7 Ways to End the Year on a High Note with Your POS System for Bar and Restaurant

The New Year is all about starting fresh—new habits to form, new goals to accomplish, and new surprises around the corner!

But in business, it’s always full speed ahead and there’s no time to waste waiting around for January 1 to start doing the things you want to do. If you’re an owner in the food and beverage space, there are plenty of tasks you can do right now to build momentum and make sure your next year is full of successes. 

Here are 7 ways to end the year on a high note with your bar and restaurant POS system:

1. Enhance the Guest Experience with QR Code Menus, Ordering, and Payments

Did you know that 50% of all full-service restaurant operators in the US have added QR coded menus since the beginning of the pandemic? Guests and staff alike have become accustomed to these matrix barcodes in the dining experience. And with the benefits that restaurants and bars are reaping—24% higher tabs and tips!—it’s a no-brainer that QR codes are here to stay. 

So if your POS system for your bar and restaurant allows, you should definitely consider implementing QR code ordering in your space. Besides increasing tab and tip sizes, QR codes offer a better overall experience for your diners, and then they’ll be more likely to visit again in the New Year!

Here’s how self-serve ordering turns one-time customers into loyal enthusiasts:

• Increased efficiency with a smaller staff. Traditional tableside service unnecessarily ties up your hustling staff. Work smarter instead of harder, especially because we all know that the labor shortage is real. 
• Reduce wait time for guests. Tableside service also inherently means your guests are spending more time toe tapping. Put the ordering power in their hands and get orders in the kitchen and out to tables quicker.
• Maximize genuine interactions between guests and staff. With staff not having to run around swiping credit cards, they have more time to tell customers about your organic ingredients or an upcoming event. Plus, guests spend 10.3% more when staff members offer recommendations!
• Maintain social distancing. Guests are more conscious than ever about reducing contact with strangers, and QR codes allow for just that. 

There are even more benefits of QR code ordering. Learn more about how self-serve ordering can both make and save you money, easy steps for implementing it yourself, and how to get your staff onboard adoption via your POS system for your bar and restaurant by downloading The Ultimate Guide to QR Codes in the Taproom for free!

The holidays are a perfect time to begin training staff and your best customers on QR code ordering. Then you can kick your New Year off with some big tabs and happy guests!

2. Revamp Your Menu

As they say: Out with the old, in with the new! The holidays are typically your busiest time of year, so it’s the perfect chance to try some experimental menu items and get feedback from everyone passing through. 

With the help of your bar and restaurant POS system, you can easily change digital menus to reflect new items, and even showcase holiday specials with pictures! If you notice photos are causing more people to order certain things, you can use that knowledge come 2022. For example, showcase some leafy greens for those New Year dieters, or that Peanut Butter Porter to warm some winter bellies!

3. Throw a Charity Event

The holidays are definitely the time of the year where people are feeling the most generous, and it’s also when those in need could especially use the help. Throwing a charity event gets people talking about your bar and restaurant, rallies the donating troops, and spreads holiday cheer. 

An ideal POS system for bars and restaurants assists with events like these with features such as a Donation Feature at checkout. By prompting paying guests to either round up or donate whole dollar amounts, you can greatly increase the amount of donations you collect and the impact you make on a nonprofit.

You can learn a lot about what goes well and what to improve, and make a plan for regularly scheduled charity events to host in the New Year!

Looking for food and beverage organizations to donate to? Check out this list of 10 F&B nonprofits changing the world.

4. Add Delivery and Pick Up Options

E-commerce in the food and beverage industry is a billion dollar business and growing. With the weather getting colder and people less likely to change out of their pajamas, it’s the perfect time to try pick up and delivery options via your online storefront. 

Your bar and restaurant POS system should support an online platform where customers can order food and drinks to-go. With your trusty POS system by your side, here are the other key things to consider:

• Staffing. Extra hands are needed to pack to-go orders, bring the orders curbside, and deliver locally. Make sure you have the necessary staff to do so!
• Third party services. Consider a third party if you don’t have staff onboard available to deliver. 
• Inventory management. Offering to-go means you’ll be servicing a larger population of people, and you’ll want to ensure you have a synced POS and inventory system in place. That way, you can track inventory depletions in real-time, and make sure that no one orders something online that is no longer in stock. 
• Fulfillment space. You’ll likely need a dedicated area to fulfill and pack extra orders. 
• Legal compliance. Unsurprisingly, there are some laws around delivering alcohol. Make sure you’re registered with the appropriate state and federal departments, and that there’s an age verification process on your online storefront. 

If this bite sounds like a lot to chew, remember to lean on your POS system for your bar and restaurant to manage and track your direct to consumer efforts. 

Mixed 12 pack cases ready to ship at Fruition Brewing in Watsonville, CA. Fruition Brewing is an Arryved customer. Image courtesy of Fruition Brewing.

5. Inventory Audit and Forecasting

Speaking of inventory management, the end of the year means it’s time to manually check in on your inventory and ensure that your counts are accurate. Even the best POS systems for bars and restaurants can benefit from a spot-check audit to find hidden inefficiencies.

Linking your inventory and your bar and restaurant POS system means that your forecasting is all the more accurate. Make sure that the inventory that isn’t selling well isn’t ordered again, and that you have plenty of your best sellers in stock ready for the New Year. 

6. Run Promotions

Promoting discounts at the end of the year is a great way to get more diners in your space and merchandise off your shelves. With the help of your POS system for your bar and restaurant, you can add time-sensitive deals at the bottom of receipts or sale banners at the top of your online storefront. 

You can build momentum into the New Year by making the deals expire at the end of January, and that can ensure some extra traffic during an otherwise slow month. Plus, by putting your current merch on sale now, you can make way for brand new schwag in 2022 and encourage your fans to outfit themselves in the latest garb.

7. Prepare for Year-End Filing

Before you look forward, take a peek into the past! Ensure that your learnings from this year are resolved for the next, and that any newfound knowledge of your customers is taken into account to better serve your eaters and drinkers. 

Your bar and restaurant POS system can glean an exhaustive amount of data, including the following insights: when sales are being made plus sales categories, daily and week-over-week, revealing trends for planning, projections and revenue predictions.

Knowing who from, when, and where you’re making the most money is imperative for your bottom line and your growth going forward into the New Year and beyond!

Are you satisfied with your bar and restaurant POS system? Arryved POS offers features like QR code ordering, donation at checkout, online storefront capabilities, and comprehensive reporting all for FREE. Request a complimentary demo with an Arryved specialist today.