Whether you have one site or one thousand sites, you need to have a technology stack which helps you thrive.
The new breed of cloud-based EPOS delivers the power of a fully blown restaurant management system. Available for Android tablet or iPad or Windows, it is also easy to use and inexpensive to implement.
Let’s explore the features and benefits of such a system and the ways it can positively impact your business.
Ease of implementation and rock-solid reliability
With a low cost of ownership, ease of use, automatic updates, and reliability means cloud-based EPOS systems are the first choice for today’s restaurateur.
With no software installation, they are ideal for both the first-time restaurateur and the more established operator looking to scale their business.
Built-in redundancy ensures that even if the wi-fi drops your servers can still process payments. Great for peace of mind.
Delivers a great guest experience
The restaurant world is changing and guests expect a great experience dining in or out.
Restaurateurs need to be flexible and a restaurant management system can help here too:
- Waitlist and reservation management – easily manage reservations and waitlists by time and size
- Keep control of the floor – delegate tables, split checks and keep track of table turns
- Manage table-side payments – convenient for guests and speeds table turns
- Online ordering – a branded mobile app makes it convenient for guests and you’ll save on third party commissions
- Integration with kitchen display systems – orders are sent immediately to the kitchen and changes can be seen instantly on the display
- Create profitable loyalty programs – built-in loyalty to keep them spending more
Efficient payment processing
Technologies such as contactless and mobile payments have come on leaps and bounds in the last couple of years.
When selecting a restaurant management system look for a solution that can:
- Support all the major payment processors including the new breed of mobile-based payment systems such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay and PayPal
- Support new delivery methods such as kerbside pick-up – the post-pandemic consumer will likely never leave the car!
- Manage online ordering with ease – offer your delivery customers a seamless and fast payment experience
- Offer QR-based menus – diners can order and pay quickly just by scanning the code using their phone
- Support pay at table – convenient for your guests. It increases table turns and order accuracy
- Reduce payment fees and charges – look for a restaurant management system which is payment processor agnostic
Actionable information
One major advantage of a cloud-based solution is that reporting is accessible from any location and across all sites. You can easily manage your whole operation from anywhere.
With real-time information at your fingertips you can really get to grips with:
- Inventory
- Food cost analysis
- Payroll
- Labour reports
Look for a solution with a customised mobile dashboard for the most convenient user experience and which enables managers to quickly send messages to their staff – a proactive and actionable approach.
Optimise stock and increase profits
Maintaining the correct stock levels is key to the success of your operation- too little and you risk disappointing guests and too much and you risk expensive wastage. With a restaurant management system you can maintain the right balance and keep control of costs.
Automated alerts on low stock ensure that you never run out and you never miss a sales opportunity because the item is “off the menu”. Features such as cost analysis help you keep costs down and help you to order more efficiently.
Look for a solution that will track costs down to the ingredient and dish level – the system will also forecast how much you can save on each ingredient – take charge of the kitchen and your profits will flow.
Drives growth
Today’s EPOS is more than a till. Once you have got present operation thriving you will no doubt have your eye on expansion. Whether you are looking to expand organically or looking to franchise your operation your technology needs to drive that growth.
When you are ready to expand, with a cloud-based restaurant management system you can:
- Manage a whole franchise operation from one central location and it is flexible – you can manage regional chains, scale the business and streamline operations
- Access features designed for growth – payment security, consolidated reporting and centralised management
- Take advantage of a fully integrated set of features designed specifically for growth such as loyalty programs, CRM and online ordering
Support when you need it – round the clock!
Having a support team that you can call day and night with a question or for advice will enable you to get the best return on your investment. Our advice is to look for a company which has a support team that is skilled in both IT and has relatable hospitality industry experience.
Support needs to be proactive not just reactive. With growth in mind you need to find a supplier that will work with you with regular client review meetings where they ensure that you are getting the best service and that you are utilising the solution to its fullest.
Look for a partnership with a supplier with your best interests at heart and that offers unbiased consultancy.
Conclusion
With the right restaurant management technology it is possible to manage, improve and grow in the key areas:
- Guest experience
- Online ordering
- Loyalty
- Labour
- Payment processing
- Stock control
All supported by actionable real-time reporting to drive continuous improvement. A cloud-based solution offers the scalability and reliability to support your growth.
Speaking of support, look for a supplier that is authentic, well-regarded and has a long-term vision for working with you.
