Restaurant Software

Restaurant owners run their businesses in many different ways, but there are many apps Epos Now offer that most hospitality businesses just can't get enough of. Some of these are general business management apps that are popular across all industries, while others are more restaurant specific.

Among the former group is bulk import. This app allows users to upload and download business data (usually their products list) to make quick, sweeping changes using spreadsheets. This is a huge, cost-effective app for restaurants that regularly make numerous changes to their menu.

Loyalty apps such as Loyalty Dog or Loyalzoo are very popular among restaurants looking to increase customer loyalty. Accountancy integrations like Sage, Xero, and Quickbooks are also popular for busy managers that want to spend less time on their finances and more with staff and customers.

However, some of the very best apps that restaurants rely on are those that help expand their sales channels and reach new customers. These include apps such as Order and Pay, an in-house Epos Now extension that lets customers place their own orders at the table using their mobile phones.

Restaurants offering delivery can partner up with Deliveroo to let customers order their food favourites straight to their door. If restaurants don't want to use Deliveroo, though, there are alternatives such as Hopt or Epos Now Delivery which provide a similar delivery functionality to Deliveroo but using a different platform.

Restaurant POS refers to a point of sale system, cash register or till designed to help a restaurant make sales and manage business. POS is sometimes referred to as EPOS which stands for electronic point of sale.

These days, cash registers do far more than make a record and storage spot for cash and card payments. Though all these industry terms for tills can seem a little confusing, they demonstrate the way tills have expanded to incorporate more and more business functions to the point where they are rightly called "systems".

Point-of-sale systems are now centralised platforms that process sales, help restaurants manage inventory, generate reports to help make better business decisions, store all business data, complete accountancy, run promotions and marketing, and much more.

Furthermore, top restaurant management software will help businesses process sales from multiple sources easily and reliably. These might include integrating with a website or online ordering system, numerous delivery management platforms and also includes switching between eat-in and takeaway sales options.

With so many facets to businesses, till providers like Epos Now often work with business software providers to give users options. A good example of this would be accounting software companies like Sage and Xero. The integration provides a seamless link between the point of sale and the accounting program. Data automatically appears on the accounting software for processing and management, helping food service businesses work more efficiently and spend more time focusing on customer relationship management and making sales.

Most point of sale cash registers are cloud-based, which means your business data is not stored on the device you use to trade. Instead, all data is stored remotely on company servers with added security and the advantage that should one of your devices suffer damage, there is no risk of data loss.

When you trade, your device operates online or offline but connects to your cloud whenever possible to upload sales data in real time and download food cost changes, restaurant reservation information, and other menu management changes.

A good POS system will have other key features both in terms of hardware and software to help restaurant staff and managers with restaurant operations. POS systems connect to printers and kitchen display screens to link the front of house and back of house and communicate orders in lightning speed. They can also run guest management tasks such as keeping track of loyalty programs so staff don't need to think about them.

Regardless of the hardware a restaurant uses, from the moment of purchase, a new POS system will start to bring the whole operation into that system. This helps the system generate custom reports that bigger competitors in the restaurant industry use, levelling the playing field for small business owners everywhere.

Restaurant inventory management is one area where Epos Now systems really come into their own. Restaurants have complex needs when it comes to stock control, as there are both wet and dry products sold in different quantities, with multiple ingredients that need to be used in a number of different products.

So how does a POS inventory system help with that?

Epos Now's stock control system uses advanced features like "master products" to allow users to inform the software which ingredients are used in which products and the amount needed for each sale.

For instance, the same wine might be sold in 125ml, 175ml, 250ml glasses and 750ml bottles. When each product is setup, users can set up a hidden product containing the total stock of the product, such as "red wine stock". Every time you then sell the wine in any measure, the correct amount of red wine stock is deducted from the hidden product that keeps a measure of how much is left overall.

The same tools can be used for dishes with multiple ingredients that are not sold except as part of dishes, such as potatoes and baked beans. Epos Now's inventory control can keep track of stock in liquid, weighed, and itemised units. This means you can choose if you want to deduct 3 potatoes when you sell a roast dinner, or 200g, and can change the method if you're finding your stock control isn't accurate enough.

Inventory control is something many restauranteurs find difficult. Fortunately, Epos Now customers benefit from detailed guides and an expert support team ready to take you through the process and ensure the restaurant's performance around inventory and all the features of your till remains high.

Taking orders at table is one way restaurants can help improve employee performance, with smoother and quicker upselling, speedier service, as well as improving the image of the business. However, to process orders at the table, you need mobile POS systems.

There are a number of ways businesses using Epos Now can use the software in a mobile form. The first, is through the Pro+ mobile POS and card payments terminal. The Pro+ is an all-in-one POS and payments solution that is light and fully wireless, allowing your staff not only to take orders at table, but to take payment there and then (or add orders to tabs and tables should the customer wish to pay later).

For restaurants looking for simpler solutions, Epos Now Payments offer the Pro mobile card payments device, which can take payment at table while linked to a fixed point of sale terminal.

But restaurants that don't use Epos Now Payments still have plenty of options, as Epos Now's software can also work on most devices, including laptops, PCs, tablets and mobiles. So waiting staff taking orders at tables can use the software through a handheld tablet should they need to, either by downloading the app or accessing through the web at www.eposnowhq.com.

When the time arrives to complete your accounts and establish how much tax you need to pay, or to figure out where the many expenses of your business have been documented, having a clear and simple system can save hours and days of arduous work.

Thankfully, Epos Now tills automatically document tax information based on the information you provide about your products and by keeping reports on your sales (for every year you trade using the system). Epos Now systems document daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly reports with all information required to stay on top of your taxes easily acessible from the back office.

However, if you wish to use more specialist software with additional features or are familiar with one of the popular business accounting programs, Epos Now have partnered with Sage, Xero and Quickbooks.

All three of these programs are very popular with businesses, so Epos Now customers that want to use them can make their lives much easier with an integration that automates data processing between the two platforms.

After downloading the integration from the Epos Now AppStore, businesses can direct where relevant parts of their data goes into the accounting software. The result is at the end of the day, they have very little finance management needed and can do it all from the program they favour.

The best POS system doesn't necessarily have to be expensive, and the best system will be different for businesses with different needs. It's important to make your needs very clear during the sales process as this can help point-of-sale providers ensure they include everything you need and provide you with an accurate quote.

Epos Now offer monthly or yearly payment options, with key features always included on all packages, including a payroll system, and product, inventory, and customer management functions, in addition to the sales software.

However, restaurants that wish to expand their system can choose to pay for third-party integrations such as accountancy integrations, website linking, delivery options, online ordering options etc. These pages all have individual pricing that Epos Now sales representatives discuss during the setup process.

Finally, there's the question of up-front expenses. Up-front expenses can be reduced if businesses are struggling to find the capital to get started, and owners can choose to offset that cost by having slightly higher monthly payments. Epos Now also offer different deals based on which solution customers go for.