Tablet POS System: The Future of Retail and Restaurant Business

Rohit Rajpal

Senior Writer

Tablet POS System: The Future of Retail and Restaurant Business

According to a recent report by Hubspot, a staggering 95% of restaurant owners say that technology enables better operations, while 73% of dining guests agree that technology enhances the dining experience.

This was before the pandemic started. Now, the need for technology for restaurant and retail business owners has massively increased. 

Hand-held or tablet point of sale systems is one such technology application that businesses are going to need in the future irrespective of the pandemic.

Looking for Point of Sales Software? Check out SoftwareSuggest’s list of Best Point of Sales Software solutions.

Here are the requirements of dine-in customers that became necessary during this tumultuous time: 

  • Ordering through tablets from tables 
  • Cashless, contactless payments 
  • No waiting lines 
  • Self-ordering kiosks
  • Digital bills 
  • Virtual gift cards 

Thus, mobile POS systems successfully meet both the wants and needs of the customers.

Do you need a retail or a restaurant tablet POS system?

Yes, it would be best if you asked yourself this question. Just because we have both the industries mentioned in the blog title doesn’t mean we are mixing them up.

Tablet POS systems are beneficial to both retail and restaurants equally. But always buy a tablet POS system with regards to your business type.

Because, if you’re running a grocery store, you won’t have any benefit from features like table mapping or ingredient tracking. Features that you will generally find in tablet POS systems for restaurants. 

Luckily there are resources like SoftwareSuggest available to help you find the right tablet POS system.

Let’s start with the terminology first. 

What is a tablet POS system?

Tablet POS (point of sale) systems are software programs that run on tablets with any operating system. More portable options are hand-held POS systems that are software that runs in smartphone-sized devices.

These mobile devices completely replace the traditional stationary POS system terminals. Also, replacing 1000s of dollars expense in software, hardware, installation, and maintenance with a basic software subscription fee.

Is the tablet POS system better than the traditional stationary POS system?

Yes, tablet POS systems are better than traditional POS terminals. Here’s why:

  1. They require no physical space 
  2. They will enhance your brand image
  3. They cost lesser than the traditional POS systems
  4. Low Maintenance
  5. Are mobile, allows you to information and control from anywhere

Is Tablet POS System The Future of Retail & Restaurant Business?

To know this, you have to understand how the tablet POS system works for restaurants and retail stores and the benefits it has.

Here are 7 benefits of a hand-held or tablet POS system for restaurants and retail stores:

1. Bring smart reform to business at an affordable price

Hand-held or tablet point of sale systems come at a lower price than traditional stationary POS systems. This is simply because computer systems are pricier than tabs and smartphones.

Having said that, you should know that the cost benefits of having a tablet POS system for retail stores or restaurants are way more if you already have tablets at your disposal.

The best point of sales systems for restaurants and retail is companies are compatible with all the operating systems, so you don’t need the latest version of an iPad to run your business seamlessly through tablet POS systems.

Here’s a price breakdown: 

Software Licence priceHardware price Recurring monthly fees 
Traditional Stationary POS system$1,000-$2,500$2000-$4000$25-$100 (for support)
Tablet POS system NONE$459-$1500 or NONE if you have tablets already$60-$300 (with free support)

2. Serve more customers, efficiently

Point of sales systems makes the traditional way of taking orders look primitive and unnecessary. 

Tablet POS systems help fast-food outlets enable line-busting if not do away with the long waiting lines entirely. 

Your staff can take orders, pass them to the kitchen, receive payment from the customer, and email them the bill while they’re standing in line in a few clicks — all through a hand-held smartphone-like device or tablet.

For casual and formal establishments, tablet restaurant POS systems work the same.

Corry Neal, General Manager at Odd Duck, an American Restaurant in Austin, Texas, talking to Toast Inc., integrated POS system providers, said,

“We often will have people that are coming from a football game or coming in from my day outside. And they are just hungry. The ability to stand there and say, ‘alright, let me fire a loaf of bread or some pork bellies’ and say, ‘I have got the food started for you now let’s talk drinks.’ I think knowing that I haven’t left the table and their food has already started cooking puts them at ease.” 

This not only saves time for the restaurant staff but also greatly enhances the guest experience. 

3. Boost in sales (obviously)

Tablet point of sale system for restaurants helps owners serve more guests in a day and also enhances the dining experience. 