Selecting a solution that offers all this out of the box is a smart investment with an immediate and long-term return.
Hospitality operators are still reeling at last week’s news that they must shut by 10pm each day. So when your trading hours are restricted, what can you do to maintain revenue?
Here are 6 ways restaurant management technology supports your operations as the crisis continues to bite:
1. Takeaway and online ordering
2. Good reservations and timeslot management
3. Ordering and payment at tableside
4. Upselling opportunities
5. Stock control/waste management
6. Customer engagement.
Takeaway and online ordering
These are already providing a lifeline for many operators who had never before considered them, with even fine dining establishments taking part.
But if you feel your takeout operation could be doing better, Aloha Now restaurant software helps you establish your own takeaway website and connects it to your restaurant epos so you can import your dishes easily.
It connects you directly with the delivery platforms you select – and it enables demanding diners to place their order quickly and easily. There’s also evidence that customers ordering by mobile spend more, simply because it’s easy.
Good reservations and timeslot management
With time shortened, you can’t afford inefficient handling of guests, particularly with table service now mandated at a lot of outlets.
Aloha Now streamlines your reservation process and manages timeslots so that table turn is maximised at all times. Customer service benefits too – guests are seated quickly and served rapidly, which creates a satisfying experience.
Ordering and payment at tableside
Guest safety is paramount, and giving diners with the ability to place orders and pay via their mobile at their table not only promotes wellbeing, but also improves speed of delivery.
With guests placing their own orders, human error is minimised and the order goes straight to the kitchen for preparation, where it can integrate with kitchen automation. No dashing back and forth for your serving staff, either, which helps with labour management.
Learn more about helping your guests stay safe with tableside ordering.
Upselling opportunities
Staff are complaining that it’s difficult to engage properly with diners because of the restrictions – and that also has an impact on how well they can upsell.
But with table service now mandated at licensed premises, they will need to be at tableside. And if they are taking orders on their handheld restaurant epos software devices, they can be offered upselling opportunities that complement guest choices and boost revenue into the bargain.
Stock control/waste management
This is always major issue, and even more so now.
Aloha restaurant epos software’s stock control capability captures comprehensive data to provide a daily sales mix analysis and to empower you to view actual v. theoretical stock, helping you control your procurement and deal properly with suppliers.
Customer engagement
Become their favourite restaurant and help them support you – use the customer data captured by your restaurant epos software to offer them targeted offers that will definitely hit the mark.
The latest technology also helps you manage social media, so you can create an interactive community that your customers can enjoy, with valuable two-way engagement.
Discover how to boost customer loyalty.
Finding the way forward
At time of writing, the government is still clarifying some of its rules – for instance, it has explained that the table service only applies to licensed premises.
Restaurant and bar owners remain torn between anger, hope and optimism, and are arguing for the restrictions to be eased.
But in the meantime, hospitality operators across the UK are doing what they always do best – getting on with things, and making the best of what they have at their disposal.
Restaurant epos software is already helping operators thrive in these troubled times – and now’s the time for you to find out more.
Britons grabbed more than 100m discounted meals during the August Eat Out to Help Out scheme – but how can you capitalise on the scheme now it’s over?
Some operators – Gaucho, for instance – are carrying on the initiative at their own expense for a while, thanks to the droves of customers it brings in.
But if that’s not your option, now that customers have made the psychologically-important move back to your restaurant, it’s a great opportunity to keep on engaging with them to encourage them back again and again.
Different hospitality operations have different levels of marketing support, and not everyone has a whole marketing department to fall back on.
So today we launch a new NFS series, written by an award-winning PR professional, to pass on best practice tips on how to promote your business and engage well with your customers.
Last week’s best tips – how to reach your customer’s heart
- Start considering who your customers are. Where do they come from? What age group are they? Singles, couples, families? Socio-economic type? Typical spend? Group them into three or four typical ‘personas’.
- Now you have identified the ‘segments’ of your client base, consider what each group really wants. What do they order? When do they come in? Do they book and order online? Eat in or takeaway?
Your restaurant management technology can help a lot, capturing data that can be segmented to support your own instincts and knowledge.
- Now, based on preferences you have identified, think about what incentives you can offer each persona. Couples might like a romantic free glass of prosecco with their next meal; families not so much – but complimentary soft drinks for the kids could work.
Avoid sending the same generic offer to everyone, as you stand a chance of missing your target – or even of causing offence.
