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3 Reasons to Let mPOS Set the Pace in Your Restaurant

The use of mobile POS (mPOS) in restaurants is becoming more and more popular due to the many advantages it offers to businesses and their customers. In fact, nearly 51% of small and large restaurants have considered using an alternative mPOS system to help bolster service speed and workflow efficiency. If you currently use mobile devices as part of your POS process, do you know if they are being used to their fullest potential?

Here are three reasons to let mPOS capabilities set the pace in your restaurant:

Greater Speed

When your wait staff uses handheld devices such as tablets or smartphones, they can take food and drink orders and process payments right at the customer table. The order is immediately transmitted to the food prep station or bar. This helps eliminate wasted back and forth steps by the server to complete transactions. Increased speed results in faster customer service and table turnaround.

Increased Face Time

Utilizing an mPOS system at your eating establishment not only speeds up overall service, but it gives the wait staff more time to focus on the customer’s needs. The increased face time makes the ordering process more conversational and enjoyable.

Your staff can quickly access food information on the tablet for customer inquiries about options or dietary needs. Servers can have more opportunity to upsell by offering appetizer or drink specials, which can be added to the meal. By spending more time meeting diners’ needs, you enhance their experience and increase customer loyalty.

More Efficient Workflow

Improving the workflow is another advantage of implementing an mPOS at your restaurant. Food orders that are transmitted from the table directly to the kitchen staff ensures that the customer gets exactly what they want without errors because they are easy to read and understand.

Servers can also input drink orders tableside with the mobile device. Orders then go directly to the bar for pickup without having to wait for drink preparation or stop at a stationary terminal for order entry.

An mPOS system can potentially allow all of your wait staff to add orders and process payments at the same time without the need to wait in line to use the traditional POS terminal. Suddenly, you will find serving more customers at a faster pace and turning tables around quickly is leading to greater revenues.

Restaurants using mPOS for faster operations and greater efficiency is gaining momentum in this ever-evolving technology age. Personalized service is something your customers want and what you need to provide. Happy, loyal customers keep your profits on the rise. Can you afford to fall behind the pace?

Talk to Focus CA about mobile POS options including Apple iPad, iPad mini, and purpose-built POS ready tablets. We can also help you with processes and training to get the most out of your mPOS investment.

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The Ins and Outs of a Cloud POS Solution

What is the cloud and why does your restaurant need a cloud POS solution? We’re glad you asked. First, let’s take the mystery out of what the cloud is, exactly. The cloud is, in its simplest form, a virtual space on the internet. When data is accessed through the internet instead of off a local server in the back of one of your restaurants, it’s considered to be in the cloud.

Second, of course you can function without a cloud POS solution BUT there are so many benefits to the cloud versus an on-premises point of sale system that it makes good business sense to make the move in that direction.

Cloud POS Benefits

  • Instant access to your data from any mobile device including smartphones, tablets and laptops. This means you can monitor what’s happening in your restaurant from anywhere.
  • Information is constantly backed up and secure. When you have a cloud POS system the onus is on the software vendor to store, secure and backup your data so that is never lost or compromised.
  • Working within the cloud means that you are automatically running the very latest software release.

In the end the cloud is whatever — and wherever — you need it to be. For fast casual, table service or delivery restaurants the cloud can be a point of sale system that makes running the business side of your operations infinitely easier.

The Pros and Cons of a Cloud POS

When you consider a cloud POS solution though, there are some cons that you need to address. The main — and most important one — is internet access. If your cloud POS solution is dependent on an internet connection, you should also have a solid Plan B for when the internet goes out. Think about how frustrating it is when your credit card machine is offline and the havoc that can wreak. Times that by ten when your whole point of sale is out of commission because you can’t connect to the internet.

Luckily, Focus POS California has recognized the benefits of the cloud and combined them with the benefits of a traditional point of sale. FocusCloud is the perfect marriage of cloud based technology and on-premises reliability. You get the best of both worlds. You get the instant access to data from any mobile device, you get the peace of mind knowing your data is backed up at all times, and you can stop worrying about upgrades and updates to your software.

Plus, FOCUS is structured it so you can operate offline as well. The internet going out is not a catastrophic event. On top of all that you get near zero downtime. If your primary station goes down, we shift to the next available one allowing you to continue normal operations

Before you think that you can’t afford to have your cake and eat it too with FocusCloud, check out our pricing structure and then get in touch with us to schedule a demo.

