Sometimes the concerns that arise about business operations can seem like moving targets. When orders are coming in fast, you and your staff are focused on customer service, quality, and accuracy. Maintaining those three performance factors alone takes a full-time commitment. Even when customers, and yes, your employees, keep coming back for more purchases, your job as an owner or manager is never done.
Supply chains have become increasingly affected because of the impact that COVID-19 is having on specific industries. The cost of pork has increased for restaurant suppliers, for example. Increased demand for industrial cleaning supplies, sanitizers, and related goods are new expenses business owners have to incur for now on. They put a strain on business operations and profitability, especially in industries that already operate on thin margins.
Your business can benefit from POS software because it can help you gain better oversight of customer satisfaction while increasing your workload to keep up with changing demands. Strong sales are great, but better oversight that leads to profit growth is even more desirable. A quick, in-depth analysis of various operations targets is enough to get any manager motivated about POS software benefits.
Cost Control and Stockroom POS Software Benefits
Cost control is the number one way that companies can ensure they can stay profitable. Businesses that can exhibit strong cost management usually need to borrow less often. They are more likely to get better rates and quicker approval based on how long they have been in business and their profitability when they do need a small business loan.
There are two categories of costs to consider: fixed and variable. Fixed costs are referred to as overhead, and are regular, expected expenses. Here are some typical fixed costs:
- Rent
- Insurance coverages
- Equipment
- Taxes (income tax, state tax, and local real estate tax)
- Utilities
Variable costs increase with a corresponding increase in the volume of products you sell. Here are some examples:
- Food
- Payroll
- Utilities
- Liquid Stock
- Dry stock
Cloud-based POS systems allow you to integrate all your costs into one business software platform. Quickly analyze, for example, how more to-go orders affect your total cost per plate. Quarterly results help you to decide whether you need to increase your menu prices to maintain your profits.
Stockrooms and storage spaces can be challenging to manage when you keep hundreds of items in stock. POS software benefits businesses that need a way to organize and log inventories of various types, including liquid stock.
POS software helps you better manage back-end operations such as reordering. They serve as good reminders on what products to review on your reorder schedule following monthly or quarterly inventory count.
Front-End to Kitchen Communications
The biggest challenge during daily restaurant operations is what orders get placed versus what gets prepared. When you have dine-in services but rely more heavily on food delivery services and to-go orders, the timing of food preparation needs as close attention as quality control. You don’t want to prepare to-go orders too far in advance because they’ll be cold by the time the customer gets them. The kitchen needs to be able to quickly ID the type of customer that’s ordering, and consider factors such as:
- Food allergies/specifications
- To-go and online orders
- Delivery services
- Dine-in
- Catering/corporate account orders
Payment method is another contributing factor for the service delivering front-end. You should be able to quickly ID the following:
- Did the customer pay?
- How did the customer pay?
- When did the customer pay?
- When was the order placed?
- When was it ready for the customer?
Streamlined Personnel Management
Restaurants used to require different software installations and a server to accomplish what today’s cloud-based software platforms can deliver. Touchscreen server POS systems allowed employees to log-in under their IDs, but they had limited functionality and reporting options. Modern tablet-based platforms allow servers to log-in from any device on the network. They also have multiple options for splitting up orders and food and drink modifications to give the customer a personalized experience.
Each employee can have his or her set-of permissions. They can track their:
- Work schedule
- Hours worked to date
- Sales and incentive goals
- Tips and wages
- Number of customers served
Employees don’t need to come to you with as many questions. They can find out more answers on their own as a POS software benefit. For you, that means more time analyzing reports for operational intelligence on how your business is doing and less time hand-holding.
Getting the Most Out of POS Software
talech has helped thousands of companies make the transition from legacy POS platforms to secure, modern cloud-based platforms for iPad. Just a few years ago, you needed multiple systems for a restaurant business. Frequently, the platforms didn’t “talk” to each other. People had to log-out of one system and log-in to the next to complete a set of tasks. talech has built most of what you will ever need for your business operations within one POS system, and can guide you through the decision making about your current accounting software, and how it will integrate with the new cloud-based platform.
When you partner with talech for your retail technology needs, we devote our time to identifying your business challenges. We help you use your POS software benefits to better-tailor your business to the needs of its customers and clientele. Reach out to us today to sign up for a demo and to learn more about how talech can be your valued POS partner.
