How Many Restaurant POS Stations Will I Need?

• Peak volume of customers
  If you want to efficiently handle huge quantity of customers, you need to plan for the number of POS stations based on peak business.
• Considering the number of staff taking orders
  One station per 3-5 servers would be sufficient for a table service environment. You may want to add extra stations for handling high volume areas such as the bar and cashie stations. Switching from a cash register to a POS system, many people unintentionally forget that their POS system will not only be used for cashing people out, but will now be used for order entry as well.
• The layout of your restaurant
  A proper restaurant layout affects your employees service. So if you have a bar, assigning a separate station for your bar tender would be easier since he can serve customers from there quickly.
• How and where you plan to have customers pay for their meals
  Having proper locations where customers can pay for their meals is also important, you don’t want to keep them waiting do you? For paying at the front, you should have 1 or 2 dedicated cashier stations quicker transactions.

What type of POS computer should I use for my business?

• Desktop: standard desktop computers.
  • Least expensive computer option
  • With a gurantee of 3 years of onsite warranty
  • Takes more space but can be hidden away underneath a counter
  • Flexible enough for adding extra ports
  • Latest CPU speeds and memory
  • Screen and computer are separate; if ever technical problems accur, it’ll be isolated.
• Small form factor (SFF): smaller than desktops.
  • More stylish than the desktop
  • Has 3 years standard onsite warranty
  • More Space Saving
  • Fewer options for expandability
  • Latest CPU speeds and memory
  • Screen and computer are separate; in case of technical difficulties problems are isolated.
• All-in-ones: the combination of touchscreen and computer.
  • More efficient because it requires fewer wires least space, even more stylish
  • Has 1-2 years warranty (Not onsite)
  • Comes standard with sufficient ports for almost any operation
  • CPU speed is generally slower than the other two options but sufficient for the Point of Sale needs.
  • Screen and computer are combined

How many cash drawers?

• You may easily observe how many cash drawers your restaurant will need, unless your servers carry their own cash banks you should have a cash drawer at every station for ending transactions.

Should I consider having integrated credit cards?

• Using your POS systems to process credit card transactions allows you to keep records of every transaction you process in one convenient location.
• You can reduce 3-4 seconds per transaction using with the advance of high speed internet.
• If high speed internet is not available we suggest using a standalone terminal for processing.

How many kitchen/bar printers?

• One printer for your kitchen will probably be sufficient for many restaurants; however, if you have different sections in your kitchen which handle different dishes you may want a printer for each section.
• As an example, appetizers can be printed on one printer and all your entrée dish on another printer.
• For kitchens and bars, it is highly recommended that you use impact printers instead of thermal printers. Because their loud printing alerts cooks and bartenders that an order is coming through, and since tickets printed on thermal printers becomes unreadable when exposed to heat.

How many receipt printers?

• It’s always a good idea for every station to have their own receipt printer.

Is a back office computer needed?

• A back office computer helps managers to run reports and access POS systems to change, remove or add important data without disturbing servers.
• A back office computer is not necessariliy required unless you have 4 or more stations. However, it’s a good idea that you host your database on a back office computer when you have 4 or more stations so that none of the stations has the additional load of running the database.

More information is available at POS-For-Restaurants.com

The author of this article is the Vice-President of Customer Relations at POS-For-Restaurants with over 20 years of experience serving restaurants of all types and sizes throughout the U.S.

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Restaurant Point of Sale Systems has many factors to consider in order to run a successful business. Let our experts show you how to take control of your business and increase your profits.

Taking Control of Your Business

Using the right POS system will provide a new level of control over your operations, increasing efficiency, boosting profits, and helping you fine-tune your business model. The wrong system, however, is just wasting time and money, and giving yourself a huge frustration.

In other words, a POS system is a glorified cash register. The basic POS system you’ll see in any establishment in the food industry, consisting of a computer, cash drawer, receipt printer, and an input device like a keyboard or scanner. However, in addition to being more efficient than cash registers, POS systems makes detailed reports which gives you all the information you will need to study your growth and make future plans for your business’ success.

POS systems can save you a great amount of money, increase your profits, and cut down the amount of time you spend on one business plan to the next.

Save more money, gain more control over your business, and being more productive; sounds like an excellent combination for your business, right? Well here are some of the best ways a modern POS system can help your business.

Eliminate shrinkage

A computerized POS system can drastically cut down on shrinkage, can be from a missing inventory to theft, waste and misuse of your staff. Because employees will know inventory is being carefully tracked, internal shrinkage will dwindle.

Accuracy

Whether you use barcode scanning or not, using a POS system can ensure that every item in your store or on your menu is sold for the correct price. Your staff will never have to guess prices again, and you can change prices with just one click of the mouse.

Getting margins

You can get better magins by having a detailed sales report, focusing on higher-margin items would be cinch. By moving items within a retail location, or promoting under-performing dishes in a restaurant, you can help boost sales of high-profit items.

