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A Restaurant POS System (or Point of Service System) could be any restaurant POS equipment, hardware and software combined which is the the equivalent of an electronic cash register, used to process a transaction. A restaurant has many factors which makes the whole business function effectively. A POS terminal is used to secure customer payment as well as accelerate the sales transaction. POS (Point of Sale) means the transaction point with a customer.

For a restaurant, there are lots of moving parts that’s involved for it’s performance. Having a restaurant POS system for managing staff attendance and performance, inventory, accounting and customers’ details, helps any retail business owner improve his business’ performance. How? A restaurant POS software has powerful features that can ensure the safety of your profit, and better employee and customer management.

Customer Satisfaction Increases Profit

Customer satisfaction is an important factor for a restaurant and any other retail establishments, by meeting your customers’ expectations on your products or services, you’ll get a higher chance of customer return. Repeat customers are your most profitable as they are more likely to recommend your business to others! So your job, as the owner, is to make sure your employees are properly and accurately giving orders, give assistance to customers and make an overall good performance all the time. With the use of a POS software, the ones with touch screen technology, decreases ordering time by 50% and increases ordering accuracy.

Because every retail businesses’ goal is to increase their profit, many retail POS system vendors have developed new systems that can produce excellent results like the POS systems that enables you to integrate your accounting software such as QuickBooks and Peachtree. With a POS software like these, you can rest assured that all your financial data will be up to date, accurate and can even print sales report on any POS terminal just with the touch of a button!

Improving inventory management is really difficult. Manually handling and updating your inventory sure is tiring, time consuming and costly! It’s really difficult job for any restaurant owner. By installing a POS software that can help accelerate inventory management, you will see and increase in efficiency with its advance management features, you can place any information with the items as well, such as purchase date or date of expiry, you will never have to back to manual system ever again.

Proper ordering system. Placing an order should have the right timing, ordering too late can cause you to loose an available item, order too soon can cause a risk of the item going bad. Installing automated inventory management enables you to increase the efficiency of your products orders, set a special alert to notify you and your employees when you’re about to run out of products and the ones that needs immediate re-ordering, as well as setting up notifications to alert you when expiration dates are nearing. So if your restaurant still doesn’t have POS software for inventory management the time is now to do so.

Having Restaurant POS Solutions Fights Leakage

Decrease shrinkage up to 10% by having a dependable restaurant POS solution to back back up your business. Since all data is digitally recorded, you can easily view reports, see every sales transaction made by your employees, and check if it’s accurate. This way, you can also ensure an easier way to investigate profit loss.

The information I gave you is just the introduction of what a restaurant POS systems is and the advantages of having a POS software installed. I suggest getting advice and online support before purchasing any POS terminal, since it can really cost you a lot if you buy the wrong point of sale system. You may also request for a free POS system quote where suppliers serving your area can send you their competitive price lists.

For more information or to have a local POS professional serving the restaurant industry in your area help you go to POS-For-Restaurants.com

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Spam e-mails are not just annoying, they are also time consuming, but they’re also becoming more dangerous to you and the security of your computer.Think twice when you’re about to open e-mails from unknown senders, especially if you’re using a computer from the office where all your important documents are kept. Thousands of computer users and restaurant owners are getting spoofed by spam e-mails every year, forcing them to pay huge fees to clean and restore their computer POS systems back to working order.

Here are the 3 computer dangers you must be aware of:

1. An increase in hijacked and spoofed e-mail addresses. Spammers have found new ways to make it appear as though their spam e-mail is coming from YOUR computer. This can cause your connection to the internet be be temporarily terminated or put on hold by your service provider - without you even knowing it. That is why a good spam blocking software must be used not only to block inbound spam, but also unauthorized outbound spam from your serves.

2. Spam e-mails with viruses attached to them. Accidentally open a virus-infected spam e-mail and you can end up with big problems ranging from the slowing of your system to more serious threats such as system crashes, data loss, identity theft, endless popping of unapproved sites, and more.

