Restaurant POS Systems Cutting Edge and Cutting Budgets

Have you seen the latest improvement in the restaurant world? Table top tablet POS (point of sale) systems are beginning to take root. They offer restaurants the opportunity to help servers to be more efficient while also upselling at the table. In addition, many restaurant chains see it as an extra added source of revenue through games, music, and possibly even advertising in the future. The tablets allow restaurant patrons to order drink refills, add on items such as appetizers or desserts, and pay right at the table.

Restaurant chains have adopted this new table top tablet technology as a means to improve customer service, not to replace servers or take away jobs. In fact, servers often report receiving higher tips from customers paying using the POS system because of the increased check size from add-ons and also because most systems calculate the tip percentages for the customer and allow them to choose the exact tip amount. Showing high definition images of specialty drinks, appetizers, and desserts has definitely shown an increase for the restaurants that have been using the new table top POS systems. When patrons pay using the POS system, it offers the option to print the receipt out right there and some systems will even offer to email the receipt. Another added bonus for restaurants is the ability to capture permissioned data from customers and add loyalty program sign ups. Following are some early statistics reported from early adopters of this new technology feature.

U.S. based restaurant chain Genghis Grill reported the following results after installing table top POS systems for 18 months (source):

• 90% to 95% of customers are paying at the table and enjoying the faster service and improved speed.
• Loyalty program sign ups increased 60%
• Sales increased up to 27%

Restaurants are not the only retails businesses to adopt the use of these kind of DIY POS systems, many retail shopping stores have been utilising them for in store shopping or search functions. Even small businesses can take advantage of this by making tablets available to shoppers for the purpose of shopping, searching, reverse show rooming, and even just for the purposes of signing up for a newsletter or loyalty program. Remember, you don’t need a fancy system in order to take advantage of this type of technology.