Both of these factors majorly drive revenue, needless to say.

odd duek

Corry, the owner of Odd Duck, says after deploying hand-held/tablet point of sale systems by Toast. Inc, he has seen a positive impact across all aspects of his food business:

  • Customer’s waiting time on a typically busy Friday night reduced from 1.5-2 hours to 30-45 minutes
  • From getting burned out by serving 240 guests a night to seamlessly serving 400 guests a night 
  • Serving more guests and enhancing their dining experience has gained Odd Duck an average of an extra $30,000 increase in monthly sales.
  • Increase in guest satisfaction and employee retention.

Tim Thomson, Corbett and Claude’s owner, a chain of casual dining restaurants in Brisbane and Sydney, says that he saw an increment of 15% to 20% in sales after deploying a Revel’s tablet point of sale systems. 

Tim Johnson Corbett Claude

(Tim Johnson, at his restaurant, Corbett & Claude)

4. Moving to the cloud lets, you deal with lesser things

Tablet point of sale systems for restaurants will make your restaurants run as smooth as the smoothies you serve (even if you don’t serve them ?) 

POS systems are just convenient. Here are two reasons why: 

1. No LAN cables 

Mario Grimaldi, the Casa Mia restaurant owner in Brisbane, says that switching to cloud-based POS software by SplitAbility has worked very well for him and his staff. 

Since the point of sales, the software is completely on the cloud, and you don’t even need long LAN cables for WiFi.

2. No paper or paperwork

Grimaldi adds that Guests can even pay bills through an easy-to-use app, and an email of the bill will be sent to them, replacing the need for paper receipts. 

He says that since POS systems have completely digitized his operations. He and his team don’t have to deal with manual paperwork. 

5. Create an awesome workplace  

“If you take care of the employees, they will take care of your clients.” — Richard Branson. 

POS systems for retail and restaurants are not only beneficial for businesses and customers but also for the staff. 

Let’s go back to Odd Duck again. Corry says that deploying a tablet POS system has by Toast, Inc. has helped his servers in more than one ways: 

  • They are more mobile now. They don’t have to stand at the stationary traditional POS desks.
  • The more they move, the more day to day interaction they make, which is both good for them and the guests. (This was before the pandemic started)
  • Reducing going back and forth to traditional POS desks from tables to insert orders.
  • Since POS systems allow guests to get their food faster, it has greatly enhanced their experience. This has led to bigger tips for staff. They have gained $6000- $7000 a year. 

All of which has enabled him to keep employee retention to the maximum.

Generally speaking, hand-held or tablet point of sale systems also 

  • Mitigates the manual error and the repercussions that follow
  • Stop all kinds of employee frauds, creating a healthy environment for businesses and the staff as well. 

6. Make your guests feel safe while they use cards to pay

There is a general sense of risk in people while using credit and debit cards, and rightly so since there has been a steady increase in such frauds in recent years. 

Having said that, it is not a pleasant feeling for guests to lend their credit or debit cards to your servers as they take them to the stationary POS system for payment.

And you don’t need your guests to leave your diner with this negative and anxiety-ridden sensation, no matter how subtle.

Enter — a restaurant tablet POS system. With these tablet POS systems, your staff can carry out the transactions right at the table, without even needing to touch the card — in plain sight of customers. 

table pos

This practice will enable you to establish a deeper level of customer trust which will directly result in frequent visits, i.e., increased customer loyalty.

7. Access to data-driven insights anytime, anywhere 

Lielay Arguy, store manager at the famous retail popup store of Universal says, using a retail POS system was easy to instantly implement in their daily operations.

This was possible majorly because they could easily track their inventory and sales through the cloud POS system by EPOS Now.

Another example of how hand-held or tablet point of sale systems helps owners keep an eye on their data analytics is Benzer Gifts

Monica Nandu and her husband started a 1000 sq. ft. gift shop in Orlando, Florida, in 1990. They both have grown Benzer Gifts to six stores now. Having a point of sale system in place, Monica says she knows exactly where her money goes and doesn’t have to rely on what her employees tell her. 

Tracking all metrics has helped her save $30,000 after using point of sales systems. 

Conclusion

Thus, the table point of sale system in restaurants and retail stores makes the traditional way of taking orders and running stores seem primordial.

Do you have a hand-held or tablet POS system in place? If yes, let us know how is it helping your business?

We hope you got good insights from this blog. For more such content, stay tuned to www.softwaresuggest.com.

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