3. Phishing spam. A phishing e-mail may appear to be a legitimate e-mail from websites you know, trust and use their service - commonly from banks. The purpose of this is to trick you into giving confidential information such as bank accounts, social security numbers, passwords, and credit card information. You’ve probably already received a PayPal or bank spam e-mail that said your account was going to be closed unless [you verified your information|e-mails from banks you don't use, or even from Paypal, that notifies you to verify your account in order to continue using their service|e-mails from banks you don't use, or even from Paypal, that notifies you to verify your account or else they will close it]. It will then direct you to a very convincing web site where you input certain information the spammer is trying to glean. In reality, this is a malicious third party that is going to use your information to open credit card accounts, access your account, steal money, and cause you other major identity and financial problems.

What to do to prevent this?

Above all, install a sam blocking software as this will serve as your first line of defense, and make sure it’s a good one.

Many retail business owner over look into this, so their restaruant POS system pays the price.

Next, you want to make sure you don’t get included on a spammers list in the first place. The moment your e-mail gets listed on a spammer’s list, it will stay there forever and possibly get sent to more spammers; and changing your e-mail address is a big hassle especially if you’re using it to stay in touch with important business and personal contacts.

The following are some advices that can help you protect your e-mail from getting listed on a spammer’s list:

1. Using a disposable e-mail address.

Using a free e-mail address like with Yahoo or Gmail can reduce the chance of ending up on a spammer’s list. If you want to avoid ending up on a spammer’s broadcast list, always use free e-mail accounts whether it’s Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail it’s never a waste of time registering for them.

2. Never forget to double-check those tick boxes that automatically opt you in.

Better make sure you don’t check the box that says “Yes! I would like other companies to send me their offers.” when you go shopping online. Chances are, your e-mail address will not only be sent to other online advertisers but to spammers as well.

3. Don’t post your primary e-mail address on your web site, web forums, or newsgroups.

Spammers uses a special program that can collect e-mail addresses from web sites without your permission. If you want to post an e-mail address on your web site or business blog, then you better use “info@” and have all replies will be forwarder to a folder in your in-box that won’t interfere with your main address.

4. Refrain yourself from replying on obvious spam e-mails.

Doing so, signals the spammer that your e-mail address is active, and they’ll send you more spam e-mails.

The only time it is safe to click on the opt-out link or reply to the e-mail is when it is sent by a company you know or do business with (for example, a company that you purchase from or a newsletter you subscribed to).

For more information or to have a local POS professional serving the restaurant industry and your location see more information at POS-For-Restaurants.com.

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Less purchases can have as dramatic an effect on your retail or hospitality business as a point of sale (POS) system. Let our experts show you how you can take control of your business and increase your profits.

Take Control of Your Business

The right POS system can lift you up to a new level of control over your operations, it helps fine-tune your business model, boost your profits, as well as your efficiency. A wrong system is like wasting valuable time and money for your business, it can even be a source of ongoing frustration.

In other terms, your POS system is a glorified cash register! The most basic POS system which consists of a computer, a cash drawer, receipt printer, a monitor, and an input device such as a keyboard or scanner. In addition to being more efficient than a regular cash register, POS systems are able to create detailed reports which can help you in making decisions.

POS systems saves money, provide productivity gains, and can cut down the amount of time you spend away from the primary focus of your business.

Save money, gain more control over your business, and be more productive; sounds like a great combination, right? Here are some of the ways a modern point of sale system can help your business.

Eliminate shrinkage

A computerized POS system can drastically cut down on shrinkage, can be from a missing inventory to theft, waste and misuse of your employees. And since your employees will know that inventory is carefully tracked, internal shrinkage will dwindle.

Accuracy

Whether you use barcode scanning or not, a POS system will ensure that every item in your store or on your menu is sold for the correct price. Your staff will no longer have to guess the price of an item, and prices can easily be change with a single click of the mouse.

Getting margins

You can get better magins by having a detailed sales report, focusing on higher-margin items would be cinch. By moving items within a retail location, or promoting under-performing dishes in a restaurant, you can help boost sales of high-profit items.

Know where you stand

You can easily know which of your items have been sold today, yesterday, last week last month, and so on, with the help of a POS systems. It can even tell how much money is in the cash drawer and how much of that money is profit.