For example, if a customer has never ordered alcohol, it’s a possibility that they do not drink. Again, your restaurant management technology’s loyalty functions can provide this level of detail.
- Send out your best offer. This is important, though: you may have taken someone’s email address as part of the fight against coronavirus, but under data protection rules, you MUST have permission from your customer to contact them. Why not ask them to tick a box to give this permission at the same time as you take their details?
- Your emailed offer doesn’t need to be complicated, but should be short, friendly and to the point. Address your customer, and outline the offer straight away.
Watch this space for more in this NFS guide to marketing your hospitality business.
We’ll help you:
- Understand your customers better
- Create targeted offers to appeal to them
- Use different channels including email, SMS and Facebook
- Use your restaurant management technology to drive successful loyalty programmes
- Create long-term strategies for customer loyalty and rewards
- Use social media to build a community of engaged customers
- Send fraud-proof voucher campaigns
We’ll even provide you with sample emails and social media posts that you can adapt to your own operation.
Next blog: Hello, friends! Sample emailers to appeal to different types of customer
* Learn how to use your restaurant management technology to build customer loyalty:
As the government’s Eat Out to Help Out discount scheme kicked in at the start of August, many restaurant and bar operators were delighted to report an uplift in business.
James Brown of BrewDog, for example, shared a spreadsheet of his branches’ rising sales on LinkedIn, and passed on his thanks for the initiative.
Meanwhile, The Times reported that business was doing well at Dishoom, the Indian streetfood operators – and the newspaper also provided a national list of Michelin-starred restaurants taking part in the initiative, including Hawksmoor.
We’re delighted that all the great businesses named use Aloha restaurant management software by NFS – and they are showing the kind of robust initiative that’s helping the best establishments ride out the coronavirus storm.
So what else has been working, both for our clients and for others across the industry?
- Dishoom, during the lockdown, pioneered a highly successful takeaway model using the Deliveroo service to deliver to customers’ homes and businesses.
- With home cookery one of the nation’s new hobbies, food kits to prepare in your own kitchen were a smash hit for operators including MyLahore – theirs ranged from BBQ boxes to kits for the end of Ramadan.
- With guest safety top of the agenda, many restaurants and bars used tableside ordering and payment to maintain confidence-building social distancing between diners and staff.
- Some national operators including Oakman Inns and Stonegate Pub Company set up their own discount schemes before the government version.
- Coca Cola launched the Open Like Never Before marketing campaign on 1 August to run for a whole year, donating a budget and advertising space to hospitality venues to advertise they are open for business.
- Pub group JD Wetherspoon used Eat Out to Help Out to offer meals at less than the price of a supermarket meal deal.
- Increased outdoor seating is proving a huge hit in London’s Soho, with restaurant operators pressing for it to be made permanent.
Chris Cartmell, NFS Head of Sales for Aloha, says: “Times are still very challenging for all hospitality businesses, but these success stories are rays of hope.
“Now is the time for restaurants and bars to use everything at their disposal in the fight to survive and thrive – and it’s great to see so many responding with innovation, courage and action.
“Many establishments are trying business-boosting techniques including discounting, takeaway, online ordering, and loyalty programmes to encourage customers to get back to eating out.
“We’ve enhanced our Aloha restaurant management software to respond to these changing needs, and we’ll continue to do so as the situation develops, providing our clients with 24/7 helpdesk support and the technology to support all of their efforts.”
Learn how Aloha restaurant management software can help you now:
Now restaurants are going full speed ahead for re-opening date in July, with social distancing and lots of regulations to meet, one big concern is: will diners be too scared to return to eating in?
So a new software package that keeps guests safe thanks contactless ordering and payment right from their tableside is being welcomed across the industry.
Aloha Now is the new mobile-ready solution for guest ordering, launched by leading restaurant technology company NFS.
NFS Aloha head of sales Chris Cartmell said: “Aloha Now is designed to give restaurants safe, simple ordering and payment for their guests.
“In these post-pandemic times, with tough restrictions to meet, restaurants are working hard to recreate the enjoyable, satisfying experience their guests are accustomed to.
“The new platform helps achieve that in several ways, supporting seamless restaurant management all the way from mobile ordering, click and collect and delivery to order and pay at table free of contact.
“It adds up to a safe, secure and improved experience that encourages customer loyalty and gives diners plenty of reasons to come back to you.”
