Having to go to the bar and queue to pay after a lovely dinner is not a super-charming experience for your guests. Or that it takes a hundred years for a company to pay because they want to pay individually. And what happens if the cash register crashes and you can’t make a payment? If you use fixed card terminals and old cash registers, it’s a clear sign that you’re not keeping up with the times.
Old cash registers vs digital cash registers
A cash register (or a cash register as most people mean when they say cash register) is a big clunky box with big buttons where you manually key in orders, write the order down on a piece of paper and take it to the kitchen. Sure, it sounds old-fashioned, but there are still restaurants that do this. There are also several things that can go wrong here; you can accidentally enter the wrong amount, type carelessly so that the chef doesn’t understand or lose the note with the order.
Unlike a cash register, a POS system is a software installed on your computer with a touch screen where orders are recorded from smart card terminals or digital cash register screens. You could say that today’s POS system is an online platform that includes cash registers, express checkouts, smart card terminals and other solutions that can be tailored to your restaurant. Today’s POS systems allow you to program dishes in advance, so that you and your wait staff can simply press a button that says “pizza” to register the order. Through digital bong screens, the order then goes directly to the kitchen’s screen, where they can mark when the order is started or finished. Which makes it much easier for the wait staff and allows them to be more present in the restaurant.
Fixed and stand-alone card terminals vs. mobile card terminals
In the stand-alone card terminals, waiters have to manually enter the amount before a guest pays, which can result in an error and the cash register ending up being tampered with. If the card terminal is connected to the cash register, the amount is automatically sent from the cash register to the card terminal, which cannot go wrong. But if you have an old card terminal connected to an old cash register system, you can only pay for one at a time, as the cash register locks during a payment. A digital POS system with mobile card terminals, on the other hand, can take multiple payments at the same time.
With a digital POS system and smart card terminals, you’ll be more responsive, faster and more profitable.