How to Choose a POS System Your Staff Will Love

You wouldn’t be where you are today without the people working tirelessly by your side: your beloved staff. So when you’re choosing a new POS system, you of course want to keep your staff’s needs in mind. 

Here are some features to prioritize that will ensure your staff loves your POS system, and in turn help you better serve your adoring customers. 

Training & Usability

The first one is obvious: Is the potential POS system easy to use? The interface needs to be intuitive and training on the new tech needs to be a quick and painless process. You don’t want to spend too much precious time getting all staff members up to speed on the new system. 

This goes hand-in-hand with the POS company’s customer service. Inquire early about what onboarding looks like for each POS system you’re looking at. If the POS company offers a comprehensive training process (hopefully free of charge!) take them up on it. After all, even if you feel like you have a good understanding of the POS system, you could learn some efficiencies and see where your staff may be having troubles. 

Available customer support from your POS company is even more important later down the road when you have a packed taproom on a Saturday night and a question that needs to be answered ASAP. Helpful, responsive customer service is unparalleled, and your staff will no doubt be grateful for both phone and email assistance when they need it most. 

Mobility

A mobile POS system serves staff needs better than a standard POS system. It quite literally mobilizes your staff by eliminating the stationary check out terminal, and allows staff to take orders anywhere in your establishment right from a smartphone or tablet device. Not only does this free them up to move about your space and service any guests that need them, it also saves them time. Mobile POS systems mean servers can check guests out tableside, so they aren’t unnecessarily running around to swipe credit cards and deliver receipts. 

Saving staff time doing administrative tasks like this means they have more time to hone in on being gracious hosts! Your guests will appreciate the genuine interactions, and likely order more and tip higher. In fact, guests spend 10.3% more when staff offer recommendations, which is more probable with the flexibility of a mobile POS system.

This kind of POS system also accepts a wider range of payment options for guests—credit and debit cards, contactless payments, and digital wallets like Google Pay—which eases the checkout process for servers as well.

Technical Savviness

The technical aspects of your POS system are also something your staff cares about. Here are some modern technical efficiencies that you should prioritize in your hunt for a POS system:

1. Cloud-based is a feature of most mobile POS systems. It means that all of the data and payments collected by the system’s various mobile devices are stored in one place and that information updates in real time. This is beneficial for staff for 2 reasons:

• Expedites communication between front of house (FOH) and back of house (BOH)
• Data is accessible from anywhere, even outside the establishment

By increasing the accuracy, speed, and accessibility of your business’s data, a cloud-based POS system is better for your team’s efficiency. 

2. Card on file is frankly an archaic practice in hospitality these days. Just as every customer hates having the realization that they left their card at the last taproom, every server dreads the liability of holding on to a full rolodex of credit cards. Make sure your POS system has the ability to keep a card on file and a tab open without holding on to the physical card. It saves your staff stress, and also saves time sifting through rolodexes!

3. Offline mode is the cherry on top of a savvy POS sundae. Although it doesn’t happen often, power outages are out of your control and can occur at the worst possible times if you have a full house and a ton of open tabs. Look for a POS system that offers offline mode so you can continue to take orders and close tabs without Wifi, and then restore all the changes once you get power back on. 

Offline mode also comes in handy for events outside of your typical restaurant or bar. Wifi is rarely available at a farmers market, and using cellular data isn’t a viable long term solution. 

In short, a POS system with offline mode simply saves your staff from headaches and lets them focus fully on your customers!

4. QR code menus, ordering and payments are a pandemic-induced craze that is here to stay! These matrix barcodes popped up on tables across the US dining world these past couple of years, enabling guests to view menus, submit orders, and even check out right from their own smartphone. 

Besides the obvious time-saver this process is for staff (especially in the wake of a labor shortage) there are many other benefits to reap for servers with QR codes:

