Q & A on Restaurant POS System
How Many Restaurant POS Terminal Will I Need?
- Peak customer volume
If you want to efficiently handle large quantity of customers, you must plan the number of POS stations based on peak business. - Number of staff taking the orders
For serving tables, I suggest assigning 1 station per 3-5 servers. High volume areas such as bars and cashier stations may need to have a dedicated station for that purpose. Switching from a standard cash register to a POS system, many people make the mistake of forgetting that their POS system is not only used to to cash out customers but can also be used for order entry as well. - Managing restaurant layout wisely
If you have a bar you can bet the bartender will need his or her own station. Other stations should be located where servers can easily get at them. - Having proper location where your customers pay for their meals
If you want your customers to pay for their meals though your servers carrying their own banks, then I suggest assigning fewer servers per station. But if you want them to pay at front, having one or two dedicated cashier stations would be better for speedy transactions.
What type of POS computer would be best for my restaurant?
- Desktop PC: the standard desktop type.
- Least expensive computer option
- 3 Year Onsite Warranty Standard for this component
- take more span but can easily be positioned so it can’t cause any hassle for your paying customers
- Has greater flexibility 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: 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; so you can easily isolate which ones has technical difficulties.
- All-in-ones: combining touchscreen and computer.
- Stylish, space-saving terminal with fewer wires required
- 1–2 Year Manufacturers 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.
- Screen and computer are combined
How many cash will I need?
- This is probably fairly self-evident, but unless your servers carry their own cash bank you should have a cash drawer at every station you want to use to end transactions.
Credit card processing?
- Using your POS systems to process credit card transactions allows you to keep records of every transaction you process in one convenient location.
- You can reduce 3-4 seconds per transaction using with the advance of 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 I have?
- Having one printer for your kitchen would be sufficient for your restaurant, not unless you have different sections serving different dishes inside your kitchen then it would be better if you place printers on all sections.
- For 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?
- It’s always 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. But if you do, it’s always a good idea that you host your database on a back office computer if you do have 4 or more stations so none of the stations has the extra 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.