Types of POS Systems 1. Restaurant POS Systems Why is a point of sale system needed for a restaurant? The primary reason you need a point of sale for a restaurant is to accept cash and credit card payments. In addition to receiving payments, you need to be able to track all your financial and tax data. Most restaurant POS solutions have reporting features built-in to monitor your transactions by date, time, and type. But that’s only the beginning of the awesomeness. There can be hundreds of features that can streamline your operations and make your restaurant more efficient. For instance, most restaurant POS systems allow you to put in an order and send the request directly to a kitchen printer reducing errors in the kitchen and increasing staff and food prep efficiency. Another benefit would be tracking inventory and food usage. You can also follow payroll with built-in time clock feature. A restaurant management system is recommended if you’re a restaurateur and want to be competitive in the business. Many types of restaurants need to utilize a POS like full-service restaurants, quick-service restaurants, fast food, take-out only, cafe’s, pizza shop, etc. No matter what kind of restaurant you own or if you’re starting your dream restaurant, you need to accept payments of all types securely. Also, you’ll need all the features that a quality point of sale system provides to aid in managing your operations and growing your store’s customer base. Restaurant software offers many hospitality functions that help to make your restaurant run smoothly and streamline the management of your establishment. Utilizing features like inventory management will help you find where to cut food costs and to boost profit margins by using recipe costing. Most restaurant management systems offer an option or service to cost your recipes so you can see recommended pricing to ensure you’re turning an adequate profit. Recipe costing is just one example of features a restaurant computer system can provide. Some other features and services you’re going to need potentially are restaurant marketing, customer management, online ordering, loyalty program, server sales performance, new versus repeat customers, invoice purchasing, menu performance, employee management, and sales reporting. So you start to see with all the options available, that the advantage of using a modern point of sale far exceeds not having one or using a simple cash register. Another significant advantage of using a restaurant management software is the ability to send orders directly to the kitchen – this is a considerable advantage by increasing food prep time, staff efficiency, and reducing errors in the kitchen. If you’re doing handwritten tickets, think about how many mistakes and the time loss that becomes of that method. With a POS, there is fewer errors and faster prep times because the menu items are sent directly to the kitchen, and the chef and prep staff can easily read the ticket to prepare the meal. The reality is your competition is using a modern restaurant management system to improve customer service, so if you’re not, you’re potentially losing customers to your competitors. The only negative to implementing a new restaurant management system is the training time and challenge of learning new software. But that’s only temporary, once you learn the back-end and front-end of the software, you and your staff will be pros in no time.

Restaurant Pro Tip Summary: If you’re starting out, make sure your restaurant POS system has all the features you need to operate your business at a price point that’s affordable with the features that allow you to grow. Always, always, get a demo of the software online or in-person if possible. You want to make sure it’s user-friendly, and you need to experience what you’re purchasing – this is a significant investment in your business, so make it a smart one and compare your restaurant POS options here.

2. Bar & Nightclub POS Systems Although there is software designed specifically for bars, most point of sale systems used by restaurants can also be an excellent solution for bars. A fast, efficient and reliable bar and restaurant POS system, like Harbortouch Bar & Restaurant that’s featured on Bar Rescue, can mean the difference between success and failure in the bar and restaurant business. In busy restaurants, nightclubs, and bars, speed is essential to service, so you want to make sure your point of sale software and hardware is as fast as possible, credit card processing is integrated, and it has all these features mentioned below. If not, you’re going to hate your P.O.S, and you’re going to have some unhappy customers. If you own a bar or restaurant and bar, there are some specific requirements you’ll want to consider for bars and nightclubs. Of course there are POS systems dedicated to bars and nightclubs; however, you’ll also find that many of the top restaurant point-of-sale systems have features for bar management. The main features to look for in bar software is preauthorization (or “preauth”) of payments for tabs management, bar and liquor inventory and control, speed functions like reordering rounds, bar prep printing, fast checkout, and quality 24/7 support. For the reporting side, you’ll want to see your labor costs compared to sales, product reports, and all your sales and tax reports. Additional register features to consider for nightclub and bar point of sale software is employee management, inventory management, customer loyalty, recipes, tab management, quick reorder rounds, and quick customer checkout. Reporting is critical as well to keep track of your food and beverage taxes. Also, you’ll want to have online access to see your labor costs and sales reports.

