Business Books

How Many Restaurant POS Stations Will I Need?

• Considering peak customer volume
  You must plan the number of stations based on peak business. If you don’t you won’t be able to sufficiently handle the influx of customers during these periods.
• Considering the number of staff taking orders
  For a table service environment we suggest 1 station per 3-5 servers. You may want to have additional stations for handling high volume areas such as the bar and cashie stations. When switching to a POS system from a cash register many people make the mistake of forgetting that their POS system will not only be used for cashing people out, but will now be used for order entry as well.
• Manage your restaurant layout wisely
  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
  Having proper locations where customers can pay for their meals is also important, you don’t want to keep them waiting do you? For paying at the front, you should have 1 or 2 dedicated cashier stations quicker transactions.

What type of POS computer would be best for my business?

• Desktop PC: standard desktop computers.
  • Least expensive computer option
  • Has onsite warranty for 3 years
  • Can easily be kept hidden underneath a counter, so it will not cause delay for any transactions
  • Flexible for addition of extra ports
  • Latest CPU speeds and memory
  • Screen and computer are separate; if ever technical problems accur, it’ll be isolated.
• Small form factor: smaller than desktops.
  • Compared to the standard computer, SFF is more stylish
  • 3 Year Onsite Warranty Standard for this component
  • Space-saving
  • Fewer options for expandability
  • Latest CPU speeds and memory
  • Screen and computer are separate; so you can easily isolate which ones has technical problems.
• All-in-ones: combining computer with touchscreen technology.
  • Most stylish option with fewer wires and least space required
  • Manufacturers warranty: 1-2 years (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 drawers?

• Unless you want your servers to carry their own cash banks, placing cash drawer at every station you want for ending transactions is advisable.

Should I consider having integrated debit 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.
• A standalone terminal can be used in place if you do not have high speed internet connection.

How many kitchen/bar printers?

• Having one kitchen printer will probably be sufficient for many restaurants; however, if you have different sections in your kitchen which handle different dishes you may want a printer for each section.
• As an example, appetizers can be printed on one printer and all your entrée dish on another printer.
• 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.

Is it essential to have more than 1 receipt printer?

• Having a receipt printer at every station would be better than just having one.

Do I need a back office computer?

• A back office computer is good for allowing managers to run reports, access the system to make changes to menu, check inventory levels, or adjust employee time clock times, without disturbing servers and cashiers.
• It’s not quite necessary to have a back office computer for your restaurant, if you have less than 4 stations.. It is however a great idea that you use a back office computer to host your database if you have 4 or more stations so none of the stations has the extra load of running the database.

 

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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.