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Featured Customer: Bosscat Kitchen & Libations

Bosscat Kitchen & Libations is a whiskey bar with southern inspired cuisine where the staff immediately makes you feel like an old friend. The favorite after work or brunch spot in Newport Beach, CA celebrated their 3rd anniversary and the team opened a second location in Houston, TX early this year. At both locations you are sure to sip on some of the best crafted cocktails in the South West and Chef Peter will make sure you wont leave hungry, especially if you get their famous Bosscat Burger.

Since their operations team is always on the go, they utilize MyFocus Mobile to monitor sales and labor of their multiple locations from one dashboard. As the team and locations grow they are able to continuously scale the solution to meet their reporting needs and stay up to to date on the performance of all locations. MyFocus Central and Mobile also allows you to delegate out specific access to only certain people or groups allowing your team to focus only on the properties they work with.

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Why You Need to CYA by Accepting EMV Payments

Restaurateurs, the time has arrived: the time to face the reality of EMV and all that comes with it. Many have been avoiding the inevitable, but as Europay, Mastercard and Visa (EMV) becomes more ubiquitous, you can no longer ignore the writing on the wall — it’s time to get chip reader capabilities into your restaurant. Here are three really good reasons why you need to be chip card capable.

One: EMV Limits Your Liability

There are a slew of rules, regulations and compliance standards that come with EMV certification to protect both the merchant and the consumer. According to regulations in effect since 2015, you, instead of the issuing bank, are liable for chargebacks and fraudulent charges if your business doesn’t have EMV-compliant technology. The chip-based technology makes it harder for fraudulent charges to be made at the point of sale, protecting your customer’s accounts –and your business.

Two: EMV is More Secure

Accepting chip cards will let your customers know you are serious about their card data’s safety. EMV is quickly becoming the new “normal” for card payments among U.S. consumers, so they may be concerned about the safety of their accounts if you can’t process chip card payments.

EMV payments are more secure because the chip provides a unique encryption for the card each time it’s processed. The old magnet strips store the account data, allowing thieves to skim the card information and use it to replicate a card with the same numbers.

Three: EMV is the Future

Soon, customers will start expecting the level of security as credit card issuers have pretty much replaced all magnetic strip cards with chip enabled cards to their holders. If you are still swiping cards, that is going to be a sure sign your technology is out of date.

Taking table side payments and having mobile payment options with EMV is now a thing. Focus POS California offers EMV chip card readers that will give you these capabilities without breaking the bank that you can easily integrate into your current system.

Don’t Delay in Becoming EMV Capable

It seems like a huge undertaking but the liability you assume and customer loyalty you could lose by not accepting EMV payments in your restaurant, whether you are a fast casual or table service establishment, could be costly. Upgrade to EMV-capable technology to accept chip card payments so that you can avoid liability for fraudulent charges, provide more secure payments for your customers and make sure your payments technology is up to date.

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Featured Customer: Mi Casa

Fantastic Mexican Food & Margaritas at Mi Casa!

If you live in central Orange County, undoubtedly you’ve heard of Mi Casa Mexican Restaurant & Bar. We’re extremely honored to have Mi Casa as our featured client of the month.

Mi Casa has been a FOCUS client since 2012 coming to FOCUS from Aloha. Mi Casa’s owner, Ryan Moore made the tough decision to upgrade to FOCUS despite his long history with Aloha. Ultimately Ryan joined our family and has taken advantage of many of FOCUS’ awesome features and functions.

“With the growing challenges in today’s economy of running a restaurant day to day, it’s reassuring knowing my Focus POS system isn’t something I need to concern myself (with). The cost of ownership is reasonable, the system is dependable, and my favorite part, the software updates are always free! My management team and I are very fond of the Payment Reapply feature within Focus. Mistakes are going to be made however it’s comforting knowing when a credit card is accidentally run on the incorrect check it can quickly be voided and reapplied to the correct check, in many cases, without the guest knowing.” – Ryan Moore
 
If you haven’t had an opportunity to visit Mi Casa, put it on your to do list. Not only are their margaritas some of the best in Orange County, but their food is delicious as well. Even something simple, like the Chips & Cheese.We love having Mi Casa as a member of the FOCUS Family and look forward to many more years growing together.Check out Mi Casa at their website www.micasa1.com or visit them in Costa Mesa off 17th Street.
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Tackle Restaurant Labor Costs Like a Boss

As an owner or operator in the food service industry it is a constant struggle to control restaurant labor costs and maintain a growing revenue stream. Traditional methods of labor management are not as effective in this age of instant consumer gratification.

