottom line each month you use it.

Restaurant Computer systems - Buying Tips

•Prepare for the unexpected just at your busiest time. As with any point of sale system, you know that backing up your critical data is necessary. Talk to your vendor about automated backup schedules.
•Get organized. Preventative maintenance is important to ensure that you will get maximum usefulness of your equipment.
•If you don't like the heat... Remember that the heat in the kitchen can be enough to ruin thermal paper on their printers. Impact technology is a better option.
•Locate an experienced sales organizatioon. We recommend POS-For-Restaurants.com. Restaurants have very specific POS needs. POS-For-Restaurants can help you locate an experienced point-of-sale company in your area who is the best option for your restaurant.

What is a restaurant POS system?

A basic POS system is a glorified cash register, but more appropriate for your specific type of business. The typical restaurant POS station consists of a computer and cash drawer, a receipt printer, and a touch-screen monitor. Most restaurants have multiple stations like this, with additional component parts that are determined by the type of restaurant.

For retail-style restaurants like sub shops, POS systems often include printers in the food preparation area, eliminating the errors that can happen when hastily-scrawled orders are passed back to the kitchen. For quick-service restaurants, POS systems are practically a requirement for living up to their name: orders taken on terminals in the front are displayed on monitors in the kitchen, ready to be quickly assembled and delivered to the customer.

POS systems are usually designed with the differing aspects of running each type of restaurant in mind. These systems need to be designed alongside your menu and seating plan so enable them to communicate orders to the kitchen and bar, track reservations and seating, and handle transactions.

Fine dining POS systems typically include more stations: multiple server stations, a bar station, a hostess station, and printers in the kitchen than more basic POS systems. They also have more features - including the function to create and store open checks as well as tracking which server is responsible for which customers.

Restaurant POS benefits

POS systems can greatly reduce the amount of time your staff spends in the kitchen and speed up the order process. The efficiency gains can be impressive. If a restaurant with 20 tables and an average check of $45 can increase turnover by one party per table, that is an extra $900 on a busy night. Additional savings come from reduced economic losses: servers will be unable to offer complimentary food to friends without entering them into the system.

In addition to the direct cost savings, restaurant POS systems offer detailed reports that can help you make more informed business decisions. Sales reports help you better predict volume and schedule employees appropriately. Inventory reports that you can quickly understand help you order the proper ingredients at the proper time, reducing waste. And comprehensive reports let you immeditately identify which items are sellers, the items that generate the greatest profit margin, and which items you should eliminate.

For further information on proper restaurant POS system or to have a local POS professional serving the restaurant industry, you may visit http://pos-for-restaurants.com

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