What Is a POS System? How Do Restaurant POS Systems Work?

If you are running a restaurant, you might know the challenges the owner has to face. The difficulty of managing things even get more as the restaurant grows. Managing everything can be overwhelming. If you use conventional methods to control everything, things can get even more difficult. So, to avoid all this hassle of doing everything manually, restaurant POS systems can help.

If you are starting a new restaurant, it would be better to get a POS system from the start. It would be tough for you to switch to software. Moreover, if you are already running a growing restaurant and becoming difficult to manage, you should switch to a POS system ASAP. It will get more difficult for you to move to software as delayed as it gets. Hence, it is wise to install a POS system right when you start a new restaurant.

What Is a POS System?

If you do not know what is a POS system, then here is the answer. A point of sale system is a combination of software and hardware that helps you check out your customers. The software helps receive payments, complete transactions and record them. It consists of a computer program, barcode scanner, weighing scale, card reader, and a printer.

Restaurant POS System

A restaurant POS system is a bit different from a typical POS system. It also helps you receive payments, complete transactions and record them. However, it does a few more things, such as sending order details to the kitchen, keeping a check on individual ingredients, etc.

How Do Restaurant POS Systems Work?

When it comes to the working of restaurant POS systems, it provides a complete solution for restaurants. The restaurant POS system, back in the days, used to be a billing system that helped in accepting orders and payments and generating receipts. However, it has evolved over time. Now cloud restaurant POS systems are available in the market that does more than just invoicing.

Following are the workings of a restaurant POS system;

• Sales
• Food Preparation
• Beverage Preparation
• Theft
• Reports

Sales

The working of a restaurant point of sale system starts with an order. A customer comes to the counter and asks the salesperson to place their order. Modern POS systems allow online orders as well, which allows customers to place their orders by themselves. The salesperson inputs the required items by the customers receive payment. The system processes the payment and generates a receipt.

The salesperson stores the cash into the register if the customers pay through cash. If the customer pays through a card or any other payment method, the POS system directly transfers the amount into the restaurant account. The complete order is recorded in the database as well to keep track of the sales.

Food Preparation

Once the order is placed and the invoice is generated, the next step is food preparation. The POS system sends a receipt to the kitchen, intimating them to prepare the food. Some POS systems also offer a screen in the kitchen. Once the food is prepared, the kitchen staff enters the command into the system.

As soon as the kitchen staff enters the command, the waitperson is intimated. They collect the food from the kitchen and serve it to the customers. The table number is also mentioned in the order.

Beverage Preparation

The POS systems also come with a beverage intimation feature. If you have a separate bar in your restaurant, you can use this feature. The software automatically notifies the bar about the beverage preparation. The bar prepares the drinks and informs the waitperson.

Inventory Update

Along with recording the sales and accepting the payments, the modern restaurant POS system also updates inventory. The modern POS systems are cloud-based and come with various modules. They come with an inventory and financial accounting module. Some POS systems also have asset management and HRM module.

These modules are available on a single platform that helps you manage everything with no hassle. As the inventory system is integrated, the inventory gets updated with each transaction. Hence, it will make inventory control and tracking easy.

Theft

With a POS system, the risk of theft decreases. As every module is integrated, the system will record everything automatically. There will not be any chance of tampering with the data. It will lead to less inventory theft. Moreover, the item will not be prepared without an order being placed through the system.

Reports

The POS system provides a wide range of reporting options. These reports will help you get your accounts evaluated, audit, and make better decisions. You can access the reports anytime from anywhere.

Get a Restaurant POS Systems for Efficient Restaurant Management

If you want to manage your restaurant efficiently, then you need to have a restaurant POS system installed. There are tons of restaurant POS systems available in the market offered by different companies. You need to make sure that the restaurant POS system you choose is reliable. SMACC can be the right option for you. It comes with various other modules to streamline all your business operations. You can get your free trial today to check out the functionality of the system.