Five Point of Sale Features to Optimize Your Restaurant

How does your restaurant point of sale solution measure up in 2021? Do you feel like the technology you’re using is outdated?

Key Takeaways You Will Get From This Article

When choosing a new point-of-sale solution, choose one with simple user interface, convinient ordering, EMV, contactless payment options, complete employee management, and business analytics and reporting. These features are key to offering a consistent and pleasant guest experience in your restaurant.

If you suspect your point-of-sale technology is losing its relevancy, you’re probably right. Technology has advanced so rapidly over the past ten, five, and even two years, that it can be hard to keep up. However, implementing a new system can be expensive, so it’s probably just easier and more cost-effective to keep using the old stuff. Right?

Not exactly.

While we completely understand the need to save time and money for your restaurant, continuing to use an outdated system is not the way to do it. Your point of sale system should serve as the central hub of your business, making it indispensable. If your central hub is falling behind, you can’t expect your restaurant to move forward.

So, if you haven’t updated your system in a while, now may be the right time to explore some new options. In this post, we’ll share five features to look for in a new point-of-sale solution. Seek a solution with all these features, and you’ll be on your way to restaurant success.

5 Essential Point of Sale Features for 2021

The following ten features are the key to offering a consistent and pleasant guest experience in your restaurant.

1. Simple User Interface

The importance of a simple user interface can’t be emphasized enough. A complicated interface causes nothing but frustration and can bring your restaurant to a screeching halt. Plus, a simple interface allows new employees to learn quickly and master the basics of using the system, saving you precious time and money. It also helps your team provide the excellent customer service your diners deserve.

2. Convenient Ordering & Payment Options

Today’s diners are used to enhanced conveniences such as curbside pickup, delivery, and online ordering. To grow your restaurant, you’ll need a solution that can provide options such as:

• • Online/Mobile Ordering: A point of sale system that accepts online orders will allow you to broaden margins and boost efficiency while reducing phone errors and wasted time.
    
    
  • Split Checks: Your guests will be surprised, delighted, and more likely to visit again when the answer to, “Can you split the check?" is yes! A good restaurant point of sale system should be able to split checks by menu item or seat.
    
    
  • Tab-to-Table: A typical point of frustration for customers is when they have to pay for their drink at the bar before sitting down to their table. The right point of sale solution will help you to completely eliminate this pain, with a tab-to-table feature. This will allow your staff to seamlessly transition a customer’s bar tab to their dining room check.

3. EMV and Contactless Payment Options

The tiny chip that most credit and debit cards have today is called an EMV. EMV cards are more secure than traditional magnetic strip cards and have become the global standard used to authenticate card transactions. The vast majority of your customers will have an EMV credit or debit card. Therefore, you must make sure that your point of sale terminal is equipped to accept this technology.

Another payment option that is steadily gaining popularity is contactless payment. A contactless payment can be made with a smartphone (through Apple Pay or Google Pay) or a card enabled with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. To serve your customers who prefer contactless payment methods, you must make sure your point of sale payment terminal is NFC-enabled.

4. Complete Employee Management

Managing employees is tough, especially when you’re trying to juggle shift requests, illnesses, overtime, and more. Make sure your restaurant point of sale system includes features that can help you complete essential management tasks such as employee scheduling, specific system permissions for different staff members, and employee timekeeping. Allowing your team to clock in and out of each shift will help make your payroll process simple and seamless!

5. Business Analytics & Reporting

Your restaurant needs to be making money if you want to stay in business - that much is obvious. What’s less obvious is if your restaurant is actually making money and where your profit is coming from. A restaurant point of sale system that includes business analytics is enormously helpful in determining profitability. A good restaurant POS system should offer the following business analytics, at minimum:

• • A dashboard that shows sales, inventory, labor, and profitability
  • Sales comparisons between locations or across time periods
  • Peak performance by day of the week, holidays, and promotions
  • Trends of sales vs. guests by day and top-selling item reports

Are you ready for a new point of sale solution that can offer you everything you’ve read above and more? Check out Total Touch® Point of Sale, the easiest, most powerful restaurant point of sale solution on the market. Pair it with payment processing from Electronic Merchant Systems for advanced benefits, including:

• • Next-Day Funding
  • Free Software Upgrades
  • 24/7/365 Live, US-Based Customer Support

Contact us today to learn more!