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Restaurant Is the Same as Retail, But Different The components, peripherals, and considerations for Retail POS discussed earlier in this Buyer's Guide for the most part are the same for Restaurant/Hospitality POS as well. There are two main areas of difference between retail and restaurant POS. The Software Is Definitely Different Of course, the software will be different for restaurants than for retail outlets like drug stores and supermarkets. The nature of the transactions is different: In a restaurant, you open an order and it stays open until the customer is finished with their meal and their drinks. And the components you're selling are different: It's not packaged goods, it's meals made up of standard measures of ingredients, with some inevitable customization ("Can you leave out the mayonnaise and put on extra ketchup?") that makes inventory tracking interesting. Some of the Hardware and Peripherals Are Different Too You're still using computerized POS client systems at the door to take customer payments, but you will benefit greatly by adding a network link between your wait staff taking orders, and your kitchen, so the orders are sent electronically to the kitchen. There they can be displayed on monitors (for a fast-food operation) or printed out for the chefs. This means your wait staff will either have to be equipped with wireless handheld order-taking devices that send the order back to the kitchen instantly (cool!), or the wait staff will have to go back and enter the order on an order-station computer that captures the info (for your later data analysis) and prints out a copy of the order back in the kitchen. www.allbusiness.com Back to Industry News |
