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How to Upgrade your Restaurant Billing System

WLP Group

Running a restaurant is one of the most stressful and challenging jobs in the world. If there was a way to make this job easier, and improve restaurant operations, wouldn’t you take it? Well, there is. You can upgrade your restaurant billing system and ensure the smooth running of all operations. 

A restaurant billing system is more than an avenue to process payments. It is an integral part of your customer experience. You can modernize your restaurant billing system and make it faster, and more efficient, with better integrations and access to all major data points. But how? Well, the first step is, choosing the right restaurant Point of Sale (POS) system that ensures a wow customer experience and can help you scale your business. 

In this post, we will guide you through how you can upgrade your restaurant billing system, why you should do it and the features you should look for.

Why should you upgrade your POS system?

A decade ago, digital payments or contactless payments seemed like a pipe dream but now it’s our reality. Most of us opt for cashless payments in our day-to-day lives, from shopping for groceries, paying medical bills, or paying restaurant bills. Convenience in making these payments plays a big role in this and can win or lose a customer’s loyalty. This is one of the reasons why you should update your restaurant billing system. 

The other reasons are also on the lines of ensuring a frictionless customer experience. Take, for instance, you have just made changes in the pricing of dishes on your menu and your system is glitching. There is a long line of customers trying to pay their bills but cannot. You finally solve the glitch, and you face payment authorization failure. Basically, you are spending more time troubleshooting your billing system and are compromising on service. All these things may not happen at the same time, but they still slow down your restaurant and affect your brand image. So, if you are facing any of the above-mentioned issues, you should upgrade your billing system to a modern restaurant POS system that is smart and efficient and minimizes the possibility of error.

Must-have Features in a Modern Restaurant billing system

Billing

To get to billing, your POS system needs to get orders right. Your system should be able to punch in orders with speed and accuracy. On busy days when you have orders from various sources, your system should be able to fulfill orders without delay. So, this is a must-have feature you should look for.

Inventory

Did you know that your billing system can also assist in inventory management? A lot of them integrate with your inventory management software and help you gauge the cost of the food you order with accuracy. 

Central data management and analytics

You can access data points with your restaurant billing system. For an instance, it records transaction data that can help you assess customer behavior trends, understand what dishes are working, what offers are preferred by your clients, and which restaurants are doing better than others, and hence serves as the ideal management system. Data is knowledge and knowledge is power, and now you can access it through your POS system.

Some data points you can begin with for valuable insights

  • The number of orders from different outlets – this includes most ordered dishes, offers that worked, and various stages of order fulfillment.
  • You can check the viability of loyalty programs and rewards systems by checking redemption rates.
  • Going to the basics – you can check your sales broken down over different periods of time.
  • Check your stocks to see what is selling and what is rotting on the shelves.
  • You can analyze data to make informed decisions for your restaurant and make a profit. 

Integrations

Integrations are integral to a modern POS system. They work in tangent with your CRM campaign, loyal programs, and third-party applications.

Let’s break each of those down.

Your CRM campaigns and loyalty programs help you value your loyal customers and treat them right. Your POS system would for instance process their orders quickly and give them a great order experience.

For third-party applications like Zomato, Doordash, Postmates, and Uber Eats, you can process your orders faster with an order management system in place.

Cloud access

A restaurant billing system that works on the cloud makes your life easier. You can access your transaction data at any time from anywhere. What’s better? If there is a power outage, your data gets saved remotely. Your data is safe, secure, and available to you always.

Benefits of a modern restaurant billing system

  • A single system that takes care of all your operations
  • Automates your restaurant management processes
  • It is cloud-based so you can access all data and functions remotely
  • Makes employees management easier as every order and payment detail gets recorded

Follow these steps to choose the right POS System

Don’t just take our word for it, do your research

Take a well-informed decision before upgrading your system. Read up on the topic and ask your peers and other restaurant owners for their perspectives. Weigh the pros and cons in accordance with your restaurant’s needs.

You can always take a demo

After you have narrowed down on software, take a demo for it. Learn about it, ask questions, and clear up any doubts you might have. All restaurant software offer demos so might as well use the service.

Final Decision

It’s time to take the final call, keep in mind the features you want, and then decide on the right restaurant POS system.

A quick review of the most important features

  • Easy to use
  • Allows integration with other systems 
  • Cloud storage available
  • Proved high-quality customer services
  • Accessibility
  • Automates tasks and reduces manual work

It’s time to update!

As you finally upgrade your restaurant billing system, it is important to take some steps from your side to ensure a smooth transition.

Here is what you do:

Data backup

As you’re shifting to a new system, you have to be careful with the data on your current system. Speak with your service provider and back up data from your current system and sync it with your new system. If your new POS system is cloud-based then data management is now simple, easy, and effortless for you.

Installation

Your business cannot shut down while the installation occurs. So, make sure you choose a POS system with quick installation processes. You can discuss with your service provider and perhaps select a day when business is slow and kickstart the installation process.

Training

Upgrading your billing system is fruitless if your staff doesn’t know how to use it. Choose an easy-to-use POS system but also train your staff on the new system.