Better inventory management

Knowing what stocks you need to keep on hand can easily be tracked with the helps of a detailed sales report. Track your remaining inventory, spot sales trends, and use historical data to better forecast your needs. Your POS software can be set to alert you when when stocks run low so you can reorder for them. Because many store owners thinks that they know exactly what trends affects their business, they are mostly caught by a big surprise when they find out these data.

Building a customer list

Collecting names and address of your regular customers may come in handy in the near future. You can use this list for targeted advertising or for announcing incentive programs.

Reduce paperwork

POS systems can dramatically reduce the time you have to spend doing inventory, sales figures, and other repetitive but important paperwork. The savings here: time and peace of mind.

Efficiency in transactions

In a retail settings, you can make checkouts quicker by using a barcode scanner and other POS features. Restaurants will find their order process greatly streamlined as orders are relayed automatically to the kitchen from the dining room. Either with these two, you’ll be delivereing a faster and more accurate service to your customers.

You have to keep in mind that these benefits requires you to commit using your POS systems’ capabilities to their fullest. Without proper training and analysis, any sophisticated POS system will be just another cash register with no special functionality.

Retail needs vs. Hospitality needs

Since there are two segments when it comes to the POS market, they require different needs: retail operations and hospitality businesses like restaurants, bars, and hotels.

Retail

Of the two above, retails are the ones who needs simpler POS. Because they often use less variation in the types of products they sell and process transactions all at once. Some POS features retailers may specifically want include the ability to support kits (3 for deals), returns and exchanges, and support for digital scales. A POS system that supports matrixes would best suit businesses that sells items of variety styles, such as shoes and clothes. As an example, matrixes gives you the ability to create one inventory and price entry for a particular sweater, but can still track sales according to size and color of the sweater.

Hospitality

Depending on the type of establishment, restaurants and other hospitality businesses have different requirements from POS systems.

Efficiency is the main focus for casual restaurants. For sub shops and other retail-style restaurants, POS systems that relay inputted orders cut down on time-per-transaction and reduce the errors that can happen when hastily-scrawled orders are passed back to the kitchen. For quick-service restaurants, a POS system would be required in order to live up to their name: a customers’ order is entered on the terminal at the front which sends the order and displays them on a monitor in the food preparation area where the order is assembled and delivered to the appropriate customer.

For table-service restaurants and fine dining, POS requirements are somewhat different. They need a POS system that gives them the ability to create and store open checks, as parties order more over time, as well as track which server is handling which table. The efficiency gains from better management can be impressive. If a restaurant with 20 tables and an average check of can increase turnover by one party per table, that would be an extra 0 on one busy night.

Return of Investment (ROI)

Switching from a traditional cash register to a computerized POS system can be difficult. There are many factors to consider and some pitfalls to avoid. However the return on investment and benefits to your business can really make it worth your time and effort.

Need more information or an online resource?

Go to POS-For-Restaurants.com

The author of this article is the Vice-President of Customer Relations at POS-For-Restaurants with over 20 years of experience serving restaurants of all types throughout the U.S.

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Making Sure Your Point Of Sale Equipment Is Secured

On credit card commercials, we can see a line of dancing shoppers merrily swiping their credit cards, from store to store, and exalt how convenient it is to use, they don’t stress out the very real threat behind the cash register.

The director of embedded solutions for Solidcore (www.solidcore.com), Monica Chauhan, a leading provider of real-time change control software, cites Gartner Group statistics showing that four out of five data breaches occur at Point of Sale systems.

Lock It Down

“These point-of-sale systems can be vulnerable to exploitation if not properly locked down,” Chauhan says. “For decades, embedded devices consisted of specialized hardware running proprietary software, but in recent times, there has been a shift towards standardization, such as Unified Point of Sale (UPoS) in the retail industry.”

Chauhan have also observed that the standardization has enabled devices to become increasingly interconnected , allowing the use of off-the-rack software on commoditized hardware running commercial or open operating systems (OS) like Windows XP Embedded, WEPOS (Windows Embedded for Point of Service), as well as Linux.

Chauhan also included, the security risks for POS equipment owners was accompanied by greater system flexibility and quicker development time of these equipments.

