Owning and operating a restaurant during these uncertain times is no easy feat. Coupled with rising inventory and employee costs, unforeseen events like labor exodus, employees getting sick, etc., now might be a hard time to manage a restaurant efficiently. To make things easier setting up a restaurant management system in your restaurant might be your best bet.
With the rising number of establishments and the wafer-thin margins in the industry presently, the need to better manage restaurants and cut costs is at the top of this list.
A restaurant management system can be described as a complete package one needs to run a restaurant in simple terms. A restaurant management system encompasses into it all the things necessary to manage and run a restaurant efficiently without requiring another application. Often it is pitched as a complete package to restaurant owners for them to utilize all aspects of it efficiently.
A restaurant management system brings into consideration all the aspects of running a restaurant and packages it all together. Starting from billing-related activities to preparing reports, managing inventory, and employee, etc., it has all the categories needed to run a restaurant. Here are some of the modules that a restaurant management system will have.
A restaurant point of sale system is one that every restaurant must and will have. A POS is used to record the financial transactions between the restaurant and the customer. It gives the customer a detailed bill on what they purchased and provides the customer a sense of security in a way that they are not being deceived with any hidden fees. It makes sense that this is the first part of a restaurant management system and, for good reasons. We've explained extensively about POS details and the emerging technologies like Cloud-Based Point of Sale Systems for Restaurants in feature in other articles.
There are many moving parts when you're operating a business, and one of the critical things to not forget is inventory. Having a record of your stock and tracking it as it gets depleted is what every restaurant management system should have. They help you make decisions ahead of time which, will help you save some costs due to unforeseen events.
Tracking the dishes as they are being consumed and automatically reducing available portion sizes based on the number of outstanding orders is necessary for real-time data. Checking the current inventory and planning for the future by creating purchase orders from suppliers for the raw materials you require. Having real-time alerts will help you avoid pilfering from your stock by employees. Here are some of the features to look for in your restaurant management system
Knowing more about the customer will eventually help you have a better relationship with them. Having a robust Customer Relationship Management(CRM) embedded within your Restaurant Management System with details of the customer's details and purchases is the bare minimum. Some of the additional features can be as follows.
A Point of Sale System is used to record the customers' financial transactions and store them in a secure database. A Restaurant Management System is responsible for accessing these transactions and reporting them in a detailed manner. The ease of access to this data is paramount as these numbers tell a lot about the customer's behavior and how we can improve our margins.
Managing a group of people sounds like a daunting task, but handling an efficient set of people can make or break the business. Having insights into the employees' performance like knowing who the star performer is, someone who is lacking, etc. By knowing this information, you can offer extra training to employees who are lacking and reward star performers. Some of the other features that users can find under the restaurant management system are as follows:
Keeping track of all the expenses that occur in a restaurant on a day-to-day basis might be a very tedious task if a proper system is not in place. A robust restaurant management system has a system to handle and record payments made by the restaurant to its suppliers, employees, utility provider, etc., A separate tab under the restaurant management system to manage functions like these will help restaurant owners manage their expenses in a better manner and cut down spending. Also keeping track of all the sales and profit made is possible under this tab.
In conclusion, a restaurant management system is essential for you to run your restaurant efficiently and smoothly. You may not be at the restaurant at all times but you must have access to this data at all times and a robust restaurant management system helps you do just that.
While you're here, you can check out some of our other articles about the restaurant industry. If you need any more information feel free to contact us.
, DiNAMIC
8th April 2021