Benefits of Aloha Now restaurant technology include:
- No need for guests to install an app
- Staff costs are reduced because guests self-service
- Table turn is faster because ordering and payment are quicker
- Opens up new revenue streams
As a cloud platform, Aloha Now restaurant technology integrates with food aggregators so orders are injected directly into the Aloha Takeout module.
“The software draws menus from Aloha so you can manage and change them easily across multiple platforms,” says Chris.
Restaurants can choose either a mobile website or native app, and the integration with Aloha Loyalty means targeted loyalty campaigns can be created, plus geo-location offers.
Chris said: “Aloha restaurant technology is already a market-leading restaurant epos technology used by customers including Hawksmoor, Dishoom, BrewDog and M Restaurants.
“Aloha Now draws together cutting edge technology designed to meet the evolving needs of restaurants now – and it’s also designed to create new revenue streams that will continue long after the corona crisis is over.”
Discover more about takeaway made easy with Aloha Now!
UK restaurants have been given a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel, with potential to reopen from July – but in the meantime, hospitality businesses are dreaming up some innovative ways to keep going.
For many, providing takeaway and delivery has proved a partial solution – ranging from wine ‘milk’ rounds to cask ale in cartons and pub puddings.*
However, it’s not a simple answer if your business is not already set up for offering takeaway, and if you’re not used to dealing with services such as Deliveroo and Ubereats.
But NFS Technology have now worked at full speed with a technology partner to offer an easy way to takeaway.
“As hospitality technology specialists, we know speed is crucial to help UK hospitality businesses to survive – so we’ve gone ahead and made it happen,” says Chris Cartmell, head of sales for Aloha restaurant EPOS software by NFS.
The result is Aloha NOW, a new software package that makes it easy to set up and run a takeaway offering online – and which works with ALL of the key delivery services.
“Aloha NOW helps you set up your own takeaway website easily, and connects to your restaurant EPOS software so you can import your products onto the site with the click of a button.
“You choose which platform – or platforms – are allowed to deliver your dishes, and you can update everything with a single click.”
How it works for you
Once a diner places an order via your website, they choose whether they want delivery or would rather come and pick it up (which means your restaurant doesn’t pay a fee to a delivery service). Payment is taken automatically.
Discover how digital dining works
The order is immediately placed with your kitchen – Aloha NOW is able to link with kitchen automation so your kitchen screens can hold the order until it’s the correct time to display them and start preparation.
“The different delivery services all require a different type of packaging, and the screens even show which of those is required,” says Chris.
The new software package takes advantage of the benefits that have made Aloha restaurant EPOS software one of the leading hospitality technologies in the world.
Benefits include:
- Making cost and stock control easy
- Reducing kitchen waste
- Highlighting the most popular dishes
- Capturing diner data and enabling targeted offers and marketing
- Providing a pleasing customer experience where the right order is delivered swiftly and efficiently.
Many NFS customers are taking advantage of dishing up takeaways to stay busy, including MyLahore and BrewDog.*
Chris said: “Many restaurants have staff on furlough, and have negotiated temporary rent reductions and loans that are tiding them over for now.
“But it restaurants, pubs and venues are likely to be among the last businesses to be allowed to begin operating normally again. Even then, social distancing may mean covers need to be reduced.
“So the industry is doing a lot of creative thinking about what comes next and making innovative plans to make sure they stay in business.
“We feel our new package, combined with restaurant EPOS software, can not only help in the short term but will also provide restaurants, pubs and bars with a new way to bring in income that will prove valuable as we move towards a new normal.”
It’s the technology every hospitality business needs – restaurant EPOS streamlines your operations, reduces costs and makes great customer service simple.
The benefit to your bottom line is easy to see. But with many restaurant margins feeling the pinch, it’s important that you get rapid ROI.
So what’s the best way to finance restaurant EPOS?
Good EPOS providers will give you a number of options that suit your own restaurant finances.
For instance, you might have a new business with start-up capital available – or you could be running a long-established or expanding chain. The requirements of each are very different.
Chris Cartmell of NFS Technology says you need to keep two things top of your mind.
“Number 1 is making sure you get the restaurant EPOS system that does what you really need it to do,” he says.
“So select a provider with a consultative approach who looks at your requirements and works with you to make sure the system achieves everything you need.”
A restaurant management system helps you:
- Control your stock and labour better
- Reduce waste
- Improve front to back communications
- Speed up table turn
- Improve your customer service
- Create engaging loyalty campaigns and monitor your social media reputation.
