Top 6 Features your Cafe POS System Must Have

It is not easy to operate a cafe these days. There are many things cafe owners have to manage simultaneously, like employees, customers, inventories, and more. This can prevent them from running their business smoothly. However, there are also some café owners out there who run their cafes very successfully. What’s the secret behind their success? The answer is simple: Proper Point of Sales (POS) system. Every time a client pays for something in your place, a POS transaction takes place. Though it may sound like a simple process, indeed a POS system controls very complicated processes for you. The cafe POS system is packed with features, many cafe owners are not aware of. This fact sometimes scares and confuses café owners about whether to use this option or not. If you too are in the café business, take a few minutes to read this article carefully to find out more about the features of this software. We will talk about the top features of a cafe POS system that will drastically enhance the operations of your café.

Top features your cafe POS system should have

One of the crucial aspects that you should look for while purchasing a POS system is ease of use. There are many POS systems out there in the sale, and all of them have differences in usage. Considering the fact that you will be very busy with your operations in the cafe, it is a must feature for your POS system. When your place is full of customers, you will want to complete operations as soon as possible. You may want to get a POS system with tons of features but as yourself. Do you need all those fancy features, most of which you will not even use? So, you need to choose a POS system for your cafe wisely. A way to do this may be using the demo versions of POS software, which some companies provide. Another method may be checking it in a different cafe. Of course, for this, you will need permission from the owner of that place. Simply put, the system you struggle to use will be challenging for your staff, too. So, make sure you select a very easy to use the system while performing the basic things. 

Table management

Table management is yet another must-have feature for the POS system of your café. Most probably your café has table seating for the customers. Having table management and reservation feature in your cafe pos system will make you feel more relieved. This feature will especially help you in your busy days such as Friday and Saturday evenings. With the help of this feature, you will be aware of the status of your tables every minute. For example, you will know which tables are reserved, which ones have to be cleared, which ones are occupied and, etc. While selecting your software for the POS system, ensure you ask the provider to explain this feature comprehensively. It is because the same feature will seem different in various systems. To ensure your table management is done smoothly, you can use Posvice software. It may be less popular, but it is definitely one of the high-quality software in the market.

Inventory Management

If you think inventory management is the last feature to add to your POS system, you are wrong. This component is indeed one of the POS system’s top features for your café. Inventories hold the highest expenses for your place, alongside staff. You will be able to track your inventories thanks to this feature after each transaction. Further, the system will notify you in critical cases. For instance, you will receive a notification when the amount of your certain product goes down. This will save you from getting out of stock. As well as, your cafe POS system may allow you to automate it. By this, you can set benchmarks for inventory. Your suppliers will get a notification from you every time the benchmark is reached. It will prevent you from being overstocking or understocking. Consequently, your clients will never get upset by hearing their lovely product is not available. Lastly, your overhead inventory costs will go down as a result of this feature. So, it will directly affect your profits, too. That is why make sure you add this feature on your POS system list to get the aforementioned benefits.

Menu Management

Another underrated but highly important feature your cafe POS system must have is flexible menu management. You have probably noticed some orders made by clients are extremely unusual. For example, an order can be cappuccino with caramel prepared with soy milk and strawberries on it. Looks, annoying. Is not it? For such circumstances, which may occur quite often, a flexible menu management feature is a must for your POS software. A system with the correct menu modifier will be your fine asset. Also, you need to be able to customize and add items to it easily. Moreover, you will occasionally be proposing special discounts. For this, a system with proper menu management will be useful for you.

Customer-Relationship Management

If you are targeting to build a cafe full of clients, customer relationship management is a significant factor to consider. Having a customer-relationship feature in your cafe POS system with the data of your clients. The clients are the sources of your cafe’s revenue. With the help of this component, you will be able to track your customers’ behavior. It will be feasible to know what customer X usually orders, when he or she usually comes and etc. As a result, you will have an insight into inventories, too. For instance, you will know when to have a certain menu item available. Having access to your customer’s behavior will also let you establish special campaigns in slow times. For instance, you can generate gift cards, loyalty programs, and special promotions to attract those customers again. 

Staff Management

Last but not least, staff management is a feature that you have to maintain in your POS system. In cafe businesses, staff turnover is usually high. This will eventually have consequences for your operations, particularly on busy days. Having staff management features in your cafe POS system will let you track your employees. By doing this, you won’t be overstaffed in slow days or understaffed in hectic days. Further, it will be helpful for you to track your HR budgets. As well as, you will be able to track the attendance of your staff and regulate shift patterns. The end result will be streamlined operations and increased profits.

Final Thoughts

In brief, if you are running a cafe, a Point of Sale system is a must-have tool to help you stay organized, easing your work substantially. The outcomes will reflect themselves in better-organized staff and inventory management. You will notice increased profit, too, as a result of the use of a proper cafe POS system. Just keep in mind that many POS systems may be too complicated for your place. So, ensure you get a POS system that fits just right for all your cafe operations.