• Easy menu management. Out of sweet potato fries? A digital menu is much easier to update than a paper menu, and it’s also eco-friendly! That way, staff members don’t have to watch a yam-craver’s face fall when they realize the item they want is no longer available, because it will already be removed from the menu. 
• No assigned table charts. QR code ordering dismisses the idea that servers are assigned to certain tables, and creates a cohesive team mentality. This means no single server gets overwhelmed, and all guests’ needs are taken care of by a rotating team.
• FOH staff become product enthusiasts. With all the time saved on administrative tasks and adding in that last side salad to a tab, staff instead have time to gain expertise on your products. They can educate themselves on the organic ingredients that go into your delicious food, impress guests with their thoughtful recommendations, and invite customers to the upcoming Bingo Night you host every week! Remember, QR codes enhance the interactions between staff and guests instead of eliminating the interactions completely. And those enhanced interactions are reflected in bigger tips: 24% higher to be exact!
• Straightforward inventory management. BOH staff will rejoice with the amount of easy-to-access data that QR code ordering allows for. Instead of paper tickets, all ordering is done digitally, which means diving deep into the data is a piece of cake. BOH can see what’s being ordered, at what time, and where fat could be trimmed. You’ll find that you can increase profit margins by making proactive decisions on staffing, menus, events, and overall business operations, all in a centralized database. More on why staff appreciate robust reporting below!

Staff buy-in on QR code ordering is simple when you outline all of these potential benefits. If you’re interested in learning more about the business rewards from QR codes—we’re talking 24% higher tab sizes—and also how you can slowly begin implementing this service model yourself, download The Ultimate Guide to QR Codes for free!

Software & Hardware Compatibility

Another quality that will ease the transition to a new POS system for your staff is how compatible it is. Your POS should integrate with softwares you’re already using or plan to use, whether it’s business management, accounting, inventory management, etc. Syncing all of these tools will keep your team members organized and more efficient!

The hardware offered by a POS system should also be carefully considered. The mobility of hardware was mentioned earlier, but the actual durability and reliability of hardware plays an important role in your business’s success, too. If you have to constantly replace devices or fix problems with them, it unnecessarily adds to a long list of to-do’s, and your staff has enough on their plates already.

Dynamic Tab Functionalities

Speaking of hardware, the actual tab functionalities offered by a POS system are important to your staff members. Here are some dynamic tab features to keep an eye out for:

• Splitting tabs can be a server’s worst nightmare when there is a packed picnic table full of guests ready to skedaddle. The best POS systems make this function a quick couple taps of the finger!
• Merging tabs should be a similar process of creating a parent tab and absorbing the appropriate checks under one.
• Tab tags are identifiers that any server can tack onto a tab to organize big groups. For example, if a kickball team comes in every Tuesday after their game, you can tag each of their tabs with a kickball naming convention. This not only helps staff keep track of everyone in a group, but it also allows you to look back after their season and see how much revenue was generated from all of their tabs every Tuesday. Perhaps it’s worthwhile for your staff to start finding ways to invite more recreational teams to dine with you!

These tab functionalities speed up processes in your staff’s day-to-day operations, and those number-crunchers in the BOH will also appreciate the data organization. 

Robust Reporting

A cloud-based POS system goes hand-in-hand with a robust reporting database, and it’s worth pointing out its importance on its own. Staff members value comprehensive reporting because it gives them actionable insights on how to better serve customers, and makes them feel like they’re working for a business that is making the right decisions. Everyone wants to work for a leader that they can trust to steer the ship!

Insights like which items are selling best, when, at what quantity, and by which staff members allow for proactive decisions that lead to success. Besides the day-to-day data, long-term trends can also help you make smarter choices regarding efficiency optimization, revenue streams, and the guest experience.

Check out these 7 POS data insights that will level up your business operations and guide your staff member’s next moves!

Scalability for Your Growing Business

Lastly, for the sake of both your staff and your business, make sure your POS system is equipped to grow with you! Some POS companies limit your hardware devices or the amount of people that can be added as new logins, and that simply should not be a company you invest your money in. Your POS system should be assisting with and celebrating your growing successes, not limiting them with silly fees. 

Parceling out a limited number of devices or logins because they cost money means you run the risk of overwhelming your staff. They should instead feel like you and the POS system are setting them up for success.

Focus on these 6 staff-centric aspects of POS systems when you’re on the hunt, and your staff will surely maximize efficiency, their tips, and in turn, your bottom line!

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Invest in a POS system that grows with you, celebrates your wins, and that staff members love to use! Chat with an Arryved POS specialist today about setting up a customized demo!

 

Arryved all the way: it’s a system built by people who worked in the industry and they regularly check in with their clients for not only support, but ways they can potentially grow or help you pivot. I’ve worked with all the major systems out there and I would never pick another service.

-Katie Nierling, General Manager of Ska Street Brewstillery