Discover more about the issues that EPOS solves.
“The Number 2 thing to consider when selecting hospitality technology is to make sure you finance restaurant EPOS in the way that’s best for your business,” says Chris.
Your options to finance restaurant EPOS include:
- Buying – you buy the hardware and the software
- Leasing – you lease the hardware and the software
- Combination – you buy the hardware and lease the software
Chris says: “Each option has benefits, and should be tailored to suit your situation.
“If you buy hardware and software you incur no further costs.
“However, leasing can be a convenient low-cost option where you pay a monthly fee.
Staying up to date
“If you lease with a maintenance contract, your supplier will provide you with software upgrades whenever they are issued, keeping your system completely up to date with innovations and improvements – the hardware also.
“Some businesses prefer to buy hardware and sign a lease contract for the software, which can provide a flexible and affordable option.”
Learn more about 24/7 technology support for your business.
Cloud or on-premise?
Chris says: “SaaS (Software as a Service) is becoming an increasingly popular option for modern hospitality businesses.
“We’ll soon be launching a new bundling strategy which will see our most popular restaurant EPOS combined in a full-stack offering called Aloha Essentials. It will be a very cost-effective way to gain all the benefits.”
ROI – restaurant EPOS as a revenue generator:
“The Pulse App is an awesome tool that provides our Managers and Operations team with a competitive edge in terms of real time information across our global estate of craft beer bars that is critical to achieving our mission of making everyone as passionate about craft beer as we are.” – James Brown, Retail Director of BrewDog.
Discover how Gloucester Rugby Club makes money out of EPOS.
Chris Cartmell says: “As UK restaurants take advantage of new trends such as home delivery, voice ordering and online reservations, restaurant EPOS is becoming more and more essential.
“We believe success lies in installing systems that deliver exactly what each individual restaurant or group needs – and in providing the finance options that make implementation feasible and ROI quick and significant.”
How will restaurant EPOS work for you?
How much are your diners making food choices based on their values in 2020? Probably more than ever before – and for your hospitality business to prosper, it’s vital to get behind them.
We’re used to the younger generations being ‘woke’, of course, but customers of all ages are now doing all they can to save the environment.
And from choosing ethically-sourced ingredients to aiming for sustainability and even building relationships, successful restaurants are keeping their diners engaged by staying ahead of the trends.
We’ve spotted 5 of the key values driving customer choices in hospitality – and we’ve identified how your restaurant or bar can harness their power to keep business – and the planet – healthy.
1. Zero waste
Customers eager to have as small an impact on the planet as possible voted zero waste one of their top ten trends. They also rate low waste production highly when choosing where to eat.
Waste food is obviously a biggie for the environment (and scandalous when part of the world hasn’t enough to eat). It causes overfarming and pesticide use, and the waste ends up in landfill producing climate-warming methane.
But waste is also a major problem for restaurants trying to keep an eye on the bottom line.
The savviest establishments are now using the stock control facilities provided by restaurant EPOS technology to remove badly-selling recipes from the menu. It also allows ordering to be more closely matched to demand – a real winner all round.
* Learn how to gain better control of your stock
2. Ethically-sourced ingredients
With around 600,000 vegans in the UK, we’re talking about plant-based ingredients – but we also mean responsibly-sourced local meats, in-season veg and well-sourced fish. These are all highly important to the woke diner.
Chefs designing dishes now have more control at ingredient level than ever before, thanks to technology such as the Kitchen CUT system partnered with Aloha restaurant EPOS by NFS.
In addition to costing each ingredient precisely, it warns of allergen risks – a factor that ethical chefs take extremely seriously.
* Discover how to spot potential allergens when designing dishes
3. Sustainability
In the Future Shock 6 report, UKHospitality Chief Executive Kate Nicholls says: “Sustainability is arguably the key issue of our time. It will become more important and hospitality needs to lead efforts to promote sustainability yet further.”
Kate defines sustainability as the ability to maintain growth at a certain level without depleting natural resources. It’s a business goal that resonates perfectly with the demands of the value-driven consumer.
It covers sustainability of all kinds; reduced use of resources such as electricity, gas and water, sustainable food choices, and eco-friendly packaging on deliveries.
And it involves the whole supply chain, with restaurants using their EPOS reports to monitor usage, discover economies and monitor their suppliers.