What’s a restaurateur to do? Consider asking yourself these questions to see if your establishment could benefit from adopting newer, more efficient means of increasing profits and keeping your customers and employees happy.

  • Are my labor scheduling and communication practices effective?
  • Are we “behind the times” in utilizing the latest technology for the business?
  • How else can I increase profits and keep restaurant labor costs down?

Optimize Labor Efficiency

Time cards, paper scheduling, and staff memorandums are all antiquated practices.  They can lead to manual mistakes, over or understaffing, and employee miscommunication.  Restaurant operators should start making shift management a priority.

Finding a way to make it easier for employees to have a say in their schedules is a great way to keep them happier and more engaged in their work.  Looking into automated systems that help streamline communication between managers and staff these methods is a step in the right direction!

There are software systems that can integrate with technology that your employees use every day.  With smartphones, they can access work schedules, emails and important company announcements that help keep the lines of communication open and consistent!

Utilize Modern Technology

Today’s technology is more affordable and readily available to businesses to help curb restaurant labor costs. Here are some examples to consider:

  • Online Ordering Services: Allowing guests to order online or from their smartphone is like having an extra employee without the additional labor costs.
  • Self-Ordering Kiosks: Guests can order food and then sit down—no lines and enhanced order accuracy!
  • Tabletop E-Waiters and Checkout: Tablet POS credit card checkout reduces table turn times, allows guests to pay when they’re ready and frees up tables for the next guest.
  • Online Coupons: Get the right offer to customers at the right time — 58% of diners already use them— guest reward features encourage patrons to visit time and time again.
  • Digital Customer Communication: Get in front of your customers by leveraging rewards programs that offer text message, or app notifications.

Using modern technology can help ease the stress of staff, allowing them to focus on the job of creating a satisfying customer experience.  Customers also benefit by not waiting in long lines, having their food order arrive exactly how they wanted.

Make Use of Collected Customer Data

Using the above-mentioned technology also has a huge advantage in reducing restaurant labor costs.  It collects important consumer data about your customers.  Knowing who they are, what they order and when they order is vital information! It can help you optimize your staffing needs, food stock, and menu options to increase sales.

You can beat rising labor costs and be the boss of rising profits by implementing these techniques in your restaurant.

Contact Focus POS California about exciting new innovations in Guest Rewards.

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Featured Customer: Mahé

Most of us at Focus CA are big fans of sushi, so it’s a no brainer that we feature our favorite sushi & teppan restaurant Mahé. A FOCUS Client since 2015, Mahé came to FOCUS from an aging Aloha POS that was in desperate need of an upgrade. With the opening of their new concept, Ola Mexican Kitchen on the horizon, the Mahé team knew they needed a solution that could grow with them and enable them to manage their brand while it grew.

Both Mahé locations (Dana Point and Seal Beach) feature incredible sushi, full bars and a fantastic happy hour. The Dana Point location offers a delicious teppan menu as well as live music on select evenings.
Be sure to check out Mahé online at eatatmahe.com, you won’t be disappointed!

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3 Steps to Being a Restaurant Data Guru

Likely you have volumes and volumes of data from your point of sale, loyalty, gift card programs and marketing systems, possibly going back decades or maybe just weeks. Regardless, you have at your fingertips, a wealth of data just sitting there waiting to be tapped.

The question then becomes: what do you do with the vast amounts of info you have collected and how can you use it to impact your restaurant business? There are three steps you can take to master the repository of numbers you have at your disposal.

Step 1. Gather Your Data

Aggregating your restaurant data and knowing where to find it is the first step. Make a list of all the data you collect, the source of the data and how to pull the data from your various systems. Then, decide which data points would be most helpful to you in making business decisions. Some obvious first choices are:

  • Ticket and turn times
  • Labor and wage costs
  • Food and beverage sales
  • Winner and Loser items
  • Per-Person Averages (PPA) and Per-Check Averages (PCA)

Before you move to the next step, it is wise to take a moment to make sure your data is “clean”. That means that duplicate information is removed, that it’s accurate and that it is from the correct time frame and in a usable format.

