If you’re setting up a new restaurant or looking to upgrade an existing POS system, choosing the right management system is going to be one of the most important business decisions you’ll make. Given the sheer number of tech solutions now available, you’ve got plenty of options.

To help you cut through the noise and make an informed choice we’ve put together this Q and A which sets out some of the most essential considerations. We start with the most basic.

1. What is an Advanced Restaurant Management Platform?

Put simply, an advanced restaurant management platform helps you to manage all aspects of your operation, from front to back of house. With the use of advanced technologies, the latest systems automate and streamline key processes such as order taking, kitchen preparation, stock control and procurement.

The most sophisticated solutions are self-driving. In other words, they utilise advanced technologies to independently manage tasks with minimal human intervention.

2. How Does a Restaurant POS System Work in Practice?

Say, for example, that you’re running a full-service restaurant. A fully-implemented restaurant POS and management system will cover all aspects of your front and back-of-house operations. Your customer-facing team inputs their orders directly into a touchscreen POS terminal.

These orders are sent straight to a KDS screen that’s visible both to your customer-facing team and kitchen staff. Every single order that’s made is also logged in the system which then adjusts inventory levels in real time.

Most of the latest tech solutions also feature employee management tools, including staff scheduling and time tracking. Detailed reports and unerringly accurate forecasts driven by advanced algorithms and machine learning are also typical features.

3. Why Should I Use an Advanced POS System?

The impact of deploying one of these platforms can be utterly transformative for a restaurant. Simplified and streamlined order-taking reduces errors, saving precious time for customer-facing staff. This is absolutely critical for busy operations.

That orders are directly routed to KDS screens means that kitchen staff can prioritise and prep dishes as they come in. This speeds up service, keeps customers happy and eliminates chase ups. Servers and order takers can keep tabs on each order during every stage of production. Stress is therefore reduced and the chefs free to prepare dishes unhindered.

The effects can be felt behind the scenes as well. Because all orders are tracked in real time and inventory levels adjusted, there’s less chance of overstocking or running out of ingredients. The system will alert the manager when stocks are running low and automatically make purchases, if set up to do so.

Predictive analysis is another major selling point. Furnished with accurate sales forecasts based on historical data, managers can set realistic targets and prepare their restaurants for the inevitable demand fluctuations.

These forecasts can prove critical in optimising staff levels and controlling costs – such metrics are often available with staff-scheduling tools. The best systems dynamically display cost information that changes in real time, as adjustments are being made to a schedule.

This can prove invaluable for restaurant managers struggling to operate within their means. We could go on. But these are among the many advantages inherent in the more advanced platforms.

4. How Do Restaurant Management Systems Help with Inventory Management?

As mentioned, all orders are logged by the system which then adjusts inventory levels in real time. Everything is tracked, starting with purchasing through to production and then on to sale or wastage. With readily available real-time data to hand, managers can pinpoint stock variances and monitor the movements of individual ingredients.

The stocktaking process is often streamlined as well, with many next-gen systems allowing staff to conduct guided stock checks on their phone or tablet devices. This saves valuable time and provides actional data to help managers make more accurate purchases.

5. How Do the Latest Tech Solutions Save Staff Time?

Where to begin? For one thing, order-taking is much faster thanks to the use of POS touchscreens. The provision of handheld POS devices also prevent servers from rushing between till and table to key in orders.

Then there’s third-party delivery integration. With the best next-gen platforms, orders from the likes of Uber Eats and Deliveroo are injected straight into the production pipeline. This eliminates the need for extra hardware such as tablets for processing orders. Front-of-house staff are therefore free to focus on other areas of importance, while kitchen teams can prepare and prioritise dishes without interruption.

Standardised recipes are another common feature that encourages better time-efficiency. Ensuring dish consistency requires experience, which in turn means that new kitchen staff need to be trained up. But this isn’t really required when everyone has easy access to information about ingredients and portion sizes.

The automatic generation of prep lists and batch cooking schedules further streamlines processes. Staff can prepare ingredients in advance and cook the right items in bulk to save time during peak hours.

Inventory management also becomes less time consuming. Automated reordering based on forecasts and current stock levels reduces human intervention. And the guided mobile stock taking that’s offered by some of the better systems is known to be extremely time efficient. For one particular provider of restaurant management platforms (okay, it was us), one of its restaurant chain clients reduced stock checks from 2.5 hours to 15 minutes.  

6. Can Uber Eats and Other Third Party Delivery Apps Be Integrated?

As mentioned in our previous answer, this kind of integration is entirely possible and is actually a common feature among modern restaurant management systems. With the use of APIs, they can seamlessly connect with third-party delivery providers – some even include out-of-the-box integration.

Once integrated, delivery drivers can be monitored and managed in a single dashboard which also provides real-time location data, delivery times, delivery assignments and ETAs.

7. Can Advanced POS and Restaurant Management Systems be Customised?

The more sophisticated systems can be customised according to the specific needs of the F&B operation. For example, dine-in order management, table service tools and menu optimisation are probably not going to be priorities for a dark kitchen.

So, if necessary, this kind of functionality can be removed with only the most appropriate features left in place. For the sake of our example, this would mean online ordering integration, inventory and delivery management.

8. Can The Latest Next-Gen Systems be Used to Manage Multiple Sites?

This depends on the type of system being integrated. Cloud-based platforms tend to be the most scalable. In comparison to legacy or dedicated in-house systems, cloud ePos systems include single control points for managing multiple locations from a centralised dashboard. Because they’re cloud based, they can also be accessed in any off-site location with an internet or cellular collection.

9. I Hear ‘Next-Gen’ Mentioned a lot. What Does it Actually Mean?

Next-Gen refers to the latest stage in the evolution of F&B management systems. It’s the natural successor to the ‘integration’ phase of the late 2000s which saw the emergence of more complete and better-integrated management platforms.

Next-gen systems are a step up, featuring greater automation that’s driven by machine learning, artificial intelligence and advanced algorithms. Because of these technologies, next-gen systems are self-driving and tend to include real-time monitoring and reporting capabilities, as well as extremely accurate sales forecasting.

10. In Terms of Actual Numbers, What Kind of Improvements Can I Expect?

With an advanced, fully-implemented restaurant management system, you can expect to reduce costs by 3 - 10%. And it’s not uncommon for the more sophisticated systems to produce sales forecasts with 95% – 98% accuracy.

11. How Do The Latest Platforms Help Reduce Waste?

The real-time monitoring of inventory levels and automated purchasing prevents overstocking - this has a huge impact on waste reduction. Additionally, advanced systems provide staff with easy access to standardised recipes and portions, helping to avoid over portioning.

And with accurate sales forecasting, managers can accurately predict future demand and order the right amount of stock. Menu engineering is another area that can reduce waste. The ability to identify and then remove low-performing dishes means that unneeded ingredients can be struck off purchase orders.

12. Are Cloud-Based Systems Better than Legacy Systems?

‘Legacy system’ is quite misleading. It’s actually an umbrella term to describe both outmoded POS systems and dedicated in-house management platforms. Regardless, cloud-based systems offer numerous advantages. First of all, they can be accessed from any location with an internet connection. They’re also easily scalable and are more compatible with other devices.

Then there’s the price point. More often than not, cloud POS systems require lower upfront costs in comparison to legacy systems, which often comprise expensive hardware like servers are elaborate setups. And equipment maintenance is usually handled by the provider reducing costs even further.

And that concludes our Q and A guide. If you’re looking to deploy a next-gen system with your restaurant, you’ll hopefully be able to make a more informed decision. By happy coincidence, all of the features mentioned in our answers are available with Syrve.