How a modern EPOS system can boost your hospitality business’s profits
Over the last few decades, the technology we use to pay for products has grown massively. From cash to pin to contactless, each new step has made it easier and quicker for us to buy that coffee or drink. It’s essential, then, as payment technology evolves, the machinery used by hospitality businesses to accept payment also upgrades.
This is where the modern EPOS system comes in.
EPOS, or electronic point of sale systems, are essentially the modern version of the traditional till. They do all the things the till would do, such as take payments and store money, but they also do so much more. Not only are they a more high tech way to process transactions, but a good EPOS system can also help boost your business’s profits.
Whereas the old till would process a transaction and store money, it didn’t have the smart technology to log the information. It was down to the business owner to check the till and write up the financial reports at the end of the day.
When it comes to a coffee shop or a bar, hundreds of sales are made every day. That’s a lot of data, and it can be difficult to sift through that by yourself. An EPOS system will store all the transactions that happen throughout the day. With this information it can create a history of transactions. It can spot trends and calculate the ebbs and flows of your sales. At the end of the day, week or year, it will report this data back to you in simple and comprehensible reports. From this information, you can make informed decisions about your business and the direction it should take.
Say, for example, you own a cafe. At the end of the week your EPOS system may tell you that on a Friday evening from 6 until 7 you make far fewer sales against your normal average. It can then calculate this against your staff’s wages and the cost of power you need to run the place. It may say that you are actually losing money from opening this extra hour. Then it’s up to you to make the decision and shift your opening hours based on the data.
Another feature of an EPOS system that can help businesses maximise their profits is its ability to eradicate mistakes. Your staff are only human, so it’s inevitable that every now and again they’ll let something slip. For instance, if a staff member messes up a customer’s order, you’re left with an unhappy customer, a stressed waiter and a meal or drink that nobody’s paid for. This is not only bad for business, but it’s bad for company morale.
With an EPOS system, a waiter can take a customer’s order at the table. This order will then get sent directly to the kitchen as a receipt, essentially cutting out the middleman. Instead of the waiter having to remember a dozen orders at a time, the EPOS system does it for them. It also stops the possibility of miscommunication between the waiters and the kitchen staff. With fewer mistakes being made, you’ll fork out fewer expenses due to mistakes and your staff will be happier overall.
It’s unlikely that an EPOS system will triple your profits. But it helps out here and there, gives you data-backed advice, and can facilitate the efficiency of the business. An EPOS system is a smart investment for any hospitality business that wants to modernise and use technology to help its profits grow.
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