Restaurant POS

Restaurant POS refers to the Point Of Sale (POS) software that runs on computer systems that are usually configured with either touchscreen terminals or wireless handheld devices. Restaurant POS systems are essential to the successful operation of most foodservice establishments because they allow the business to track transactions in realtime.

Typical restaurant POS software will handle these daily tasks:
* Prints guest checks
* Prints guest orders in the kitchen, bar & other preparation areas
* Processes credit/debit/gift cards
* Runs reports which show important statistics the restaurant owner needs
* Manages the "purses" or "banks" that servers build up over their shift
* Tracks labor
* Tracks sales
* Streams closed caption video from a security system
* Handles reservations/waiting lists
* Tracks open/closed tables
* Runs wireless devices like pagers, pick up notifiers etc
* Monitors a drive thru or curbside pick up area
* Allows orders to be entered via palm size computers
* Captures signatures electronically
* Performs bookkeeping & accounting tasks.

The punch list above is not complete as there are countless features in even the most basic POS software packages. The primary goal of any POS software is to generate sales, labor & payment statistics in an efficient and reliable way in order to save costs for the end user. A typical restaurant owner will utilize less than sixteen percent of the POS software's feature setFact|date=October 2007... a statistic which shows that 'training' may be the biggest ingredient POS software companies are ignoring. However, most computer savvy restauratuers today are looking for less feature sets and better functionality in order to take ownership of their product.Fact|date=October 2007 Training in this instance becomes much easier with a simpler system.Original research|date=October 2007

Touchscreen POS systems on the Windows operating systems include: Radiant Aloha Systems ,PosiTouch, Touch Pro, Dinerware, Surface, Micros, Digital Dining, Maitre'D, Silverware, SunSofTouch, InfoGenenesis, Panasonic SMP, PDQ, DiamondTouch, FreePOS, Restaurant Manager POS, Prism and MenuXpress.

Touchscreen POS systems on The X Window System for UNIX, Linux and BSD include: ViewTouch.

Wireless handheld POS systems include: Digital Dining, WaiterPAD, ViewTouch and the Write-On Handheld. Top POS Software Solutions (based on U.S. Install Base) ["Source: Chain Store Guide 2004 Market Study of FoodService Technology - Top 768 chains, counted by Company."]
# Radiant / Aloha 24%
# Internally Developed 15%
# MICROS 14%Total of Top 3 47%

The next seven Companies represent 28% of the U.S. install base with not one of the seven companies holding more than 6%. Most in this group are holding only 2-3%. More than half of the remaining seven solutions are no longer actively sold.

External links

Further information about restaurant technology can be found at [http://www.restaurant.org The National Restaurant Association]

References