4. Being available 24/7
Well, it’s come in for criticism recently because we’re all enslaved by our mobiles…
But when it comes to keeping customers happy, it’s now expected that your restaurant is available to them easily at all hours – even when you are shut.
We’ve already seen the arrival of online reservations via Open Table, linked to your restaurant EPOS system. These take bookings 24/7 without hands on by your staff.
The socially engaged consumer turns to Trip Advisor before making a booking, looking for reviews, and this is another area where EPOS can help. With the Pulse mobile management app, a restaurateur is warned about any negative posts so issues can be put right.
Customers are also making great use of voice ordering via Alexa, which links the customer directly with your restaurant, places the order, organises delivery and automatically takes the payment.
New revenue streams and no bother; for restaurants, 24/7 availability can be a dream come true…
* See how customers are ordering via Alexa
5. Trust
What makes us return again and again to our favourite restaurant?
Good food, naturally, and maybe its location: but one of the biggest draws is always a great relationship – you may remember the Cheers slogan: “Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name…”
In these suspicious days, when trust is hard won and precious, that quality is even more in demand.
Can a restaurant genuinely know ALL its customers? Technology says yes, thanks to the data captured by the restaurant EPOS system from browsing to bill payment.
Bundling EPOS and card payments – how to make it work
Analysts Deloitte said recently that in 2020 the most successful restaurant brands:
“will be those that best understand their customers, capitalise on digital technology options and analytics and seize upon the opportunity to engage customers in a highly personalised way.”
Deloitte surveyed 4,500 diners, and found that while loyalty programmes are an important part of building customer relationships, almost 90% of people belong to fewer than three of them.
Restaurant EPOS allows a very deep analysis of customer preferences that allows you to create highly personalised offers. If payment info is included, you will even know where else your customers line to eat.
So your smile at reception and your lovely serving staff – while always important – are the icing on the cake; your trusted relationship with your diners stretches way beyond your restaurant walls.
* What’s the best way to grow customer loyalty?
Is it going to be a good year for restaurants?
2019 was tough one for hospitality. It saw the closure of many restaurants and groups including Jamie’s Italian, and industry-wide around 11,000 jobs were lost.
But according to Big Hospitality, companies shutting down with Company Voluntary Arrangements fell by 46% on 2018. In addition, smaller operators with a rateable value of less than £51,000 will see their business rates bill fall from 1 April this year.
It’s going to be a welcome boost. And for those restaurants who are responding to customers’ changing values with the help of technology, 2020 could be the most woke year yet in UK in hospitality. Hopefully the most successful, into the bargain.
Discover how to give better customer service with restaurant EPOS:
Did you know: according to the British Hospitality Association, the UK hospitality industry dishes up more than 8.3 billion meals every year.
Hotels are gaining a bigger and bigger slice of that lucrative market, with some now playing host to destination restaurants, and many growing F&B into a valuable revenue stream.
The most successful are using sophisticated hotel EPOS (electronic point of sale) systems to support and streamline their operations.
So if you don’t have it, chances are you probably want it – but in a competitive market where margins are always tight and ROI is crucial making the right choice can be confusing.
So we’ve compiled the 7 key questions every hotelier growing an F&B operation should be asking.
1. What’s the difference between hotel EPOS and hotel PMS?
A PMS is the backbone of hotel operations, managing all aspects of hotel business from reservations to guest billing and payments.
A hotel EPOS is a dedicated system which works wherever your guests spend money – for instance, in your restaurants and bars, on the dining terrace or in your spa.
It works throughout the customer journey, all the way from taking table reservations to making service more efficient and allocating the spend to the correct room.
It’s also used to boost customer loyalty and bring your F&B customers back again and again.
2. How does hotel EPOS streamline my guest experience?
EPOS is designed to focus on making your food and beverage operation as welcoming, seamless and efficient for guests as possible.
It enables them to make online reservations, and once they arrive, your staff use graphic table plans to make seating quick and improve table turn.
Serving staff use handheld devices ranging from dedicated devices to mobile phones to take orders at tableside and send them straight to the kitchen for swift and accurate delivery.
Payments can be taken at tableside too or the bill allocated to the correct guest room.
It all adds up to a luxuriously effortless experience for your guests, with no quibbling about incorrect dishes or billing.
* Great guest reasons to supercharge your EPOS
3. Does hotel EPOS integrate with my other technology?
If you choose a restaurant ePOS software system with a flexible API, it will integrate effortlessly with your PMS system and also other back office systems such as accounting, providing perfect accuracy at all times even across multiple-location groups.