Bar Pro Tip Summary: If you’re considering a tablet cloud-based POS for your bar, test to make sure you have a fast internet speed and reliable wireless connection. Most iPad and tablet systems require a Wi-Fi connection, so you need a quick and dependable wireless network infrastructure to process orders and payments. Also, you’ll want to make sure you have a failover internet connection in place, or you need to implement a backup plan to put in orders and accept payments if your internet goes down. Most POS systems have an offline option to take orders, but not payments due to PCI security standards. Not sure of the best option for your bar or nightclub? Complete our questionnaire and we can help you find the best option here.

3. Retail POS Systems Retail point of purchase (POP) systems is primarily for retail environments. So that means you would most likely never use restaurant software for a retail shop and vice versa. Some software or Apps on the market claim to be cross-platform, but that doesn’t mean you should ever use them. Retail businesses can have some particular requirements and features that other programs will not have. They can have retail shop features such as color and size matrixing, inventory tracking, employee commissions, gift registry, customer database, layaway, and purchase orders. Also, a retail POS system may include a digital scale or barcode scanner for weighing or scanning items, respectively. There are hundreds of different kinds of retail management systems on the market. That’s because there are so many kinds of retail environments, and each business may have specific requirements. For instance, a grocery store, liquor store, or convenience store is going to need particular hardware and software capabilities compared to a small clothing shop. So keep in mind cost and features are going to vary depending on your business type. Here’s a summary of the top features a retail POS should offer your company: Credit card processing

Inventory tracking

Multi-store scalability (if you have or plan on having multiple locations)

Color and size matrixing

Product variants

Employee commissions

Customer database

Gift registry and layaways

Purchase orders

Sales reporting

Hardware integrations like barcode scanners and digital scales

Software customization

Software/hardware support

Mobile and cloud-based technology As you can see, there are many options and features to consider when it comes to retail POS technology. Reporting is also a paramount consideration, so when it comes to selecting a retail management software, you’ll want customized reporting with detailed customer reporting, sales reports, vendor reporting, and inventory stock levels.

Retail Pro Tip Summary: If you’re considering purchasing a new retail point of sale, visit a similar store near you and find out what kind of system they’re using. Ask the management or owners how well they like it and then search reviews online to make sure it gets positive reviews – this will give you a good starting point when researching a new system. Additionally, if you’re starting a new retail business, make sure the retail software has all the features and reporting you will need with all the hardware required to run your business correctly. You can also compare retail POS systems here.

4. Small Business POS Systems A small business point of sale system could come in many shapes, sizes, and flavors. Search small business POS systems online, and you’ll find yourself in the middle of a battle over the latest product of the week because they’re hundreds, if not thousands. Most of the new small business technology is app-based and on mobile platforms. Remember I mentioned earlier under bar systems, that it’s probably not the best idea to use a cloud-based system? Well, in the case of small business, we’re going to cut tablet apps some slack. That’s because most of the mobile small business systems are designed to be light, flexible, and cost-effective. If you’re not processing an enormous amount of volume and speed isn’t as critical (like in a restaurant or bar), then a mobile POS could be just the answer to save you some money. Additionally, a lot of these apps can very feature-rich and have everything you need without spending thousands on a “traditional” touchscreen POS terminal. As examples, an iPad or tablet is perfect for environments like a small retail shop, little restaurant, yogurt shop, boutique store, cafe, or coffee shop. Places where you need quality features and functions but where a cash register may not be enough to get the job done. If you need some inspiration on your next small business, check out our list of the most popular small business ideas.

