What is a restaurant POS System?

POS systems are a common sight in any shop, especially in the restaurants. In our previous post, we discussed what a POS system is and how it has evolved since its invention. In this article, let's take a look at what makes an restaurant specific POS system.

Why not just use a cash register?

A cash register serves its purpose well as a transaction point, is fairly simple to use and has a much lower price point than a modern POS system. You may be wondering, "can I just use a cash register?"

Yes, you could. However, cash registers do not have the features which you need to make your F&B business more productive. Here are some restaurant productivity-boosting features your restaurant POS should have.

Table management

One of the main requirements for a restaurant POS system is table management. Table management allows you to keep track of where your customers are seated and their orders. Without it, you would not be able to tell which tables are occupied and which tables to send your customers' orders to.

On top of that, to accommodate as many customers as possible, you may have to join and split tables. A good F&B POS system will enable you to do so, and keep track of it.

Docket/kitchen printing settings or Kitchen display system

Restaurants typically have big kitchens split into multiple kitchen sections. Your restaurant POS system should have flexible kitchen printing settings to allow you to send orders to their respective kitchen sections. Alternatively, your F&B POS system should be able to integrate a kitchen display system, a tablet-based solution to help your kitchen crews better manage orders preparation.

Modifiers, remarks, set menu configuration

It is not uncommon to have multiple variations of a certain dish to cater to your customers' taste. Hence, your restaurant POS system should come with the flexibility to create remarks, add ons, side dishes or even change an ala carte dish into a set meal, making it easier for you to manage your orders.

User-friendliness

The restaurant service crews are under constant pressure to work fast and be efficient. Fast order taking is a key component in maintaining a high table turnover rate and your POS system should not be the one slowing you down. Hence, the importance of a user-friendly order entry interface, where minimal clicks are needed to send an order.

A better solution to ordering efficiency is QR ordering, where your customers scan a QR code to browse your menu and place orders on their own, allowing you to get multiple orders at once instead of manually taking orders table by table.

Flexible billing options

A restaurant's billing may at times, be more complicated than a retail outlet's. Most restaurants have an order first, pay after meal billing flow. Thus, your F&B POS system should be able to hold the bill under its respective tables, until it is ready for billing.

There may also be requests from customers seated at the same table to split the bill. In such scenarios, your F&B POS should be able to bill customers for the specific dishes they ordered and provide receipts for their respective bills.

Recipe management

Inventory management is not only important for the retail industry, but also for restaurants. While it may be difficult to place specific quantities on ingredient consumption, you should be able to set close estimates on each ingredient consumption for a dish, so that whenever the dish is ordered, your ingredient inventory will be updated to provide you a rough estimate on when to stock up.

Consumables like plastic cups, straws etc, can also be tracked with recipe management, i.e. whenever a cup of cold has been ordered, a plastic cup and straw is deducted from your inventory.

Business reports

One of the main benefits of having a POS system over a cash register is business data. A restaurant POS system should help you to collect data related to your business and display them in meaningful reports to provide you with valuable insights into your restaurant business.

You should also consider a POS system with cloud-based reporting and backend like MEGAPOS. As your business scales, you may not have the time to be at your shop all the time. Therefore, having a cloud-based reporting and backend allows you to manage your restaurant and have valuable insights all at your fingertips, wherever you are.

Getting a POS system for your restaurant

If you are starting up an F&B business, or looking to get a POS system upgrade, drop us your contact below and we will be in touch to schedule a free demo to help you learn more about F&B POS systems!