Vulnerable Systems

The CEO of Trustwave (www.trustwave.com), Robert J. McCullen, a security firm specializing in information security and compliance management solutions, agrees with Chauhan that many but not all POS systems are vulnerable to exploitation.

“A little dial-up swipe machine is a low-risk device,” McCullen says. “POS equipment more prone to vulnerable exploitation are those that are computer-based and/or have Internet access; the risk lies in those two prime factors.”

One other thing, McCullen said that if a POS system stores credit card track data, exploitation can occur, and the swipe terminals can be exploited through tampering.

In general, as McCullen explained, only low risk exploits can experienced with hardware swipe terminals, instead a higher risk of tampering, and thus the tampering will allow hackers to read the cards, whether through a Bluetooth device used later to get the card data or other efforts in retrieving the information.

Chauhan points out other vulnerabilities. She claims that because today’s POS systems are similar to networked PCs, they require constant patching. She included that embedded systems have also become susceptible to attack through changes that are unauthorized and inappropriate as they are handed off to others in the distribution channel. Results of this can cause malfunctions to the equipment and may even loose their PCI DSS (PCI Data Security Standard) requirements.

PCI Data Security Standard Challenges

Chauhan and McCullen both agreed that Point of Sale equipment faces some unique challenges when complying with the PCI DSS.

PCI DSS requirement 5 states that a regularly updated antivirust software must be used, according to Chauhan. The ativirus software can be very high overhead on a low POS system, she notes; by contrast, the need for an antivirus software can be eliminated with a change control software.

As an example, the NEC Infrontia installed a change control software on its POS offerings whein it prevented unauthorized code from breaking unpatched systems. With this software, NEC Infrontia was able to remove the antivirus software that affects the performance of their devices, according to Chauhan.

With the PCI DSS Requirement 6, developing and maintaining a secure system and application is a must. It also presents unique challenges, Chauhan notes.

It’ll be a very challenging on the part of POS equipment providers to ensure their systems will supply the PCI compliance after shipping them to the dealer network and put into production at the retail location.

One of the large suppliers of technology and POS systems for independent grocers and small chains, StoreNext (www.storenext.com), have solved their problems with PCI DSS Requirement 6 by embedding Solidcore change control in its systems.

StoreNext was able to reduce the amount of time they spend on monthly test and patch distribution cycles by reducing its patch frequency to quarterly. The PCI auditing requirement can be met through change control software, claimed Chauhan.

Other difficult areas include data encryption and user-based access controls, McCullen states.

Any Questions?

For more information and advice on this topic you can quickly contact a Restaurant Point of Sale professional serving your area.

The author of this article is the Vice President of Customer Relations at www.POS-For-Restaurants.com with over 20 years experience in the restaurant point of sale industry.

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In the not-too-distant past, controlling labor in a food-service establishment was mostly an instinctive process. Having an effective labor control meant by being able to manage employees during a rush to keep an ongoing operation and send them home as quickly as possible when the rush is over.

Restaurant managers kept track of business from previous weeks in order to make projections of future sales, and then, with extreme effort, converted those numbers into an employee schedule. The success or failure of those efforts was determined at at night when the restaurant closes, the manager sat down with a stack of time cards and calculated the day’s labor percentage.

However, those days are no longer with us thanks to a restaurant point of sale system which has taken over many of the functions a restaurant manager used to do by hand.

With the minimum wage set to rise to .25 over the next few years, operators are looking for every tool they can find to keep labor costs under control.

Jim Phillips the general manager of a Pizza Inn restaurant, tracks labor throughout the day via the store’s POS system. Phillips uses a POS from Pixel Point.

“I check my labor cost every 45 minutes when I’m in the restaurant,” Phillips said. Just by simply clicking on a POS terminal, you can easily see where your labor stands or check on your hourly stats.

With a restaurant POS system, you can view forecasted sales, actual sales and a variance between the two. It can even show scheduled hours versus actual hours for convenience.

Since the system can tell you everything you needed; the number of dine-ins or buffets, you can have more time making future plans. It can even give your supervisor, kitchen staff and assistant’s hours all in a breakdown.

