Best POS for Brewery From The Taproom Managers

Taproom managers know firsthand what it takes to be the best POS for breweries. Their intimate knowledge of what goes on in both the front and back of house in a craft beverage business make them experts in determining the exact tools necessary to make a successful taproom. 

Features Of The Best POS For Your Brewery

So let’s hear from taproom managers themselves! We dove into a discussion board on ProBrewer.com where owners and managers discussed what they value most in POS systems for the taproom. Here are some of the commonalities discussed:

• “intuitive, easy to make changes on the fly, real-time cloud reporting, customizable menus and discounts/promos”
• Helps staff be “more organized and efficient”
• “increase your speed, volume, and efficiency”
• “running special happy hours, tracking inventory”
• “Great customer support, made specifically for brewery/brewpubs”

Now that we understand what taproom managers value in their POS systems, let’s dive into specific tools that the best POS for breweries offer.

Intuitive & Easy To Use

Taproom managers know that staff members have bigger fish to fry than wasting their time trying to figure out the basic functionality of a POS system. That’s why an easy-to-use interface is a top priority in the best POS for breweries. 

Their plea for intuitiveness also comes from the taproom manager’s desire to be empathized with by a POS system that truly understands their business. Thus, a suite of tools and features built specifically to serve craft makers and servers is key to the best POS for breweries. 

Also imperative to this is a knowledgeable, patient customer support team equipped with industry knowledge. By supplying a team of empathetic experts, the best POS for breweries acknowledge how important helping their partners really succeed is. 

Increase Staff Efficiency & Organization

One of the main responsibilities of a taproom manager is to ensure staff members have what they need to get their jobs done in the most efficient way possible. So when they identify the best POS for breweries, it’s a system that provides tools that increase “speed, volume, and efficiency.”

Here are some tools that the best POS for breweries offer that increase productivity:

QR code ordering, menus, and payments

Everyone in the hospitality industry is feeling the weight of the current labor shortage, so you’re likely working with a smaller staff than usual. QR code ordering entered the brewery scene as a socially distanced way to continue serving guests during the peak of the pandemic, but the technology is going to stick around because of the myriad of business benefits they’ve been found to produce. 

QR codes:

• Save 30-50% on labor costs by reducing the need for servers to take orders and collect payments
• Reduce ordering friction by allowing guests to add menu items to their own tabs, making tabs 24% larger on average
• Make delivery of orders faster by instantly sending food and drink orders to the kitchen and bar staff
• Empower staff to have more hospitable conversations with guests be freeing them up from tedious administrative tasks, increasing tip size by 24% on average

Taproom managers know that implementing QR codes isn’t at all about replacing beloved staff with technology, but instead about giving staff a helpful tool to service guests faster, ultimately enhancing the taproom experience.

Card on file

A bustling brewery doesn’t have the time to trade credit cards back and forth in order to open and close tabs. Staff dread the liability of holding a rolodex full of precious cards, and guests hate the feeling of leaving a credit card behind! That’s why the best POS for breweries keep cards on file and tabs open without needing to hold on to physical credit cards. That saves staff the time, and saves guests the headaches.

Offline mode

There’s no bigger buzzkill than a storm that wipes out your brewery’s power, leaving your staff with the inability to continue transacting. Another attribute of the best POS for breweries is offline mode, where tabs can continue growing or tabs can close out, and all of the sales data syncs again when power is restored. 

Dynamic tab functionalities

The way in which a POS handles tab functionalities make or break an efficient tableside ordering process. The best POS for breweries speeds up daily operations for staff with the following features:

• Splitting tabs with a quick couple taps of a finger, so a packed picnic table of satisfied guests can close out individually and get on their merry way.
• Merging tabs similarly—easy, fast functionality so guests don’t get impatient. 
• Tab tags identify a tab that’s organized into larger groups. This is great for recreational teams that stop in after their weekly games, Trivia Night guests, or private event attendees. Tab tags are celebrated by back of house staff, too, because they can glean sales data on what groups are making your taproom the most money!

All of these functions contribute to an efficient and organized team!

Flex With Business Needs

No day looks the same in a brewery, and taproom managers deem the best POS for breweries as ones that provide the necessary flexibility to evolve with their changing business needs. 

Some of this has to do with feature functions, such as menus that are easy to update on the fly, or 7 days/week customer support available to answer burning questions.