Small Business Pro Tip Summary: Finding the best small business POS system for your business can be a challenge with all the different products on the market. It’s not always the best idea to find the cheapest product, because it might not give you all the features you need or may even end up costing you more to get the additional add-on features you need. Our best advice is to complete our questionnaire to find the best solution for your small business needs.

5. Cloud and Mobile POS Systems A cloud-based POS system is a point of sale platform that stores information on the cloud. Cloud-based systems typically don’t record much information on your terminal device. Instead, all data is stored in the cloud and synchronized across multiple terminals. The terms cloud and mobile point of sale systems are sometimes used interchangeably. Cloud-based software is generally on a tablet POS that’s used on-premise. mPOS is a subcategory of cloud-based POS and is usually an App on mobile devices like an iPad or Android tablet, and even on smartphones. According to pointofsale.com, one of the main advantages of cloud software is that it eliminates the need for expensive onsite servers to manage your data, unlike “traditional” terminal and server-based computers. Here are a few of the advantages of a cloud or mPOS system: Access from anywhere – All your data is stored on a server in “the cloud,” which means you always have access to your data.

– All your data is stored on a server in “the cloud,” which means you always have access to your data. Cost-effective – Cloud POS systems generally cost a monthly subscription fee without any contractual obligations – this can remove the entry point for a quality system without spending thousands of dollars upfront for software licensing.

– Cloud POS systems generally cost a monthly subscription fee without any contractual obligations – this can remove the entry point for a quality system without spending thousands of dollars upfront for software licensing. Easy to use – Tablet and mobile POS are easier to use because the staff is already familiar with using mobile devices so that the learning curve can be shorter over the traditional point of sale machines and software.

– Tablet and mobile POS are easier to use because the staff is already familiar with using mobile devices so that the learning curve can be shorter over the traditional point of sale machines and software. Software updates – Regular cloud updates can be pushed out to your App or online software, so you always have the latest and most secure version of the program. Also, most cloud companies offer updates at no additional charge as part of the service or support agreement.

– Regular cloud updates can be pushed out to your App or online software, so you always have the latest and most secure version of the program. Also, most cloud companies offer updates at no additional charge as part of the service or support agreement. Quality support – Most mPOS companies offer support as part of your SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) agreement. As long as you’re a paying customer, customer service should be included. 24/7/365 software support is the norm in the tablet and mobile industry.

– Most mPOS companies offer support as part of your SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) agreement. As long as you’re a paying customer, customer service should be included. 24/7/365 software support is the norm in the tablet and mobile industry. Mobility – mPOS allows you to be “mobile” where you can accept orders and payments at a vendor show, or take orders on the floor of your restaurant or retail store. While the majority of the point of sale solutions on the market offer some cloud or mobile options, you’ll want to consider all options on the table. If you have a slow or spotty internet connection, then the cloud might not be the way to go for you. If you don’t plan on taking orders with tableside service or away from your shop, then maybe you don’t need a mobile solution. Sometimes a traditional hard-wired or localized solution can still be the best solution.

Mobile POS Pro Tip Summary: Before implementing a mobile or cloud POS system, run a speed test on your internet connection and make sure it meets or exceeds the speed requirements from your vendor. Having slow or intermittent internet speed can wreak havoc on your system. An iPad POS system like TouchBistro, for instance, has failover security in place in case your internet goes down. It’s highly advisable to ask your vendor what protection is in place if the internet goes out on your mobile POS system. You can quickly find the best iPad POS vendors here.

6. Salon and Spa POS Systems Nail salons, hair salons and spas all require a particular set of POS options due to the nature of the business. Options like an online appointment calendar, appointment reminders, customer database with details for a previous haircut or nails styles, retail functionality, inventory management, online employee scheduling, and employee management are all vital to have. So not just any software system will do. Nail and hair salon POS systems can sometimes crossover for other business types like barber shops, gyms, fitness clubs, beauty schools, massage parlors, pet grooming, tattoo parlors, to name a few. That is because these other business types will especially require an appointment calendar and may need retail functionality with inventory control, and not every software program has those features.