http://instoredoes.com The Restaurant Owner s Guide to Choosing the Right Technology for Your Business
Whether you re opening a new restaurant or looking to refresh an existing brand, it s important to lay the groundwork for success by making sure you ve gotten all the tools you need to keep things running smoothly. A good oven and refrigeration system are no-brainers but many restaurant owners don t give as much consideration when it comes to assessing their technology needs. In today s competitive world, that s a liability for your restaurant s long-term prospects. Skimp on tools that don t meet your needs, and you won t have access to the data you need to efficiently manage operations and drive business success. On the other hand, invest too heavily in equipment such as a legacy point of sale system, and you might find yourself in debt, all while the technology behind your POS system becomes obsolete. Technology usage is on the rise in restaurants. A new survey from the National Restaurant Association found that nearly 30 percent of chefs planned to use technology such as ipads and smartphones to interact with customers, showcase menus, and facilitate ordering. By carefully considering your business needs and sourcing the technology to fit them, you can stay competitive with other restaurants in your market. Here s how to get started. A S S E S S Y O U R N E E D S If you re a small coffee shop, you ll have very different needs from the Olive Garden down the street, but you may still benefit from growing your business beyond a cash register and a sign out front. Think about your business and its growth potential: Do you want to keep costs down by accepting only cash, or are credit cards critical to attract a broad clientele? Are you interested in selling gift cards, which can provide much-needed cash flow and a tool for driving repeat business? What other payment methods, mobile and otherwise, are of interest? It s also important to think about your budget, and how your choices might impact your month to month cash flow. A terminal point of sale system, for instance, can cost thousands of dollars and require years to amortize the cost, even though your equipment may quickly become obsolete. In contrast, a mobile POS solution offers month-to-month pricing and low upfront costs for reusable mobile devices, helping you afford more points of presence to increase sales and customer satisfaction.
CHOOSE THE RIGHT TOOLS TO MARKET YOUR BUSINESS In addition to coming up with a marketing plan (which may include local advertising or social media promotion), you should consider what technology tools will help you properly spotlight your business. When it comes to building a website, consider whether you need a customdeveloped solution (which might cost $10,000 or more), or whether a site created from a templated solution such as Squarespace may fit your needs. For smaller restaurants, it s rarely worth the large investment in a custom site. Other marketing technology opportunities are often low-cost or free. For instance, if you re planning to build an online mailing list to notify customers of special deals and promotions, there are a range of email marketing software options to choose from, many of which cost just a few dollars per month. Find a comprehensive comparison chart here. Site analytics are also important to gauge how many people are visiting your restaurant s website, and where they are visiting from. Monitoring location data will give you a good sense of how far visitors are traveling to get to your establishment. In the vast majority of cases, free Google Analytics will be the ideal tool for tracking this data. While it may be free to promote your business on social media, it can often be timeconsuming. Social media management platforms exist to help you pre-schedule messages for distribution to your platforms of choice and easily monitor how many people are following your links. HootSuite and Buffer are two highly-regarded platforms, and both offer free and premium plans. F I N D O R D E R I N G A N D C R M T E C H N O LO G I E S T H AT H E L P Y O U CONNECT WITH CUSTOMERS Now that you ve used your marketing tools to bring customers to your store, how will you get them to place their orders? Obviously, you can use a traditional cash register, but without a more integrated platform, you ll lose access to valuable data that can help you track trends in store performance and your customers preferences. Instead, look for a POS platform that includes a customer relationship management system (CRM) to track customers ordering history and contact information. It can be 5-10x more expensive to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one, so make sure you are equipped to manage the ones you already have.
Loyalty punch cards and standalone loyalty platforms abound, but their achilles heel is an inability to tie into the POS and your sales data. These solutions track visits fairly well, but there s a wealth of data beyond visits that you can use to connect with your customers. Look for a POS platform with integrated loyalty that will allow you to tie a customer loyalty program to a customer s credit card or phone number as well as the amount they spend with you. You can even add additional information that you learn about customers (i.e., Shelly is glutenfree ) to wow them with incredible customer service on future visits. Additionally, consider whether your customers would appreciate the ability to place their own orders on a streamlined interface, or to cash out instantly at their tables with a credit card, rather than waiting for a server to process it at the register. Many mpos systems offer such options. C H O O S E A S O LU T I O N F O R M A N A G I N G E M P LOY E E S A N D PAYROLL How do you want to track employee hours? There are a range of options available, from the old-school sign-in/out sheet to punch clocks to mobile apps. Remember that the easier it is for an employee to sign in or out, the more accurate they will be so rather than constantly checking up on a server who forgot to write her sign-out time on the sheet, you may be better served by using POS-based time-tracking software that employees can access throughout the day. As an added benefit, such systems can instantly integrate with your payroll software, eliminating the risk of costly payroll errors that you face when copying over employee hours from timesheet to computer. Some mobile POS platforms even offer analytics that help you track your employees productivity on the job. Want to know who s creating the most sales, or which employees are consistently going over their allotted break time? Look for a POS solution with these capabilities to help you maximize your employees productivity and streamline the payroll process. PICK AN AGILE POS SOLUTION Finally, it s essential to choose a reliable point of sale system that will help you easily process orders and manage inventory.
When considering what to look for in a POS system, consider not only the cost of your technology stack, but also what the wrong tools might cost you in lost business over time. Most successful businesses make it as easy as possible for customers to pay them, so consider a system that will accept not only cash and credit cards, but gift cards and mobile payment methods like Apple Pay and Google Wallet. Rather than choosing an expensive terminal-based system, many modern businesses are choosing cloud-based POS solutions that make use of mobile tablets. Advantages of an mpos platform include: Monthly subscription fees - Rather than taking on thousands of dollars in debt to support your system, most mpos systems offer flat monthly fees, and generally cost a hundred dollars per month or so. Fully managed support - Instead of paying a consultant to upgrade equipment or perform routine maintenance, mobile point of sale solutions are cloud-hosted, allowing the software vendor to manage all tech support off-site and instantly deliver routine software upgrades. Ability to access data in real-time from anywhere - With a mobile POS solution, you can securely access your store data in real-time, including total sales, employee hours logged, payroll expenses, and many other data insights that can help you track your business health. No need to go to the store s back office to find out what s happening keep tabs on your restaurant no matter where you are. BUILD A COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTION FOR YOUR BUSINESS As a restaurant owner or manager, there are many areas of your business where flexible technology solutions can help you gain additional insights, streamline processes, and cut your business expenses. Rather than relying on a mish-mash of solutions to cover different areas of the business, focus on choosing a complete merchant management solution that encompasses many of these functions. A comprehensive mpos platform can help you solve many of your business problems simultaneously. Take the time to conduct research, view product demos, and then choose a solution that helps you address your business challenges head-on while taking advantage of integrated capabilities like loyalty and online ordering.