How Many Restaurant POS Terminal Will I Need?

• Considering peak customer volume
  When handling peak customer volume, you need to have a plan to be able to efficiently serve them all.
• Number of staff taking orders
  For serving tables, I suggest assigning 1 station for every 3-5 servers. You may want to have additional stations for handling high volume areas such as the bar and cashie stations. When switching from a standard cash register to a POS system, many people tend to forget that their POS system is not only used to conduct sale transactions but can be used for order entry as well.
• Manage your restaurant layout wisely
  If you have a bar you can bet the bartender will need his or her own station. Other stations should be located where servers can easily get at them.
• Assigning stations effectively where customers pay for their meals
  If you plan to have customers pay at the front you should have one or two dedicated cashier stations to allow speedy transactions. If you plan to have your servers carry their own banks, we suggest fewer servers per station.

Which style of POS computer is best?

• Desktop PC: the standard desktop type.
  • Least expensive computer option
  • 3 Year Onsite Warranty Standard for this component
  • Takes more space but can be hidden away underneath a counter
  • Flexible for addition of extra ports
  • Latest CPU speeds and memory
  • Screen and computer are separate; if ever technical problems accur, it’ll be isolated.
• Small form factor (SFF): also known as shuttle form factor, a smaller type of computer.
  • More stylish than the desktop
  • 3 Year Onsite Warranty Standard for this component
  • Space-saving
  • Fewer options for expandability
  • Latest CPU speeds and memory
  • Screen and computer are separate; if ever technical problems accur, it’ll be isolated.
• All-in-one terminals: combining touchscreen and computer.
  • More efficient because it requires fewer wires least space, even more stylish
  • Has 1-2 years warranty (Not onsite)
  • Comes standard with sufficient ports for almost any operation
  • CPU speed is generally slower than the other two options but sufficient for the Point of Sale needs.
  • Screen and Computer are one unit

How many cash drawers?

• This is probably fairly self-evident, but unless your servers carry their own cash bank you should have a cash drawer at every station you want to use to end transactions.

Integrated debit cards?

• Your POS systems can be used to process all credit card transactions, keep a record and allows you to store them in one convenient location.
• You can reduce 3-4 seconds per transaction using with the advance of high speed internet.
• A standalone terminal can be used in place if you do not have high speed internet connection.

How many printers must I have?

• Having one printer for your kitchen would be sufficient for your restaurant, not unless you have different sections serving different dishes inside your kitchen then it would be better if you place printers on all sections.
• Think about this, appetizers can be printed on one printer and all your entrée dish on another printer.
• We recommend impact printers over thermal printers for kitchens and bars because their loud printing alerts cooks and bartenders of incoming orders and because tickets printed on thermal paper become unreadable when exposed to heat.

How many receipt printers do I need?

• It’s always a good idea for every station to have a receipt printer.

Should I have a back office computer?

• A back office computer is good for allowing managers to run reports, access the system to make changes to menu, check inventory levels, or adjust employee time clock times, without disturbing servers and cashiers.
• It’s not quite necessary to have a back office computer for your restaurant, if you only have 2-3 stations.. But if you do, it’s always a great idea to host the database on a back office computer if you do have 4 or more stations so that none of the stations has the additional load of running the database.

More information is available at POS-For-Restaurants.com

The author of this article is the Vice-President of Customer Relations at POS-For-Restaurants with over 20 years of experience serving restaurants of all types and sizes throughout the U.S.