4 Problems POS Technology Solves In Cafes

POS technology that is easy to use solves a lot of problems. The best POS systems are cheap, efficient, and simple, especially for cafes.

1. Combining Front and Back End Features

Good POS systems generally have all the front and back end features you need. It is easy to ring up items, add modifiers, accept payment, make returns, and give refunds. The systems also offer in-depth worker shift reports that show you not only what items are selling, but who’s selling them. It’s also possible to make discounts at order and item level. You can set staff schedules based on the busiest hours of the week.

One system that’s great for cafes is ShopKeep. Its most impressive features are its analytics and inventory functionality. The analytics show which products are selling well and which aren’t. This way a café owner can decide what to replace or restock. The inventory functionality feature makes it possible to set reorders, track quantities of each item, and generate a report with the reorder criteria in detail.

ShopKeep’s system costs just $69 a month, which includes 2 months of free support from a ShopKeep expert and ongoing 24/7 customer support after that. This POS software also offers a sales and ticket management, providing everything in an easy-to-use iPad-based interface. You can also use the built-in ShopKeep Payments or your choice of merchant services providers for credit card payments.

Your café may need the following functions:

• Offers gift card sales & redemption
• Manage employee schedules, clock-ins
• 24/7/365 customer support
• Run detailed business analytics reports

POS systems like ShopKeep are designed with small vendors in mind, with a more limited inventory. It offers a fu4 Problems POS Technology Solves In Cafesll range of POS features, but raw goods inventory tracking is its best one. It lets you tie the usage of each food item to each sale. If you need to track volumes and value-on-hand of costly goods like organics or specialty foods, this real-time inventory tracking is a great feature. You can reorder accurately based on sales volume and low-level alerts that you set up as well.

2. Manage your Café from Anywhere

Systems like Loyverse lets you manage your café from mobile devices, manage inventory, generate a higher yield, acquire, and keep and engage customers. Another problem it solves is that involving visualization of sales analytics. Sales become easy and fast, and growing your customer base does as well. You can send messages and e-receipts to your customers, collecting key feedback in the process.

Limit Waste

This POS software tracks cafes’ inventory and indicates if you are losing money due to high amount of food waste, for example. Surplus supply is one of the main causes of waste. If your sales with ingredient inventory are being tracked accurately, you should have a good idea of how many raw ingredients you’re using each day.

View Stock Levels

Users of this POS system receive instant notifications when inventory is running low or out. Sound notifications ensure you will never miss a new order. Orders are dispatched to the kitchen automatically, faster and with fewer errors, and your cooks know what to prepare from all orders. You can see all tickets at a glance with colors indicating the anticipated waiting time. You can also view the list of completed orders and reopen orders if needed.

Smart Management

A reliable café POS system lets you manage one or more cafes from the same account if it is cloud-based. The data is uploaded to the cloud. You can grow and prosper, boost sales and even run your own loyalty program, which wasn’t possible before. The visual analytical reports will also make it easier to make informed business decisions. The back office syncs with the POS system.

Now, you don’t have to wonder what your best-selling items are and have to browse the transaction history. The dashboard app will give you instant access to your cafe’s stock and sales analytics at all times. You can view profit, revenue, and average sales and follow sales growth, making comparisons to previous periods of time.

Some POS software is not very convenient to use with Smartphones. On bigger screens, a category drop box is needed. You should pick a system that is versatile and easy to use and can be run online by multiple users.

3. Customization

We recommend Square POS for small cafes and startups because it’s a free system that can be customized to your specific service needs. Square POS software features a full suite of counter sales, ticket management tools, and inventory designed to help any startup or small cafe run efficiently. It is very easy to switch from another system to Square, and it won’t cost much. Its basic version is free. If you need more robust features like recipe lists, meal modifiers, and ingredient tracking as you grow, it might cost you extra.

Take Orders and Payments Anywhere

Having to take payments and orders only tableside is a big problem for cafe staff. With a POS system, this becomes possible via countertop register or mobile device. You run the POS on whatever devices work best. You don’t even have to buy new register hardware If you already have iPads and/or Smartphones. You can take payments and orders using your phone or tablet from the get-go using Square’s systems for digital payment that support e-signing and emailed receipts.

Of course, many cafe owners would rather run at least one register station. That is possible. The free version can run on up to 100 separate registers. The only added cost is hardware. Each added terminal will cost you $40 per month if you opt for Square for Restaurants.

4. Free Software for Card Reader Integration

A POS does away with complicated merchant provider setup and card reader integration. Square, the system we mentioned above, has a secure payment system that’s built right into the POS software. This POS system delivers what most small cafes need when you add a complete suite of tools that help you manage staff time, create and categorize menu items, track inventory items, and market to customers.