Step 2. Analyze Your Data

Now that you have gathered your data, determined exactly what you want to track and “cleaned” your data, it’s analysis time. When you start tracking and analyzing your restaurant data, you are creating a baseline that gives you a starting point that you can use to measure performance. Ideally, you have integrated systems that all talk to each other. A point of sale system that can do this and then analyze the data for you is a huge asset and time saver that allows you to quickly jump to Step 3.

Step 3. Apply Your Data

The goal of gathering your data and analyzing your data is to ultimately apply what you know to control costs and make good decisions that will benefit your restaurant or bar. For example, once you know your average ticket times you will be able to take steps to reduce the time by making the kitchen more efficient. You can also use the data to make menu decisions. If you find an item is hardly ever ordered, it might be time to cut it from the menu.

Restaurant Data is Your Friend
Size is not an issue when it comes to data. The smallest bistro to the largest multilocation restaurant chain can benefit from having a restaurant data guru with the ability to harness the power of the data your operations spit out each day. Making it a priority to gather, analyze and apply the data you have on hand will pay off big time when you start to see your sales increase, your costs go down, and your spending under control.

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Featured Customer: Green Cheek Beer Co.

Focus POS California Green Cheek Beer CoWhen our friends at Valiant Brewing contacted us to let us know of their closure and the impending sale of their space we were shocked and saddened. Valiant Brewing was an up and coming brewery in Orange, CA that had started winning over taps and shelf space at bars and grocery stores in the ever growing craft brewing market.

But when one door closes, another one opens. Brian Russo and Even Price, formerly of Noble Ale Works, have brought the space back to life as Green Cheek Beer Co. and were an instant success selling out of inventory every weekend they’ve been open. Green Cheek is utilizing Posiflex 12” and 10” KS series all-in-one POS stations to save on space and have easily mobile stations that can be setup for can releases. Our entire team is excited to see what Green Cheek brews up next!

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How to Use Your Restaurant POS Reports to Make Business Decisions

While we all wish we had an IBM Watson on hand to help us make business decisions, it will probably be a few years before AI makes its way into the hospitality industry. In the meantime, using your POS reports to make crucial business decisions across areas of your operations is fundamental to fiscal management.

The reports can only get you so far. Once you have data in hand, owners and managers need to divine the numbers to make smart moves within their restaurant or bar. Here are three decision areas that greatly benefit from POS report information.

♦ Inventory Decisions
As food waste becomes a hot button topic in the industry and eateries in the greater Los Angeles area look for ways to be greener and just more environmentally conscious in general, the best way to decrease surplus is to optimize inventory. Using your POS reports compare kitchen inventory levels with items sold reveals areas where you are overstocking. To go even further, many cloud based inventory programs integrate POS data to do this analysis for you along with helping you manage inventory control.

♦ Marketing Decisions
Pulling customer demographics from your POS reports gives great insight into your key audience. You can see who and when they are visiting your restaurant or bar. Use this intelligence when making decisions on promotions and marketing initiatives. Then use the data to evaluate the effectiveness of your efforts. If you have a loyalty program in place, there is an opportunity for you to determine dining trends and motivators.

♦ Labor Decisions
Scheduling is a key area where your POS reports can aid in decision making from how many bartenders to put on the clock on a busy holiday weekend to the number of line cooks you’ll need for a slow Monday night shift.

Historical data and forecasting is the place most restaurant managers start for making staffing decisions and drawing up schedules. On a day-to-day basis pulling hourly sales reports and daily attendance reports to show how many FOH and BOH staff you have on the clock and who is going into overtime is a great decision-making tool to have when you are trying to determine when to make cuts and send people home.

Take Advantage of Web-Based Reporting
Having a web-based reporting system takes it to the next level for busy operators who are bouncing from location to location or can’t be tied down to a terminal. Having access on your smart phone or your laptop makes life a lot easier.

As you get more dependent on reports to aid your business decisions, it will become almost second nature. Hopefully, you also will find more areas in your operations that can benefit from data contained in your repertoire of reports.