4. What benefits does hotel EPOS bring to my F&B stream?
Your hotel EPOS constantly captures guest data that identifies best selling dishes, reducing waste and improving stock control.
Other EPOS reports provide an immensely real-time view of areas including sales and labour. It allows you pinpoint control across the whole F&B operation that keeps costs at a minimum and drives up efficiency.
* Learn 20 ways EPOS can improve your F&B business.
5. Can I improve my customer engagement with hotel EPOS?
EPOS data capture makes it simple to cater for guests’ preferences, helping to create the personalised customer experience that sets your hotel restaurant or bar apart from the competition.
EPOS also monitors your all-important social media reputation, alerting your managers if a hostile review is being posted from your restaurant so they can address issues on the spot before the customer leaves.
* Discover more about building customer loyalty with EPOS.
6. There are many hotel EPOS systems out there – how do I select the right one?
It’s important to select a consultative provider who works with you to understand what you REALLY want the system to achieve.
Don’t be dazzled by salespeople who want to make a quick sale and run – look for a supplier who will provide expert 24/7 backup and support after the installation is complete.
* Find more information about selecting the best hotel EPOS for you.
7. What’s the best way to finance my hotel EPOS?
There’s a number of different ways of financing that provide the swift ROI you need, depending on your company situation and requirements.
Hotel EPOS can be provided as an on-premise solution, or hosted in the cloud, which saves on hardware costs.
Your supplier should offer you the option to purchase hardware and software, to purchase hardware and lease software; or to lease the entire system.
* See the best way for you to finance restaurant EPOS.
When it comes to EPOS and payment processing, do you source them from the same provider? For some hospitality businesses, doing that has been controversial – but done right, there are definitely upsides.
So what’s are the two sides of the argument about EPOS/payment bundling?
What to avoid:
Your credit card provider gives you ‘free’ restaurant EPOS software but bundles the contract. It means if you want to change the credit card payments provider, you have to change the point of sale into the bargain.
An unscrupulous provider holds you to high processing charges for every transaction – and you can’t escape without investing in new restaurant EPOS.
Some providers charge steep fees if you want to terminate your contract early.
Some providers love to sell – but not happy about providing after-sales support.
Not a great recipe for success is it?
We saw a recent example where a large New York restaurant group got its fingers burned on a 10-year EPOS agreement that saw processing rates rise to a massive 4% – and had no easy way out of the deal. See more.
But having said that, we wouldn’t want you to shy away from sourcing your restaurant EPOS and payments processing from the same provider – it’s just a matter of finding the right one.
Because the benefits are MASSIVE, whether you are a restaurant keen to expand revenue streams or looking for hotel EPOS to boost your F&B revenue.
How you benefit:
1. When you deal with one reputable company for communications and billing support, your life is a lot easier.
In the daily rush of a restaurant business, who has time to call several providers if the system gets a glitch?
Having one point of contact – and a great relationship with that contact – makes sure issues are ironed out fast so your restaurant can go on making and taking money uninterrupted.
2. Because you are buying an integrated system, you can be sure the technology will work together, and be confident the PDQ machines will communicate with your restaurant EPOS.
This is vital for an uninterrupted business flow and for maintaining business continuity – so important in hospitality provision.
3. You gain access to payment data. This gives huge insight into your customers – you understand where they are located and which other places they spend their money (including with competitors).
Then you can build this into your customer relationship management (CRM) system to create well-targeted marketing campaigns that engage with what your customers really want and like.
4. Having integrated EPOS and payment capability streamlines your business operations, offering benefits such as ease of cashing up and good integration with your accounting system.
The 7 questions you should ask your potential supplier
- Can I change my credit card payments provider if I want to?
- What do you charge for processing payments – and will the charges stay the same?
- If terminate the contract, is there a fee?
- Is your restaurant EPOS technology supported by a technical helpdesk 24/7?
- Will you give me one point of contact after the sale?
- How can I be confident the technologies work together?
- Will the technology you provide integrate with my other back end systems?
Don’t be persuaded by a hard sell from a rep who just wants to clean up and ship out. Instead, seek a genuine consultant who works with you to understand what your very individual business needs – both now and after installation.
And above all, don’t feel you need to rush into this decision. Remember, it’s one of the most important choices you can make for your business.
Discover how your business grows with a restaurant EPOS system.
