Features to look for in a POS system for your restaurant

If you are running a restaurant business, you will understand the problems you face while managing it because the restaurant, café, hotels, bars have different needs than other businesses. You have to make different decisions every day to make sure that the operations like menu decisions, staff management, POS management system and interior, etc work easily. So, you need to choose a point of sale (POS) software that can manage these tasks for you. organized operations are always good for business and you can achieve this by making some changes in your routine activities. Restaurant POS software gives you and your employee’s freedom to create a menu, manage inventory and kitchen, online reservations, employee timing, etc.

When you need to buy a right POS software for your restaurant, you shouldn’t run for the most expensive software in the market, you need to vet software available in the market and choose the one which works best with your restaurant. As the technology is evolving, Restaurant POS software’s are integrating modern technology in their software to better services to merchants. So here are some modern features of point of sale software which you need to look for when you going to choose POS software for your business –

1. Cloud-based POS technology –
   Every business owner these days wants to access their business data with a tap of hands. Weather he available in the restaurant or anywhere else. And that’s where the cloud-based technology comes because it is the hottest technology in the POS software these days. It doesn’t matter if you have a single restaurant or chains of restaurants because with this technology you can access all data at a single system. With the cloud-based technology, it is easier to store your restaurant data and secure it. Your POS software must be cloud-based because you can unlock some better features which will be essential for your restaurant daily operations. You will be able to access your data from anywhere on a smartphone or tablet. You will be able to check your employee’s attendance, their productivity, sales transaction. You can also check out your inventory stock there because all your data is in the cloud and safe. The best thing about the cloud-based system is you don’t have to pay more money and setup cost than traditional POS. you just have to pay a low monthly charge and you’re good to go.

2. Inventory Management –

   Inventory is the most important part of any business and for the restaurateurs, it is important to keep track of how much stock you have, food costs and how much profit you are making. To do all this every restaurant needs an inventory management tool in POS software. Every modern POS software’s are providing inventory management integrated with the software. With having an inventory management tool on your side, you can avoid running out of your food stock and order your stock on time. You can also organize your stock with different dishes, so you can track that which raw food got used in making which dish. It makes easier for you to track your waste food stock also.

3. Quality Reporting & Analytics –

   After all the hard work, the last thing you want to see the report and analytics of your restaurant and your POS software should have all the reports because it requires to run your business successfully. There are lots of things to check in the report to check the business performance like sales by time and day, employee performance, floor management, sales vs. labor cost, profits, etc are some. Although most restaurant management system has most of these features in their software, you need to make sure that your system includes everything you need to track your restaurant performance. Your data should be synced will your analytics tool, so you can access fresh insights to make decisions based on data and improve the bottom line of your restaurant. Before you want to start with an analytics tool, you should define some metrics in the software to get the best data.

4. Customers Loyalty & Feedback Management- 

   A restaurant POS system should have loyalty systems integrated with it. So, when a customer’s place orders, their redeemable loyalty points will show with the order. This is an essential part of a billing system in a restaurant and it should be compatible with the loyalty system. Because every restaurant wants its customers to repeat with them & they provide their customers with some reward points when they order with them. Most of the restaurant systems come with an integrated loyalty system. Feedback from the customers should be there on their profile to give staff to a better understanding of customers.

5. Accept all types of Payments –

   You never know how the customer chooses to pay you. Their preferred mode of payment could be always different, and the POS software you are looking should be able to accept different modes of payments like cash, digital wallets, credit/debit cards, UPI and any other modes of payments. Make sure that the billing system is updated with all the latest modes of payment.

6. Staff & Floor Management –

   Managing staff isn’t an easy job when you have to check in-out time, their work performance, etc. A POS system should have features for employee management, so it would be easier to track details about employees like their pin codes, track and adjust their hours worked, calculate employee overtime, monitor sales performance, and set security levels to protect the system. you can provide every employee with a different pin to use when they are at the work. You can also maintain their payroll system in the profile and monitor your accounts easily to deter theft issues and mishandling. Your software should be able to manage table reservations and floor. This will make easier for you to know which table is free and which is occupied, so you can easily make reservations for customers coming in or online table reservations.

7. Anytime Technical Support from POS Provider –

   You can’t deny the fact that having technical support from your restaurant POS provider is important. In the restaurant business, you know how bad it is when a system goes down. At that time, you’ll need continuous support from your provider by phone or chat. When choosing a POS system for your restaurant make sure that POS company provides 24/7 support.

Every restaurant owners know the problem they face while managing it and what they need to tackle all these problems, A POS software is the solution for management problems. So, any POS software you’re choosing should cater to all your needs and should have all these above features.