Happy woman using the POS at her restaurant

We’ve previously shared the benefits of enlisting a comprehensive POS solution for your restaurant. From saving time and frustration to helping you do more with less effort, even while short-staffed, your chosen point-of-sale system has the potential to expedite and streamline processes, align your operations and improve both the employee and customer experiences

When it comes to deciding which solution to use, based on the features it has, things can get murky. Here’s some guidance from our industry experts, who understand not just the technology side of things, but also the human component having clocked decades in the restaurant industry themselves.

What basic functionalities to expect from your POS

Ultimately, you should expect any point of sale to ring up and charge transactions — that’s why it’s called, a point of sale, after all. And maybe, if you’re running a roadside lemonade stand that’s probably all you need.

Whatever the case may be, it all comes down to the system’s ability to take payments — and, arguably — look back on past payments, for tax purposes. Because who doesn’t want their reporting to be clearer and easier?

For some businesses, a card reader attached to your phone and an app that does the above will suffice. However, you should also consider what happens when the business you’ve decided to run becomes more complex and involves more moving parts. Then, your POS needs to evolve — even expand — its capabilities. Not all systems are flexible and most lock you in with contracts, making it harder to change course.

Things to consider in your POS — but might not have

Reporting can do more than help you figure out your taxes and payroll — it also helps you make informed business decisions and develop a sound plan of action. Ask yourself:

  • What are the biggest pain points in my guest experience? 
  • Is there a way my POS could help minimize friction for diners?
  • What are the biggest pain points in my employees’ workdays? 
  • How can my POS help minimize employees’ stress and improve their workdays?

How a POS can change the game for managers

A well-tooled POS means speed. Efficiency. Fewer taps to get what you need.

It should allow your talent to be on the floor 100% of the time, keeping guests happy, anticipating needs, pacing tables, and providing hospitality. These are the skills that you can’t teach — and that only come with years of focused experience. Every time a server is doing a job I can teach to new employees in a matter of minutes, the skilled labor in your restaurant is being misappropriated.

Your fellow managers, skilled servers, and semi-experienced employees should all be able to instantly communicate guest needs in the POS. That gives operators a clear, real-time picture of the demands on their team at any moment in time so they can throttle seating and online ordering — if necessary — until the demands on the labor fall into line with the actual labor on the floor.

Using that data then helps restaurant management restructure their division of labor so that employees are consistently working on tasks appropriate to their skill levels in a focused, but calm and controlled, manner. When layered with analytics tools, that data lends insight into the hourly, weekly, monthly, and seasonal ebbs and flows of your business, helping you hire and schedule optimally.

This will allow your employees to:

  • Make the most money possible without the risk of burnout
  • Wow my guests with superior hospitality
  • Maintain tight controls on your labor

Mind you, it’s not about trying to wring the most out of your staff. That’s the last thing you want to do. At the same time, you need to be mindful that whenever there is more labor on the floor than you need to deliver excellent service, you’re losing money. Data and analytics make it possible to identify the balance, without overworking your staff or spreading tip money too thinly between them.

How a POS helps servers

When your server is responsible for taking orders, putting the orders in, making the soft drinks, getting alcohol from the bar, and getting all beverages before the appetizers begin to arrive, it’s a lot to handle. And it doesn’t always go as planned. 

As a server, a well-designed POS system lets you be on the floor 100% of the time, practicing the soft skills that make you so valuable while assisting with pacing, anticipating guests’, educating diners, and — ultimately — wowing customers.

Servers benefit when the POS system that:

  • Instantly communicates reelevent information so orders can be prepared immediately
  • Gives managers real-time visibility so they can delegate coverage and responsibilities 
  • Eliminates the neeed to duplicate the effort of writing down orders and reentereing them to the POS

With instant communication of needs while ordering, the time servers spend on tasks is cut into fractions, stress levels are kept in check, guests are happier and tables are turned faster. That can lead to better tips and increased revenue, not to mention repeat business.

Where Table Needs fits into the mix

Table Needs is designed by restaurant people, for restaurant people. We’re personally familiar with all the pain points and bottlenecks that hamper day-to-day life in a restaurant. So we’re designing with the specific intention of easing those challenges. We don’t just want your restaurant to use our product — we want to help make life better in your restaurant, and the experience better for your guests and employees.

We also know it’s important to think 10 steps ahead when you’re running a business. So, we set you up with what you need today, with complementary plug-and-play restaurant technologies that can effortlessly be turned on and off as your needs evolve or change.

Admittedly, switching your POS can be a painful experience, it doesn’t have to be. 

With Table Needs, you receive the support of a dedicated success representative, there to support you, oversee training, answer questions and help troubleshoot, every step of the way. They’ll also ensure you and your team are confident in using our restaurant technologies so there’s no downtime, confusion or frustration spent figuring things out. 

We make sure you’re ready to roll, right out of the box.

Need extra help? Our U.S.-based tech support is here to help and you won’t wait hours to speak to a representative. We provide our partners with multiple U.S.-based communication channels, letting you reach us by text, email and phone.

Additionally, Table Needs Academy offers a tableau of engaging, insightful online training and knowledge to help you get the most out of your restaurant technology experience.

If you’d like to talk to a real person, quickly, who knows the product and can help find a real solution to your issue contact us. We can chat about the best way to tailor your POS solution to your restaurant’s specific needs.

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