The Best POS Systems for Restaurants and Bars

The restaurant industry is notoriously competitive. Restaurants and bars need to take advantage of every opportunity to operate better and more efficiently, and explore new ways to enhance the customer experience and generate repeat business. Implementing a powerful and flexible restaurant point-of-sale system can be a significant competitive advantage, and here’s how to find the best POS system for your bar or restaurant.

Busy restaurants and bars depend on their POS systems to help keep things operating smoothly and efficiently, allowing servers, bartenders, and kitchen staff to deliver a quality customer experience. In recent years, the capabilities of restaurant point-of-sale systems have expanded to include a diverse range of important business tasks, including sales reporting, inventory management, scheduling, and more. However, this also means that the increasing variety of choices in POS systems has made the decision-making process on which solution to choose for your business more challenging.

Each bar or restaurant needs to carefully consider their needs and evaluate each potential option based on the best combination of features and capabilities. Additionally, they should consider the level of customer support and technical expertise offered by the merchant services provider who will handle the implementation and ongoing payment processing services for the business. The tricky part is knowing exactly which features are most important for the business, and how each one works to provide benefits such as speed, accuracy, reliability, and security, just to name a few. Let’s take a closer look at the most important factors to consider for a new restaurant and bar POS system.

What to Look For in Restaurant POS Systems

One of the most important criteria to look for in a new point of sale system for your restaurant or bar is the speed of the system, and we don’t just mean in terms of how quickly transactions get processed, although this is indeed a critical element. When it comes to the speed of the POS system, you’ll want more than just fast hardware. You’ll also need to evaluate how user-friendly the interface is. When your team is using the system to perform any type of essential task, they need to spend as little time navigating as possible. The simplicity and ease-of-use of the POS software and interface is a major factor influencing the speed and efficiency of the overall system.

In addition to having fast processing speed and a user-friendly interface, your POS solution should also have the right collection of tools, apps, and utilities in order to perform the necessary tasks all from a single machine. There’s no reason to have two or three different systems when you can do everything from just one. Check to make sure that the POS solution can handle everything your team may need, including managing reservations, creating customer loyalty programs, checking inventory, accessing detailed menu information, reporting on sales performance, and ability to integrate with other systems, as well as standard payment processing and customer billing capabilities.

Next, you’ll want to consider the flexibility of the system to handle a wide array of payment methods. For example, older or more rudimentary credit card and debit card processing systems may not have the ability to accept contactless NFC payments or digital wallet payments. This can lead to lost sales and missed opportunities as potential customers may just pass your business by in favour of another that accepts their preferred payment method. This is something you can’t afford, so make sure that your restaurant or bar point of sale system is flexible enough to accept all the latest payment methods, and also has the ability to grow into the future and adapt to changing customer preferences and market conditions.

Another essential aspect to look at in a bar or restaurant POS system is the level of security it provides against transaction fraud and data theft. These are serious concerns, and choosing the right POS system helps to ensure the protection of personal and financial data, giving peace of mind to both businesses and customers alike. For example, point of sale systems that utilize contactless payment technology are more secure than those that rely strictly on swipe cards. When coupled with the business’ antivirus, anti-malware, and firewall security measures, it can drastically reduce the likelihood of data loss or transaction fraud. Investing in the right security today can prevent a great deal of trouble tomorrow, so be sure to give these features the priority they require.

So, now that you know the important areas to focus your attention on when evaluating your next point-of-sale system investment, what are some of the best solutions to consider? We’ve got three different examples of top-tier POS systems for bars and restaurants that are sure to check off all the must-have features on your list and help you stay prepared for future advancements in payment processing and ever-evolving consumer behaviour trends.

Powerful and Flexible Restaurant and Bar Point of Sale Systems

For restaurants who want a main central payment solution, there’s no system more flexible, capable, and comprehensive than the Clover Station Duo. It’s the ultimate all-in-one POS and business data platform that can elevate your operations to new levels of efficiency. With the Clover Station Duo in your restaurant or bar, you’ll be able to rapidly process payments of all types, as well as manage staff schedules, coordinate table seating and reservations, manage inventory, update menu details, track sales performance, and connect directly to your online portal for take-out and delivery orders. In addition, the functionality of the Clover Station Duo can be expanded with portable remote payment terminals to offer greater convenience with at-the-table payment processing.

For some restaurants, the need for a smaller form factor is a top priority in order to save space, but this doesn’t mean they need to sacrifice capability just to have a little more room. Fortunately, the Clover Mini is the perfect POS system for bars and restaurants that want a compact and powerful device that can do everything the big ones can do. This POS system can be fitted with a wide range of additional components and attachments to completely customize its functionality to match the exact needs of your business. Choose from accessories like barcode scanners, weight scales, receipt printers, and other tools to build your ideal POS system, and then enhance your Clover Mini with over 100 different apps to handle different business tasks like inventory management, marketing, and more.

Many restaurants and bars are realizing the value of portable POS terminals and how they can simplify the payment process for customers by bringing the payment device directly to their location, no matter if they are at their table, on the patio, or seated at the bar. The Clover Flex is the natural extension to the Clover Mini and Clover Station Duo POS systems. It puts all the power of those larger systems right in the palm of your hand. Clover Flex portable payment devices can be fitted with a receipt printer, or customers can opt for a digital receipt if they desire. These handy POS systems are also great options for mobile food trucks and pop-up dining experiences, and the Clover Flex can even be equipped with a SIM card to connect to an available LTE cellular network when there isn’t a WiFi access point available where you need it.

Equip Your Restaurant or Bar with a Powerful POS Solution & Exceptional Merchant Services Support

Now’s the time to take action and be sure that your restaurant or bar is properly equipped with the best POS system, but it’s also critically important that your business is partnered with a merchant services provider that offers the lowest payment processing rates as well as comprehensive customer support and expert technical resources. If you’re not sure if the rates you are paying now are the most competitive, contact the team here at MONEXgroup today, and our payment experts will gladly provide you with a no-obligation cost comparison that you can use to see just how much you could save. By making the switch to MONEXgroup, your restaurant or bar will be able to lower your payment processing costs and simultaneously take advantage of the amazing Clover POS technology to deliver a best-in-class experience for your customers and enhanced productivity for your staff.

With MONEXgroup, there’s no need to compromise on the capabilities of your restaurant point of sale system or the level of service and support from your merchant services provider. You’ll get the very best of everything, and set the stage for future growth for your restaurant or bar. Get in touch with us today and find out more about what the right POS system can do for your business.