restaurant automation

Restaurant POS System: Q&A

How Many Restaurant POS Terminal Will I Be Needing?

  • Peak volume of customers
    When handling peak customer volume, you need to have a plan to be able to efficiently serve them all.
  • Number of employees taking the orders
    For serving tables, I suggest assigning 1 station per 3-5 servers. You might want to have additional stations for handling high volume areas like the bar or cashier station. When switching to a POS system from a cash register many people unintentionally forget that their POS system is not only used to to cash out customers but can also be used for order entry as well.
  • The layout of your restaurant
    Assigning a separate station like for your bar tender would be much better, so he could easily serve customers customers without any delay.
  • Having proper location where your customers pay for their meals
    If you plan to have customers pay at the front you should have 1 or 2 dedicated cashier stations to fast track transactions. If the servers are going to carry their own banks, we suggest fewer servers per station.

What type of POS computer should I use for my restaurant?

  • Desktop: standard desktop computers.
    • Least expensive computer option
    • With a gurantee of 3 years of onsite warranty
    • Takes more space but can be hidden away below a counter
    • Flexible for addition of extra ports
    • Latest CPU speeds and memory
    • Screen and computer are separate; if ever technical difficulties accur, it’ll be isolated.
  • Small form factor (SFF): originally phrased as shuttle form factor, a smaller type of PC.
    • More stylish than the desktop
    • 3 Year Onsite Warranty Standard for this component
    • Saves more space
    • Fewer options for expandability
    • Latest CPU speeds and memory
    • Screen and computer are separate; if ever technical problems accur, it’ll be isolated.
  • All-in-one terminals: the combination of touchscreen and computer.
    • Most stylish option with fewer wires and least space required
    • Has 1-2 years warranty (Not onsite)
    • Comes standard with sufficient ports for almost any operation
    • CPU speed is generally slower than the other two options but sufficient for the Point of Sale needs.
    • Combined screen and computer

How many cash is ideal for my retail business?

  • Your servers may carry their own cash banks, but it is still advisable that you have a cash drawer to stations where you want to end transactions.

Integrated credit cards?

  • You can easily process and track record of every credit card transactions using your POS system in one location..
  • Can reduce seconds of transaction time with a high speed internet.
  • If you do not have a high speed internet, we suggest using a standalone terminal for processing transactions.

How many printers must a typical restaurant?

  • One printer for your kitchen will probably be sufficient for most restaurants; however, if you have different sections in your kitchen handling different dishes you may want a printer for each section.
  • As an example, you can print all appetizer orders on one printer and have all your main dish printed on another.
  • When choosing for printers to use for your kitchen and bar, use impact (dot-matrix) printers instead of thermal printers. Why? Because tickets that are printed on thermal printers becomes unreadable when exposed to heat, and the loud printing of impact printers can alert your cooks and bartenders of incoming orders.

How many receipt printers?

  • It’s a good idea for every station to have their own receipt printer.

Should I have a back office computer?

  • A back office computer helps managers to run reports and access POS systems to change, remove or add important data without disturbing servers.
  • It is not necessary to have a back office computer unless you have 4 or more stations. However, it’s a great idea that you host your database on a back office computer when you have 4 or more stations so that none of the stations has the additional load of running the database.

 

More information is available at 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 and sizes throughout the U.S.