But, a large part of a POS that supports breweries in experimenting, flexing, and growing has to do with their pricing model. The best POS for breweries offer all features for no extra monthly charges, and don’t require restrictive contracts. Afterall, a POS that charges per-feature every month or locks you into a year-long contract is not invested in your success—they’re only interested in their own bottom line. 

Taproom managers seek the freedom to try new things without having to worry about what their POS bill looks like at the end of the month. The best POS for breweries doesn’t penalize businesses with silly monthly fees, and instead encourage you to test and iterate to find what works best for your unique brewery.

Marketing Capabilities

Speaking of trying new things, the best POS for breweries offer a suite of marketing tools that allow taprooms to engage guests, run promotions, and build their brands. Here are some tools that taproom managers seek out in POS systems:

• Loyalty programs engage your biggest fans and encourage new ones to join. The best POS provides tools that allow you to email members, run member-only promotions, and track points earned and redeemed in a comprehensive dashboard.
• Discounts and other promotions should be easy to implement both online and on-premise with timed digital menus.
• Event tools empower taproom managers to host a party and stay organized. Brewery POS systems should offer the ability to manage event deposits and keg deposits easily.
• Gift cards are guaranteed future sales, and the best POS for your brewery will offer brand-specific cards to sell and promote!
• Online stores diversify brewery revenue streams, and make it convenient for guests to purchase beer, merchandise, or even food from the comfort of their own homes. 

By offering these marketing features free of monthly charges, the best POS for breweries facilitates business growth!

Beer-Centric Integrations

The integrations offered also dictate how much any given POS system understands the business of beer. Integrations designed specifically for craft like the ones below are available with the best POS for breweries:

• Ekos Business Management: Ekos reduces manual bookkeeping of POS and ecommerce transactions with any accounting system, so breweries can run smoothly. Syncing POS software with Ekos eliminates manual processes and duplicate entries so owners/managers can focus on growing their business and gain complete visibility to the metrics that matter the most. 
• Yellow Dog Inventory Management: Inventory management for both food and beverage is easy with a robust integration between Yellow Dog and brewery POS software. 
• QuickBooks Accounting Software: Daily sales get imported into QuickBooks, it can then be cross-referenced with brewery POS reporting and bank deposits. 
• Shogo Accounting Automation: Shogo automatically syncs daily sales data to an accounting software of choice—so you know what guests purchased, and how they paid for it. 
• Craftpeak Online Solutions: Craftpeak helps breweries sell their beer online with pickup, local delivery, and shipping options, and also builds websites with brewery-specific features to help breweries connect with customers. 

Automating this flow of data between a brewery POS and integrations like these saves staff time number-crunching, ensures optimal accuracy in data, and runs an overall business better. 

Real-Time Reporting

Robust reporting is absolutely necessary for taprooms to grow and flourish so that owners and managers can determine what’s working, what’s not, and iterate as necessary. 

Mobile, cloud-based POS systems are the best options for breweries, because they offer real-time reporting capabilities. This puts all of your sales information in one place—even if you’re selling on-premise at your main taproom and also off-site at a local farmers market! All sales get automatically uploaded into a central database and stored online. 

When taproom managers are ready to dive into data, the best POS for breweries support a web-based portal that lets you access the sales dashboard from anywhere. This flexibility allows number-crunchers to dig from the taproom itself or from their own home office.

A sure sign of a helpful POS system is pre-built reports in the sales dashboard, too. Assuming your brewery POS knows the data you care about, they should provide ounce-level reporting on hourly, daily, and weekly sales, as well as performance reports on both products and employees. 

The Best POS For Breweries Has Arryved

You heard from taproom managers on what they appreciate most about their brewery POS systems, and now it’s time to hear a POS success story from a taproom manager!

We’ve definitely noticed an increase in productivity among the bartenders. Efficiency has gone through the roof. Customers love it! They notice a big difference. One of the coolest things is when you take an order and while you’re still talking to the table the beer shows up. The customers say, “How did that happen?” That one never gets old. -Greg Anderson, Taproom Manager at Dry Dock Brewing Co. 

Arryved POS was built by craft enthusiasts and tech professionals to better serve the craft industry. An all-in-one suite of products plus a no-nonsense pricing model allows your craft business to experiment and thrive. Request a free, personalized demo today!

See for yourself why Arryved is the best POS for Breweries