The basic POS systems you may see on restaurants and fast food chains are touch screen monitors, programmable keyboards, or scanners and handheld devices. Cash registers (with or without a built-in cash drawer), printers can be dot matrix or thermal, programmable keyboards can have covers for spill protection and scanners can be a CCD scanner or an autosending laser scanner.

Touch screens: With its flexible user interfaces and programming, many restaurants prefer to use touch screens. With this type of POS hardware, a staff can easily set orders and cancel an order within a second. It can also reduce mistypes and fasten ordering. Touch screens also uses fewer electricity and much easier to position on the counter table, but they are more prone to breakdowns.

Hand held devices: Restaurant PDAs are handheld devices, commonly wireless, that transmits data back to its base station. You can also use the newer version, which is the write-on handhelds that allows you to write information such as the orders and sends them directly to the kitchen! These types of handheld devices are perfect for your staff who interacts with your customers, when up-selling desserts and drinks roaming around table per table.

POS keyboards: Most grocery stores prefer to use this type of POS systems, since they can program individual keys for specific item codes and prices. The standard POS keyboard is a  101-key, which you will find with any computer. Others are small and flat, which are common in fast food outlets. POS keyboards often has a built-in magnetic stripe readers for processing credit cards.

Scanners: This useful piece of electronic device that reads bar codes, converts and inputs its details to a POS system computer. This device speeds up transactions and provide accurate data on products or services being purchased by a customer. POS scanners are connected through Y-connectors called wedges that make them function as an extension of the keyboard.

Customers’ volume: For diffent types of volume of customers, using a scanner can be very helpful. If your counter line holds several customers, your staff can easily use a CCD scanner or entry-level laser scanner. If the line is loaded with customers, then you’ll be needing the help of autosensing laser scanners. It’s a type of scanner that automatically turns on when an item is placed in front of it, scans its code, and then turn off again. But if your counter line is flooding with customers, an omnidirectional scanner would be the right scanner to use, where it scans a bar code from any angle with its 15 or 20 lasers simultaneously!

Consider Additional POS

Cash drawers: Where you store cash, credit card slips, gift certificates, and other imporatant things. When looking to buy for a POS cash register, look for sturdy construction of at least 18-gauge steel. And since the usable life of a cash drawer is measured, make sure you can replace rollers, bearings, and other parts, because most cash drawers opens when a signal is released from the receipt printer.

Point of Sale printers: An addition to your restaurant POS system is a printer, every retail business needs one to complete a sales transaction. POS printers are used to print receipts of customers and creating credit card slips. The dot matrix printers, also known as impact printers, are inexpensive and uses ink ribbon to print on regular paper. While thermal printers use heat and special heat-sensitive paper to generate receipts. It is slightly expensive than a dot matrix printer but faster and quieter when using. They are also more reliable because they have less moving parts.

Customer displays: A customer display or pole display lets your customers view the price of the item they’re about to purchase, and can sometimes be used to support advertising. You also need to make sure that your customer display is of the right height and shape to fit in to your counter table, as well as it’s compatibility with your POS software.

The Check readers: If you don’t have one, I suggest getting one now. This device helps you be preventing check fraud by verifying essential account information, saving you tons of profit.

Magnetic stripe readers: This piece of hardware is used to read credit cards. Some keyboards and touch screens has a built-in magnetic strip readers for convenience.

Fingerprint readers: This type of POS equipment can be used to limit which staff can access a POS terminal. Typically used by employees to log on to their designated stations.

Remember, when purchasing for POS systems, hardware or software, make sure to know the item first before heading to your local supplier. No matter how expensive or cheap a POS equipment is, keep in mind the environment where you’re going to use it. Regular cleaning keeps your keyboards and touch screens in top shape, vacuuming dust and lubing your receipt printer can extend its life and maintaining an over all clean workstation can help protect your POS computers from annoying dust and spills. You can always request for a FREE POS system quote online where local suppliers will offer you competitive price lists of any restaurant hardware and software you need based on the the information you provide them. So you would never have to waste money buying the wrong POS systems.

For more information on restaurant POS systems or to have a local POS professional serving the restaurant industry in your location see more information at POS-For-Restaurants.com.

A Restaurant POS (or Point of Service) could be any POS terminal, hardware and software combined like an electronic cash register, that is used to process a transaction. A restaurant includes several factors that makes a business function as it is supposed to. A restaurant POS terminal is used in order to accelerate a transaction as well as your customers payment. Point of Sale means the transaction point, any location within a retail establishment where transaction occurs.

For a restaurant, there are lots of moving parts that’s involved for it’s performance. Having a restaurant Point of Sale system for managing staff attendance and performance, the inventory system, accounting and customers’ details, can help any retail business owner improve his business’ performance. How is that? With features that provides powerful tools to help manage employee and customer data, a restaurant POS system increases both efficiency and profits.

Customer Satisfaction Increases Profit

Customer satisfaction is a very important factor for any retail business, meeting your customers’ expectations can increase customer return, giving you a higher chance to increase your profit. The more customer returns you get, the higher your profit is! So your job, as the owner, is to make sure your employees are properly and accurately giving orders, provide assistance to customers and make an overall great performance all the time. By using a POS software you can decrease 50% on ordering time and increase ordering accuracy.

Because the goal of increasing profit, many retail POS vendors have developed new systems that can produce excellent results like the POS systems that enables you to integrate your accounting software such as QuickBooks and Peachtree. With a POS software like these, you can rest assured that all your financial data will be up to date and accurate, you can even print sales report on any POS terminal just with the touch of a button!

Inventory management is a tough job. Manual handling and updating of your inventory can be a lot of hassle, it’s both time consuming and costly. By installing a POS software that can help you manage your inventory, you will see and increase in efficiency with its advance management features, you can enter any information with the items as well, such as purchase date or date of expiry, you will never have to back to manual again.

Proper ordering system. Placing an order should have the right timing, order too late  and you will run out of an item, and ordering too soon risks an item going bad. Installing automated inventory management enables you to increase the efficiency of your products orders, set a special alert to notify you and your employees when you’re about to run out of products and the ones that needs immediate re-ordering, as well as setting notifications when items are nearing their expiration dates. If your restaurant still doesn’t have point of sale software for inventory management you are potentially losing money every day.

Good Restaurant POS Solutions Fights Leakage

Having a realiable restaurant POS solution for your business can decrease shrinkage up to 10%. Since all data is digitally recorded, you can have a full report on who processed a transaction and if the transaction made is accurate. By this, you can also ensure an easier way to investigate profit loss.

The information I gave you is just the bits and pieces of what a restaurant POS systems is and what a good POS software can do for your retail business. I suggest getting advices and online support before purchasing any POS terminal, since it can really cost you a lot if you buy the wrong POS system. You may also request for a free POS system quote where suppliers serving your area can send you their competitive price lists.

For more information or to have a local POS professional serving the restaurant industry in your area help you go to POS-For-Restaurants.com