Restaurant Point of Sale - Earning More Than What You Expected!

Aug. 4, 2009 - PRLog -- Restaurant Point of Sale - Earning More Than What You Expected! - Part II
For the longest time, most retail business owners thought of their POS system as a fancy cash register. Since technology has become more advance and slowly becoming an essential part in the retail systems, many innovations have become standard features within the POS industry. Here are a few more:

1. Staff Scheduling. Many restaurant POS packages includes the feature "staff scheduling". You can expect to increase efficiency and dramatically reduce overall labor costs by controlling clock-ins and clock-outs, utilizing forecasting tools and control staffing levels. Integrated features allow for easy schedule access, unlimited shifts and multiple job positions for each employee. You are also able to tie in any number of security functions to a job position. In addition, some of the packages allow you to post schedules to a website and even automatically email the schedule out to your staff. Keep your labor costs in check and increase employee performance by efficiently and effectively managing your time & attendance information.

2. Software Upgrade Assurance (SUA). SUA gives you a distinct advantage when you purchase a POS system. You are able to help stretch your investment and prolong the life of your restaurant point of sale system. Customers who are on an SUA plan will always have the most current software version. Basically it's an advantage because it keeps their POS system new. Every time you receive a software upgrade it is as though they just bought the latest and most current POS system available with the newest, most up to date features for your restaurant. The most current feature set ensures that you have the best possible ROI by allowing you to take full advantage of the power the POS software offers.

Another advantage of having a SUA is that no additional software purchase is required for upgrading or replacing hardware. When hardware needs replacing there is a drastically reduced cost to upgrade.

Typically, these programs work on a yearly fee for you to acquire their benefits. Ma customers are satisfied receiving the huge benefits of this program that help reap the full return on their POS investment.

3. Proper Restaurant Tip Handling. Some of the POS software products includes a tip tracking feature. Once you set an employee as a tipped employee, the system will require tip declaration prior to clocking out. Servers and waiters who ring sales will have their total sales tracked. Tips collected through credit card sales are tracked and shown on the server closeout report. Prior to clock out, the servers or waiters will be shown their total sales, the charge tips collected and then asked to declare their cash tips. This functionality will help you enforce tip regulations and manage the tracking declared tips, charge tips and hours worked for every tipped employee.

4. Frequent Diner & Customer Loyalty Programs. As the restaurant owner you would like your POS system to provide accurate customer information on buying habits, number of visits, frequency of visits, entice repeat visits and purchases using reward programs. You are able to do all this while managing the programs and preventing "sweet hearting" by employees. Sweet hearting happens when an employee promises a deal to a customer in order to close a sale.

Some of the restaurant POS packages come standard with a frequent diner or customer loyalty package that eases things within your business. By expertly tracking down your customers and their buying habits, you can prevent retail loss. Establish a secure database of customer's information with an account number. This number can be their phone number or any number system you desire. However, the most popular and most secure method is through magnetic cards with your logo on them. These cards may act as a simple reminder of your restaurant to your customers by having your business logo in their wallet or purse. The software will secure the reward programs you set in place and prevent your staff give away food. Rewards are given only when earned through purchases, frequent visits or for items on your menu that you wish to highlight. By establishing reward programs takes your employees out of the game and puts you in charge of everything.

As you can see, your business can be run more efficiently by using proper restaurant technology. There are many ways, methods you can use, to help you in better business managing so you will never have to waste more of your valuable time and money.

The author is the VP of Customer Relations at POS-for-Restaurants.com. With over 20 years of restaurant experience, POS-for-Restaurants.com helping business owners you their technology to be more efficient and more profitable.

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