An extra pair of eyes

Other POS reports show labor trends over time, with this owners or district managers can track labor cost manager performance shift-to-shift, said Jennifer Wiebe the marketing manager of Speedline Solutions. This system also provide detailed reports on manual editing of time clock reports where potential abuse can easily be spotted.

You can even use the detailed information provided by time clock reports for labor board reviews of attendance-related employee terminations.

And by the end of the day, a system such as Phillips’ can generate payroll- and employee-information export files to integrate with above-store accounting systems or third-party payroll services.

It can also assist managers when assigning staff shifts by the forcasted sales report and by generating a schedule from them.

Using sales forecasting and labor planning, restaurant managers can schedule efficiently to meet their labor targets. Pixel Point’s scheduling tool is linked with employee skills and availability to speed up the scheduling process.”

Hours and breaks restriction is easily done using schedule- and time-clock alerts. The schedule can also include a built-in time clock that requires a manager’s for overriding late clock-ins or early clock-outs.

Mostly, operators sets their clock-in and clock-out times within 5 minutes before or after the actual time.

“Employees can’t clock in until 5 minutes before their scheduled shift or clock out late without a manager override. The system tells me if an employee is supposed to be off but he is still on the clock.”

This article’s author is the VP of Customer Relations at POS-FOR-Restaurants.com - a national organization of retail and restaurant POS systems dealers.

For more information see their website at POS-For-Restaurants.com

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Tips for selecting Restaurant POS Software

Since technology keeps on growing, more and more restaurant and hospitality sector that are increasingly turning towards business management softwares to aid them with their needs, as well as to increase their efficiency.

It is very important for restaurants to select the the restaurant point of sale (POS) software suite that’s flexible and easy to use, so it can grow with their business.

While not all business owners are comfortable with restaurant pos technology it can be a huge asset and vital to any hotel or restaurant wanting to trade immediately after installation, therefore bringing in more customers. A good POS software will save you money on training time, stock control, payroll and ultimately wages.

The hospitality market sector can be extremely competitive and by streamlining your business can only mean one thing, failure or success. In the world of hospitality if you can’t keep up with your competitors you’ll slowly loose your customers through smoothly run establishments that that operates well with a POS system.

Even restaurants aren’t exempted from this, that’s why having a good hospitality software suite is very important for any restaurant’s success.

There are times that you will notice that your restaurant’s external factors can a make a difference to your success, better think again. With the right hospitality software, it can greatly contribute to the success of your business and can even place you on top of your competitors.

If you are still searching for that right software suit that will meet your needs, you have to find a restaurant POS software that is sturdy, can be upgraded, easy to use and worth the money you pay for.

Your hospitality software also needs to be adaptable to meet your business needs. If the software is is rigid and allows for no flexibility it will be unable to adapt it to your needs as your business grows causing problems for the future.

A retail POS business software should be easy to install and use, intuitive and not require days of training; it should be fully modular, flexible and upgradeable to grow with your business. Additionally, you need to look for restaurant software that will run on your computer systems.

If you’re going to use multiple till then you’ll be needing a good back up system, a system that will replicate your master data file to another machine making sure you don’t loose data in the event of a system crash. It is also important to make sure that the restaurant POS you’re going to use allows multiple hardware configuration, payroll integration and data export to sage or quick-books. Mostly, some restaurant owners will have at one time or another use Windows OS to run their computer, because many of the professional scalable POS and hospitality software solutions were written specifically [with windows in mind.

A final consideration is the requirement that the software will fast and user-friendly.

Mostly, restaurants are extremely busy especially during peak hours, so a POS system that workd quickly and doesn’t crashes easily would be the best choice!Since most good restaurants are always busy, especially during peak times, a POS system that will work quickly and not freeze or crash during constant use should be the one you purchase. A good stable piece of software can sometimes be expensive, but it will certainly help your business run smoothly which gives you more time to concentrate on other areas of your business.

One of the main priorities of any business establishment is support, make sure you have the option of phone or online chat support like yahoo and msn messenger this will be an optional extra with any good POS software provider and worth its weight in gold if your systems go down and you are unable to trade.

