Don’t Make These 7 Mistakes While Choosing a Restaurant POS System

1. Price Alone Should Not be Given Weight:

While choosing a POS for your business one needs to have an adequate idea of the financial resource one can afford to spare on it. It is a good practice to spend according to what your pocket allows. But keep in mind that few POS comes at a low cost but it might lack the functionalities and features you require for your business. So, be wise in choosing the best to suit your business making it souped-up, rather than choosing the one which is cheaper and proves to be a dead asset for business.

2. Not Keeping a Bull’s eye on Hidden Cost:

Many times we have noticed that a product comes with a low price but has an asterisk(*) added to it, which says “Terms and conditions applied”. Same applies for a POS. Do not get mislead by just seeing the low-pricing of the product.
Look for the add-on charges you will have to spend on it, namely, migration cost, training cost of the staff, maintenance charge, installation charge, hardware and/software cost which is required to run it and so on

3. Overlooking the modes of payment:

Gone are the days when payment was to be done only in cash. Nowadays a lot of methods of payment are available. You can choose from the wide spread such as online payments, paying by card, paying on EMI, paying after trial and so on. Discuss these methods with your vendors and choose the one which provides you with the most profitable deal.

4. Paying No Attention to Compatibility:

There are few POS software which does not work unless and until they are installed on a particular hardware. For instance, few POS are programmed to work on PC/ Tablet/ Android phone. But this does not hold true for all the POS. Few POS are compatible to run on any hardware available. Keep a check on the POS you are planning to buy, whether it supports the hardware already available with you. Obviously you will not want to lose out extra money buying new hardware to match your POS compatibility.

5. Undervaluing Specialization:

POS industry has been growing with the increasing need and demand. You have a specialized POS for every sector and for the restaurant and food company a numerous POS are available. Choose from these POS which is tailor-made especially to suit your restaurant business needs. Moreover, the need of every restaurant sector is different. For instance, if you are into only dine-in, not home delivering, your POS need will differ from the restaurants which deal in dine-in as well as home deliveries. Take care of these prospects and choose wisely from the ones which specialize for you.

6. Not Considering the Customer Support System:

Do not get mislead by the vendor’s fake promises. Look for their reputation in the market. Consider the after sale factors, such as their behavioral pattern with their present customers, time and way there customer service executives respond if there is a certain problem in future with the software, and so on. It is a good practice to have a word with the present customers of the POS companies you are keeping in the account to buy. This will help you make a better choice and will save you from any harassment in the future.

7. Leaving Out Scalability and Technological Advancements:

It is quite obvious that you are investing in POS to take your business to unmatched height. Just imagine you bought a POS to suit the current needs of your business. As and when your business grows the POS you bought is not able to keep pace with it, in terms of scalability and technological advancements. In such situation your business needs call for a new POS, thus making the old one an useless asset. This will be a burden on your financial resources. Be speculative, choose a POS that can expand itself to suit ever-demanding needs of your growing business and technological world.

Final Words