Larger and robust POS solutions may at a glance appear to be overkill for smaller restaurants. This thinking rapidly changes when the time and task saving benefits of a complex POS system for a small restaurant are considered. Smaller restaurants often operate with significantly less financial resources, as well as fewer tables, reduced kitchen space, and limited storage facilities. This makes finding areas to gain efficiencies and cost reductions a top priority.
Small restaurant owners must consider matching the scale of their business to that of the innovative POS solutions being considered. While most functionalities and features are universal regardless of the size of your establishment, or the volume of sales, there are some features that are more crucial to smaller restaurants.
Understanding what these features are will allow examining potential POS solutions to be more productive. In turn, you will implement a POS platform that is a perfect match for the criteria you had in mind when your search first started. Keeping this short list of must-have features in mind will only trim your choices even further, allowing you to feel confident in the POS system you have selected to achieve greater margins without breaking the bank.
Utilizing Advanced POS Capabilities to Increase Staff Efficiencies
One of the most important driving factors for small restaurants is centered on the ability to make things work without the need for increased headcount. Maintaining a smaller payroll while not working your employees into burnout is possible thanks to recent developments in POS technology. Applying the appropriate POS functionalities that empowers your staff to achieve higher productivity will ultimately spell success for you.
Creating a synchronized operation from the time a customer arrives until they pay can be fully managed by a modern POS solution. Leveraging iPad tablets to allow servers to easily take orders and send them instantly to a kitchen display system (KDS) for fulfillment saves valuable time and gives you a highly precise ordering system. This increases the time that servers can interact with customers, and greatly reduces errors and time spent running to the kitchen and back.
Using tablets, namely iPads, presents you with space savings as well as costs. You no longer need a space-consuming hostess stand, nor do you need a hard-wired register and credit card reader station. Most tablet-based POS solutions can be equipped with card readers and configured to receive digital payments. Making things even easier, receipts can be digitally sent, or printer via a small Bluetooth printer tucked away out of sight.
Managing staff scheduling and performing payroll tasks become less time consuming and largely automated. Tips are easily monitored and correctly applied to the appropriate persons behind the scenes. Staff can clock in or out from their mobile phones, and even update their availability for enhanced scheduling convenience. This ends the days of scribbling names onto or off of a paper calendar come to an end, taking with it miscommunications that may lead to your being even shorter staffed.
Your POS Platform Must Provide Customer Enticing Features
Another distinct advantage of using iPad POS technology is the ability for your staff and your customers to utilize many of the same features. The flexibility and scalability presents you with nearly limitless options to be used in enhancing the customer experience. With space and resources at a premium, the reduced overall footprint of a tablet-based POS solution instantly gives your restaurant a cleaner, more open feel. This is perfect for helping customers feel more at home when dining with you.
The POS app that you can place on your restaurant iPads can also be utilized by your customers as well. This can allow them to view past ordering information, which helps to jog their memory about a particular upcharge item that made their day last year. Also, your server can view this same history to make accurate recommendations based on a customer’s past dining choices.
Using a POS platform that presents an app allows you to participate in an omni-channel business model. This empowers customers to pre-order a meal before their arrival, or to place a take order while they are traveling to you. A modern POS platform with these characteristics will also allow you to take advantage of the food delivery service craze, making services like DoorDash a revenue-generating gold mine.
Maximizing Inventory Controls Through the Use of Innovative POS Technology
Part of your selection criteria is going to revolve around introducing better inventory management controls. Small restaurant owners find this to be especially important, based not only on the limited space they have for stocking ingredients but also because a seemingly small mistake can have catastrophic results. Running out of ingredients for a popular menu item must be avoided, and so should seeing your freezer half full of an item that no longer sells.
Developing an inventory management strategy is greatly simplified with the integration of an all-in-one POS software solution. When this solution can easily match sales statistics to the ingredients needed, while providing concise reporting so you can see developing sales trends as they happen, the achievement of inventory greatness is in the palm of your hands. The innovative technology allows you full control over your inventory from the convenience of an app, largely eliminating those late nights counting inventory with a clipboard and pencil.
Get the Full Benefits of a POS System Using the Right Partner
Building a POS solution for your small restaurant doesn’t have to be an expensive or time-consuming project. In many cases, the integration of cutting-edge POS technology is a seamless transition that yields a rapid ROI. It is important to have done your homework ahead of time and to have developed a strategic plan that addresses all processes within your restaurant.
Achieving this can be done on your own, but why take the time and risk missing a vital element that prevents a successful introduction of POS technology into your restaurant? Engage a partner that is immersed in POS technology and can present a demonstrative understanding of the challenges small business owners face daily. Doing so not only gives you the best solution for your current needs but opens the door wide for future growth and expansion.
Giving expert advice around scalable POS solutions is what talech does best. We understand your need for a dynamic POS system, and will work with you to make your project successful with your budget in mind. We offer a wide range of mobile POS solutions to choose from, and we can help you select a system that fits the needs of your business. Contact us today to sign up for a demo and to learn more about how talech can be your expert POS partner.
