Five reasons why you should consider upgrading your point-of-sale

Your point-of-sale system is a critical part of your business. Upgrading to an electronic point-of-sale system, known more catchily known as an EPOS, provides the next level in service.

It brings together your stock taking, staff rota system, ordering technology, payments and much more all while providing you with an incredible amount of information about everything that’s happening within your business.

All of this, while freeing you up to spend more time doing what you love, and what’s best for growing your business, like concentrating on the menu, getting orders out of the kitchen or spending time getting to know your customers.

“For me to focus on my business I need to really understand it,” says Stephen Kennedy, owner of the Copper + Straw​ chain of coffeeshops.

“And the best way for me to really understand my business is to have access to very good quality, rich data. That's how we make decisions even on the number of staff to have on,” he adds.

Stephen’s system is from payments experts Elavon Europe.

“The best EPOS for a growing business is one that helps you to help your customers,” says Eric Horgan, Head of Product for Elavon Europe.

“Improving customer experience and adding value to your team drives sales and promotes loyalty while also saving you time, money and effort,” Eric adds.

Here are five ways an EPOS system can make sure your team never misses a beat; however busy you are.

1) ​Give your customers what they want.​

Slash queues​: No more keying in long orders in one place and inputting payment details in another; with an EPOS system, taking orders and payments can be done in a few taps.

Make offering discounts, bundles and meal deals easier than ever ​so combinations automatically lead to pre-determined discounts. You can even make them trigger when customers revisit to foster loyalty, or time-based for happy hour cocktails and rush-hour coffees.

Your customers can pay how they​ want ​through an EPOS system; whether using a digital wallet through their smartphone or smartwatch, a gift card provided by your new EPOS system, or tapping a payment card. Keeping contact to a minimum and cleanliness to the max!

2) ​Get on-the-go going with online ordering and takeaways.​

Third-party platforms or creating your own can be expensive and time consuming to make and manage. Elavon EPOS can bring online ordering to the centre of your business​. You can even decide to bypass your front of house and have orders go straight to the kitchen (or the bar… barista … or dessert station).

3) ​Help your staff to help your customers.​

You can set automatic prompts to let your team know when tables need moving on ​or setting for the next sitting. Customers can pay at the table​ through an app the minute they’re ready to go. Freeing up your team to prepare for the next happy customer.

Connecting your order taking with the kitchen is vital to keep dishes moving to the right place, at the right time, in the right order. Elavon EPOS allows you to co-ordinate your front and back of house​, from blending or prioritising orders to splitting bills or merging tables.

And to avoid mistakes and muddles – which cost you time, money and damage your reputation – you can tailor a customer’s​ order within the system​. Changes or additions to their order are relayed clearly, directly to wherever they are needed, bar, kitchen or wherever you decide. 

4) ​See what’s doing best on your menu, and what might need an extra push.​

You can track in real-time what’s selling well​ - by sales, by team member or by discount. And you can quickly introduce an offer for the things that aren’t proving so popular.

Elavon EPOS lets you link your orders to your inventory​ so you can see what’s running low and adjust your menu in good time rather than letting customers down after they’ve ordered.

You can even make stock taking and restocking easier​ with helpful automation that could range from prompting you to order key ingredients when they hit a threshold or bulk-uploading new stock to your inventory once it’s delivered.

5) ​Manage your team even across multiple sites.​

Even with a small team, managing staff, rotas, timesheets, tips and wages can quickly take over your day. What’s it like when that involves a chain of sites? With Elavon EPOS you can streamline management tasks​ helping you run your business, even remotely.

And data from your Elavon EPOS can easily be brought together to generate digestible reports to keep you informed ​about all parts of your business.

Find out how Elavon EPOS can add harmony to your hospitality at www.elevon.co.uk/EPOS​

Elavon Financial Services DAC, trading as Elavon Merchant Services, is deemed authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Details of the Temporary Permissions Regime, which allows EEA-based firms to operate in the UK for a limited period while seeking full authorisation, are available on the Financial Conduct Authority’s website.