Keep in mind that software developers know far more about the system than anyone. An overlooked point that many clients have regretted from my experience, make sure that whoever you purchase the software from can offer after- hours support should you need it, also a company in the same time zone is a very useful commodity.

With over 20 years working in the restaurant POS industry, the author of this article is the Vice President of Customer Relations at POS-For-Restaurants.com, an online information service that helps restaurants through out US by giving competitive bids for hardware, software or a complete restaurant point of sale system.

Check them out at POS-For-Restaurants.com

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For the longest time, most retail business owners thought of their POS system as a fancy cash register. Now that technology has become more advance and slowly becoming a necessity in the retail systems, many innovations have become standard features within the POS industry.

1. Wireless Handheld Devices. The newest generation of wireless restaurant hand held POS devices allow your servers greater freedom to take orders as well as collect payment without leaving the customer. Your waiters will be able to present daily specials to your customers on the spot, process credit cards while walking to the next table, send a quick bread requests to the kitchen, and also the ability to add walk-ins to the waiting list - right from the handheld device. With this, your servers will be able to spend more time interacting and keeping your customers happy.

2. The “Sticky” Paper Printer. One of the newest innovations is the “sticky” paper printers. These printers use paper that is similar to a Post-It which allows you to reposition the receipt over and over again. Print the paper to whatever length you need, and stuck to any surface where it will stay until it is removed and, even, placed elsewhere. With this type of printer, the paper can stay with the order through the entire order process. The new paper is also liner-free so no need to manage non-recyclable waste and can be easily removed and restuck to a different surface - again and again. It can be used for all orders, exceptions, specials, as bag tags or any combination.

3. Digital Menu Board/Signage. Did you know that your POS system can be used to deliver media rich content, using video, audio and pictures to more customers? Some of the POS packages have fully integrated and seamless digital menu board software that allow you to create content using the same database. Menu titles, pages, menu items and prices can all be twined with high-quality multimedia to give your restaurant menu board that can give both a dramatic and interactive display without having to purchase addtional devices.

With most digital menu boards, content is sent to the displays from the store database in real-time, so the menu board continually updates throughout the day with menu changes, scheduled price changes, daily specials and so on.

4. Self-Service or interactive Kiosk. Also called interactive kiosk, a self-service device first used in photo machines. This great restaurant POS system can be a piece of self-service hardware device that works in combination with a self-service software where customers can perform any combination of transactions they want. For a restaruant POS system, a kiosk software may come in package and those that do not, allows adding a kiosk with no separate software required. Kiosk software can be used to cut down on labor costs and speed up the ordering process. It can even enhance customer’s user experience enabling a whole new level of profitability!

5. Paging Customer Cell Phones. Some restaurants are choosing to take the more modern approach by paging customers’ personal cell phones. You can have your host or hostest take the customer’s cell phone number and place it into their cell phone paging device. When the table is ready, the paging system calls the cell phone with an automated voice message to notify the guest to approach and report to the front of the restaurant to be seated. This may be convenient way for guests who want to roam around farther than conventional pagers will allow and you won’t fear of the customer walking away with your pager.

The tips I gave you above are just the tip of the iceberg when is comes to knowing your restaurant POS equipment. Better watch out for more…

Michael Tash is Vice President of Customer Relations at POS-for-Restaurants.com — helping you use your technology to be more efficient and more profitable with over 20 years of its restaurant experience.

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For such a long time, most retail business owners thought of their POS system as a fancy cash register. With technology moving forward at such a quick pace, many innovations have become a standard feature within the Point of Sale industry. Here are a few more:

1. Employee Scheduling. Some restaurant POS packages includes a “staff scheduling” feature. You can expect to increase efficiency and dramatically reduce overall labor costs by controlling clock-ins and clock-outs, utilizing forecasting tools and control staffing levels. This feature allows easy accessing staff schedules, shifts and multiple job positions for each employee. You can also tie in any number of security functions to multiple job position. In addition, some of the packages has a feature that allows you to post schedules to a website and even automatically email the schedule out to your staff. Keep your labor costs in check and increase employee performance by efficiently and effectively managing your time & attendance information.

