Will My Business Need A Restaurant Point of Sale (POS) System?
If you think your business can survive without a single restaurant POS system, then you’re dead wrong! Your restaurant cannot prosper without it. Why? Because today is a different world, people look for advancement, they want better service and quality food. So to keep up with your competitors you need to go with the flow.
* Point of Sale or POS
Is a type of system built for the restaurant and retail industry that can provide satisfaction to both the customers and owners. With a computerized system, it can allow business owners to track sales, cash flow, food inventory and helps simplify your bookkeeping effectively. Why it’s perfect for a restaurant: The high volume of cash and credit cards that pass through a restaurant each day make a POS system a necessary. POS systems doesn’t only keep track of your sales but it can also run useful programs the the ones that can process credit cards. This makes credit card swiping easier, faster and safer for both the customers and your employee. Servers are accountable for all their sales, and it is impossible to alter checks in the computer unless you have an access. This can eliminate employee theft.
* Benefits of a restaurant POS system
One benefit of a POS system is that it simplifies communications between the kitchen and the wait staff. Orders go through the computer sending it to the kitchen printer. Another great benefit of a restaurant POS programs is that it can track everything from food usage, to the most popular menu items. Because the POS system acts as a time clock, it can also help prepare payroll. It can save you a hefty amount of money in your bookkeeping department. Along with the daily operations of running a restaurant, your POS system can organize profit and loss statement and your sales tax.
* Any reasons NOT to use a restaurant POS system?
Your POS systems is still a computer, subject to all technological problems. If it crashes and you don’t have any back up, then you risk losing all your business documents, not just sales, but profit and loss statements as well as your payroll statements. All the important documentation that the IRS may want to examine some day. So, always have a backup.
* Do you need a warranty extension?
Remember all that money you saved on bookkeeping?
Records of your financial transactions using a convenient POS system? You may end up spending it on your tech guy, to help set up the POS and perform any trouble shooting. A POS system don’t have the same usable life span as good old fashioned cash registers. The time will come that you may need to replace its parts, software and eventually purchase a new model. New POS systems come with limited warranties and tech support, but just like every other POS equipment, the problems always seem to starts after the warranty has run out. For these kinds of problems, you can always buy extra tech support for your POS systems.
* Looking for some of the most popular popular software providers?
Here are some of the great POS software providers.
• Aldelo
• POS Digital Dining
• POSitouch
• Radiant Systems
• Squirrel Systems
If you are planning a very small operation, such as bread or a sweets shop, you may not need a POS system at first, especially if you aren’t going to take credit cards (and there are plenty of places that still don’t accept credit cards). However, if you have dreams of expanding or franchising, then you may want to figure in the purchase of a POS into your opening costs.
About the Author
The author of this article writes for POS-For-Restaurants.com, a VP of Customer Relations with over 20 years experience in restaurant point of sale system, helping restaurant owners nationwide increase their efficiency and bottom-line profits.
You may visit POS-For-Restaurants.com for more information on how our national network of restaurant point of sale experts can help your business achieve greater success in these difficult economic times.
Restaurant, Pizza Franchise, For Sale, Established, Central Ontario