Are you running your coffee shop on just a cash register? Are you taking orders with pen and paper? While these may do the simple job of allowing you to take customer orders and payments, when you look into a cloud-based, comprehensive POS (point of sale) system, you’ll see just how much more it can offer your business.
POS systems can handle customer payments, order management, inventory management, sales data and much more. The latest systems have a user-friendly range of features that offer improved efficiency and detailed business analysis, and enable you to offer better customer service. This all means your business could be more agile, more streamlined, and more profitable.
Here are nine reasons to consider investing in a cloud-based restaurant POS software immediately.
1. To become a more agile business in turbulent times
Cloud-based POS systems allow you to set up a flexible ordering and payment system. Your staff can take orders and card payments using an iPad or tablet from wherever they are. Operate tableside inside the restaurant, on the terrace, in kiosks or food trucks, or operate a more traditional counter system. The choice is yours.
The flexibility gives you agility, or the ability to respond to difficult market conditions with speed. A good system will easily allow you to scale up quickly, meaning you can adapt to the latest trends. As systems evolve, more and more third-party software is becoming available for integration. Automatic updates ensure you are always running the most recent and feature-rich version, too.
2. To improve accuracy
Inaccuracies can be an issue in many coffee shops. With so many add-on items like syrups, extra shots and different sizing options, it is important that orders are recorded accurately and that the customer is charged correctly. Improve your customer experience and help your baristas get every order and bill just right with an easy-to-navigate system.
A reputable system will use intuitive technology to make operations during busy times run more easily and smoothly. Look out for features like menu shortcuts for popular items that will make your service even faster.
3. To put customer convenience first
If you are running an independent coffee shop or small chain, you will be very familiar with the challenges of competing with global names in the business. Some of the appealing features of the household name coffee chains are their slick operations and their convenience.
Use a new POS system to help you set up customer-friendly features like loyalty programmes, gift cards, and customised receipts. Improve convenience for your customers by being able to accept more payment methods, too.
4. To build better relationships with your customers
POS software can help you build a customer database. By knowing your customers better, you can serve them better. Gain important insights and use customer data to help guide decision making and strategy. Understand customer behaviour and know the demographics of your most frequent customers, for instance, or typical spends.
Features like customer facing display systems paired with staff screens help transparency and build trust in your customer data management, as well as improve the speed of service.
5. To manage menu changes effortlessly
With a good POS system, adding and removing items from your menu is easy. You can cope effortlessly with daily specials and seasonal menus. Make real time changes to your menu options and easily flag out of stock items.
6. To get in-depth reporting
The reporting features available with modern POS software offer the chance to get greater insights into all aspects of your coffee shop business. You can track your bestsellers and the profitability of your individual menu items. With labour reporting features, you can also easily spot your peak and off-peak times and get insights into labour usage percentages, making planning your staff rotas much more straightforward.
7. To automate your inventory
Manual inventory management is incredibly time-consuming and prone to human error. Stock shortages and wasted stock impacts profitability, too. But with restaurant POS software like Revel, you can also benefit from inventory management and analytics. Take all the guesswork out of reordering stock and make sure you never run out of key items again. Keep your regular customers happy; they’ll know they can always count on you for their favourite beverage exactly how they like it.
8. To keep your data safe and accessible from anywhere
One of the distinct advantages of a cloud-based system is that regular back-ups are automated. This means that your data is safe.
All you need is an internet connection to access your data. This means that you can see what’s happening in the business in real-time without even needing to be on the premises. Edit menus, view sales data and track your inventory from wherever you happen to be.
9. To save space
You don’t need much space to run a cloud-based POS system. The software runs through devices as small as iPads so you just need to make room for customer-facing displays if you want them, a cash drawer and receipt printer. Very few items are required at either front or back of the house to run an integrated system.
Next Steps
As you can see, a POS system is a lot more than a way of managing transactions. It brings with it much greater flexibility, adaptability, mobility and security. Don’t get left behind. Reach out and ask for a comprehensive restaurant software demo today.
Ross Smith
CEO at iPad POS Middle East
