How You Can Track True ROI from a Restaurant POS System
When a technology solution affects as many areas of business as your restaurant POS system does, it can be difficult to track the true return on investment (ROI) that it offers. Without knowing the actual ROI, you won’t be able to understand its true value or which operations need to be further improved upon.
The first step to understanding the true ROI from a restaurant POS system is to determine quantifiable factors that are influenced by the POS. These could include things like:
- Speedier checkout
- Tighter inventory control
- Improved marketing
Some of these areas have hard data readily available from your POS that tracks how much the numbers have improved, while other areas are more subjective. Still, it’s possible to use these factors to calculate the savings incurred from POS implementation. Here are a few ways you can do this:
Streamlined Restaurant Operations
From front-of-house to back-of-house operations, restaurant technology can be leveraged to streamline it all. Your restaurant POS systems helps reduce costly errors by improving order entry accuracy, and can optimize your pricing to ensure you get the best profit margin possible.
Integrated solutions like kitchen management systems, marketing tools, and loyalty programs should also be considered when calculating ROI, since these boost sales and efficiency. Lastly, if you can manage your system remotely with central cloud-based reporting, you save additional time and resources.
Potential ROI:
- 5% increase for faster table turns
- 35% increase for reduced order errors
- 3% revenue increase from upselling
Inventory Tracking
Aside from your labor, your inventory is one of your largest expenses. Improving your inventory tracking can equate to major cost savings. Use data from your restaurant POS system to break down sales by menu item and ingredient. Use this to determine shrinkage by comparing what your expected inventory value should be with what your actual inventory counts are. This can help you pinpoint areas of theft and waste, and help you accurately forecast your inventory needs. You can also leverage automatic reordering to save time and improve accuracy.
Labor Management
Labor is another one of your biggest expenses. It’s worth it to ensure you can effectively manage it. Your restaurant POS system should come with time and attendance functions, and scheduling suggestions to help you ensure appropriate coverage and forecast labor needs. Accurate time entry is especially important for preventing employees from tacking on extra time, which really adds up over time. It’s also good to ensure that your POS integrates with 3rd party accounting and payroll systems so you can eliminate data re-entry and your systems can communicate.
Theft and Shrinkage
Employee theft can be detrimental to your bottom line. When employees know that every item is tracked—guest checks, gift cards, food, beverage supplies, etc.—they will be far less likely to risk it. With the right restaurant POS system, you’ll have detailed reports at your fingertips, which give you real-time, accurate insight into vendor errors, discrepancies, and fraud.
You can also use integrated surveillance system to monitor employees, and view detailed reports on discounts offered by managers and servers so you can determine what’s legitimate and what isn’t.
Realizing a Positive ROI
The right restaurant POS system can unlock significant savings and boost profits, but it takes the knowledge and finesse to know how to get the most out of your restaurant technology. Partnering with Focus can provide quantifiable benefits across your restaurant’s operation. Our industry experts can help guide you on how to leverage your technology to achieve a better ROI. Learn more by downloading our ebook, How to Calculate Your Restaurant’s ROI from a POS Deployment.
