You have a passion for food and you’ve decided to share that appetite for cuisine by opening your own restaurant. While fresh ingredients and innovative plates may be what you think your business is based on, hospitality is very competitive. To thrive, you need to make sure your restaurant has the technologies in place to keep your dining room full and your menus open. Every restaurant — from a casual breakfast spot to the most refined French cuisine establishment — needs to include the following technology for restaurants.
1. Digital POS
Digital POS (point of sale) technology is mission-critical and used by the majority of restaurants. Offering much more than point of sale processing, today’s POS technology allows diners to review menu choices, allows staff to review sales and more. Some POS solutions even let diners pay for their own meals, order and more.
2. Loyalty Programs
Diners have tons of options for a dinner out or a business lunch. In most cities, there are new places opening all the time, so diners can literally go to a different café and restaurant every day. Why should they keep coming back to yours?
Loyalty programs, coupons for frequent diners and other programs will give your customers an incentive to come back. The newest technology does away with old-fashioned “buy 10 and get one free” punch cards. Instead, customers are automatically given a discount.
Today’s loyalty programs integrate with digital POS systems so that customers are recognized and get the discounts or rewards they’re eligible for. This technology allows restaurants to gather information about customer behavior too, which is useful for marketing and sales strategies. The systems can even “remember” a diner’s birthday or a special anniversary to ensure they get a slice of cake. It’s one great way to keep them coming back for more!
3. Order Kiosks
It started with fast-food chains allowing customers to order at screens or from mobile devices, but today, even high-end establishments have customer-facing tablets at tables so that customers can browse a menu and order fast. These tablets or kiosks can integrate with your POS system so that diners can pay for their meal without any fuss.
Self-ordering is big news because customers love it. Restaurants that have adopted this technology generally report increases in orders and diners. Customers love the freedom to browse a menu as long as they like and order quickly. Food arrives from the kitchen more quickly and reliably when they can order from the table, and the ability to pay quickly gives customers the freedom to make their meal last as long as they wish.
Order kiosks can also offer at-table entertainment, such as games, or allow customers to browse online while they wait for a meal. Restaurants can use the devices to advertise too.
If you want mouth-watering POS technology so that you can be more creative in the kitchen, contact Velocity Merchant Services for a free consultation to talk about our complete POS technology system. We can put you in touch with a Clover® specialist from VMS to help customize your POS system for your establishment.