2. Software Upgrade Assurance or SUA. SUA is a software maintenance program that can give a bit different kind of advantage when purchasing a POS system. It enables you to extend the usable life of your restaurant POS system and help stretch your investment. Customers who are on an SUA plan will always have the latest version of their POS software. This basically keeps their POS system new. Every time you receive a software upgrade it is as though they just bought the latest and most current POS system available in the market with the newest, most up to date features your restaurant can greatly benefit from. The most current feature set ensures that you have the best possible ROI by allowing you to take full advantage of the power the POS software offers.

Another advantage of having a SUA is that no additional software purchase is required if you’re upgrading or replacing a hardware. When hardware needs to be replaced there is a drastically reduced cost to upgrade.

The way these programs typically work is you pay a small fee per year for all these benefits. Ma customers are satisfied receiving the huge benefits of this program that helps your business reap the full return on their POS investment.

3. Proper Tip Handling. Some of the point of sale software products has a builtin tip tracking feature in their time in attendance module. Once you set an employee as a tipped employee, the system will require tip declaration prior to clock out. Servers and waiters who ring sales will have their total sales tracked. Tips collected through credit card sales are also tracked and shown on the server closeout report. Before logging out, the servers or waiters will be shown their total sales, the charge tips collected collected and then asked to declare their cash tips. This functionality will help you enforce tip regulations and manage the tracking declared tips, charge tips and hours worked for every tipped employee.

4. Customer Loyalty Programs! As the business owner you would like your POS system to provide accurate information on your customer’s number of visits, frequency of visits, their buying habits, entice repeat visits and purchases using reward programs like a loyalty card, reward card or points card. You are able to do all this while managing the programs and preventing “sweet hearting” by employees. Prevent retail loss at all cost! Sweet hearting happens when an employee promises a deal to a customer so that he/she can close a sale.

Some of the restaurant POS packages come standard with a frequent diner or customer loyalty package that eases things within your business. By expertly tracking down your guests and their buying habits, you can prevent retail loss. You establish a database of customer’s information with an account number. You may use their phone numbers or whatever number system you desire to use. However, the most popular and secure method is through magnetic cards with your logo on them. These cards act as a constant reminder of your restaurant by having your logo in their wallet or purse. The software will secure the reward programs you set in place to prevent your staff from giving away food. Typically, rewards are given only to customers who frequently visits or purchases on the menu you highlighted. Establishing reward programs takes your staff out of the game and place you in total control.

As you can see, your business can be run more efficiently by using proper restaurant technology. There are many ways, methods you can use, to aid you in better business managing so you will never have to waste more of your valuable time and money.

The author is the Vice President of Customer Relations at POS-for-Restaurants.com — helping businesses use technology to be more efficient and more profitable with its 20 years of restaurant experience.

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One major key to running a profitable restaurant is managing the controllable costs, such as food, labor and equipment. Although, controlling food would probably be the most difficult cost.

Simultaneously monitor portion sizes, prevent theft, watch waste and order efficiently should be done in order to manage food costs effectively.

An inventory software will help you identify exactly when your food costs are out of line. Using inventory control software will typically save you 1 to 2 percent of sales, and may possibly save you much more. And it is savings that adds up to your bottom line as profit.

A POS-based inventory control system, operators would be able to easily spot and solve food cost difficulties clear by just simply focusing on portion control. When your staff knows that the system is keeping track, it discourages both waste and theft.

One restaurateur who had been experiencing food cost problems learned that lesson after a week of using inventory control software.

Inside his restaurant, he was portion controlling, yield testing and doing a physical inventory, but it wasn’t until he uses an inventory software where he discovers his inventory was out by exactly 20 pounds of pork each week; coincidentally, it’s precisely the same weight as a box. Knowing that, it was relatively easy to specify the source of the problem: one of the prep cooks was stashing a box of goodies every Friday night.

Boosting the bottom line

In a typical restaurant point of sale inventory control program, an operator sets up the software by first entering their recipes and product costs. The system then can track ideal usage based on those recipes and the restaurant’s actual sales.

The software also can track product usage in situations where some orders don’t conform to a standard recipe. The operator then can do a physical inventory and generate reports comparing that inventory with the calculated ideal usage in order to see variances. The software can also be set up to track as many items as the operator desires.

Generally in restaurants, their top 10 items 80 percent of their food cost problem. And you can schedule nightly counts of key items and weekly or even monthly counts of some other items.

With a single item alone, over-portioning by 1 ounce per order can cost a restaurant hundreds of dollars a month. If you eliminate over-portioning on 100 orders per day for 30 days on a .67 per pound of one item, may well add up to more than 0.00 in savings or 00.00 per year!

Keeping a better track and control also can help an operator reduce the amount of stock they keep on hand, reducing waste and freeing up cash for other things. Losses due to carrying too much large quantities of inventory can add up to a loss of between 2% and 5 % on an average operator’s profit-and-loss statement.

We’ve assisted a client before who’s menu is fairly extensive and had lots of work for setting up, but after helping them program their system as it should be, we were able to drop their food cost by 2 to 4 percent – a good addition to their bottom line profits.

So if you’re presently using a restaurant POS system or are thinking of a purchase make sure you know how to and understand the additional profits that you can acquire by learning and using the inventory module of the system properly.

The author of this article is the VP of Customer Relations at POS-Fof-Restaurants.com with over 20 years experience in restaurant point of sale (POS) helping restaurants nationwide increase their efficiency and bottom-line profits.

To learn on how our national POS network of restaurant point of sale experts can help your business achieve greater success in these difficult economic times, visit POS-For-Restaurants.com.

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A Guide to Restaurant Point of Sale Management Software

Learn the types of restaurant POS software that will help your business grow and save your money on costly mistakes by purchasing the wrong POS software.

Most people don’t consider the restaurant business a high-tech endeavor. In spite of this, numerous restaurant Point of Sale software programs have emerged to help you with nearly every aspect of running your business. And there’s more good news: most of this software is affordable for smaller retail businesses that operate only a few restaurants or even a single location. The various software products currently available can help your business:

1. Greatly increase profits|Double your profits|Increase your profits
2. Lower food costs
3. Properly manage staff scheduling
4. Improve table and customer management
5. Improve customer reservations system
6. Control inventory
7. Menu designs

Cost out your recipes

Accurate recipe costing can put you on the fast track to success. With the right figures, you would be able to identify your most profitable items as well as items that aren’t performing well. POS software programs eliminate human error in this vital area.

Tables and reservation management

Restaurant reservation software can help you reduce no-shows, take reservations from your Web site, identify VIPs and regulars, track customer preferences, capture customer contact information, and more. With this software, you can maximize and improve both table and guest management.

Managing inventory

In the restaurant business, controlling inventory is essential in order to minimize waste and to avoid running out of necessary ingredients.

I recommend:

The best contacts and resources to help you make the right choice for your restaurant Point of Sale software are available at POS-For-Restaurants.com

Proper ordering and purchsing of goods

Look for a software that streamlines the ordering and purchasing process so you can concentrate on revenue-generating activities.

Recommended:

The best contacts and resources to help you make the right choice for your restaurant POS software are available at POS-For-Restaurants.com

Software for creating menu designs

Making menu designs can help boost your customer volume by creating designs that would attack more visitors. But designing your own menu is hard and time consuming, especially if you do not have the necessary skills it requires. You will end up hiring a graphic designer and pay each time you need a new design. By purchasing a POS software that lets you create menu designs, it eliminates the need of hiring a professional designer! You can make your own menu designs depending on your restaurant’s theme, holidays, highlighted menu, etc.

Employee scheduling

Manually arranging staff schedule is very time consuming and could even result to mistakes such as understaffing or overstaffing. So a restaurant owner knows that this task can really cause a serious heahache.

I recommend:

The best contacts and resources to help you make the right choice for your restaurant point of sale system are available at POS-For-Restaurants.com

A few simple advice to make your restaurant management even better

• When operating on more than one restaurant, it’s alway a wise decision to test-drive your POS software first on one before implementing it to all.
• Learn and grow your knowledge using your restaurant POS software programs! These software programs have powerful reporting features which you can review and learn your sales, customers and menus. By this, you can easily plan for changes that will surely help increase profits.

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