Knowing your stats

With a POS system, you can instantly know how much money you have in your cash drawer, how much of that money is profit, as well as how many of a particular item you have sold today, yesterday, last week or even last month.

Manage inventory better

Knowing what stocks you need to keep on hand can easily be tracked with the helps of a detailed sales report. You can easily track your inventory, see what’s on stock, spot sales trends, and use historical data to better forecast your needs. A POS software can be used to alert you when it’s time to reorder for stocks that are running low. Because many store owners thinks that they know exactly what trends affects their business, they are mostly caught by a big surprise when they find out these data.

Build a customer list

Gather names and address of your best customers, you might never know when they’ll come in handy! You can use it for targeted advertising or incentive programs.

Reduce paperwork

Reducing the time you spend on doing inventory, sales figures, and other repetitive but important paperworks can be lessen if you use a POS system to help you out. It doesn’t only reduce the time but save more for you as well as give you a peace of mind.

Efficiency in transactions

In retail settings, you can make checkouts faster by using a barcode scanner and other POS features. And since POS systems streamlines your business, orders from the dining room is quick and accurately sent to the kitchen. In both cases, you’ll be making your customers happier with a faster and more accurate service.

You have to keep in mind that these benefits requires a commitment to utilizing the POS system capabilities to their fullest. Without proper training and analysis, even the most sophisticated POS system is nothing more than a regular cash register.

Retail needs vs. Hospitality needs

Since there are two segments in the POS market, they require different needs: restaurants, bars, and hotels and other retail operations and hospitality businesses.

Retail

Of the two groups, retailers have simpler POS needs. Retails can complete their transactions all at once and uses less variation for the items that they sell. Some POS features retailers may specifically want include the ability to support kits (3 for deals), support for digital scales and returns/exchanges. But if your business sells items in a variety of styles like clothes, then you will need a POS system that supports matrixes. As an example, matrixes gives you the ability to create one inventory and price entry for a particular sweater, but can still track sales according to size and color of the sweater.

Hospitality

Restaurants and other hospitality businesses differ in requirements.

Efficiency is the key focus for casual restaurants. For retail-style restaurants like sub shops, a POS system can greatly increase accuracy and cut down on time-per-transaction compared to hastily-scrawled order tabs being passed to the kitchen. For quick-service restaurants, POS systems are practically a requirement for living up to their name: orders entered on terminals in the front are automatically displayed on monitors in the food preparation area, ready to be quickly assembled and delivered to the customer.

For table-service restaurants and fine dining, POS requirements are somewhat different. Their needs includes the ability to create and store open checks, as parties order more over time, and to determine which waiter is handling which table. The efficiency gains from better management can be impressive. If your restaurant has 20 tables and has an average check of , it can increase turnover by one party per table, that would be an extra 0 on one busy night.

Return on Investment Worth the Trouble

Switching from your old system to a POS system can be difficult. There are many factors to consider and some pitfalls to avoid. However, the return of investment (ROI) can really make it worth your time and effort.

Need more information or an online resource?

Go to POS-For-Restaurants.com

The author of this article is the Vice-President of Customer Relations at POS-For-Restaurants with over 20 years of experience serving restaurants of all types throughout the U.S.

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What Are The Advantages I Can Get From My POS System?

I’m pretty sure some of you may think “Do I really need a POS system for my business?”. You may not mind relying on your cash register and sales ledger for your transactions because it’s affordable and reliable. But is it really the most efficient way to run your business?

While it is true that POS system requires expenses, it is very important to take into consideration the vast benefits it can give for your business. Regardless of what industry you are in, the goal is to increase sales and generate more revenue. POS can be your stepping stone for achieving your goals – and many others. Below are some of what POS systems can do for your particular business:

Concentrate on your business - POS systems allow companies to concentrate on growing the business. When you’re not worrying about how your transactions are processed, you can spend your time working on new techniques, promotions, and other initiatives to take your company to the next level.

Get Increased Functionality - Your POS system is not just a cash register! With its advanced features, it can take reservations, process special orders and provides guest beeper systems to keep your business operating smoothly.

Work Efficiently With Your Operations - There’s little room for error with a POS system. Everything is entered in clear, intricate detail so the lines of communication are always clearly outlined. With a POS, orders are served faster and more accurate! In return, it also improves your productivity and the level of customer service your retail business can offer.

Inventory Management - One of the most important task in food service industries is to check whether your supplies, perishable goods, are still in good condition before serving it to your customers and be sure to stock enough supplies without letting them to go to waste when soldunsold. With a POS, you know what’s in stock, what you’re running low on, and what your best sellers are so you can plan ahead.

Reduce Shrinkage – With a POS system, you can keep your employees honest all the time. Using only an old-fashioned cash register and paper receipts, the temptation will always be there to pocket a few dollars or give friends a free meal or two. POS curbs these activities tremendously, providing an accurate account of where your merchandise (and money) are going.

Reducing Errors – If you’re in the food service industry, you no longer need to decipher cramped hand-written orders from busy wait staff! POS allows you to easily key in orders, including specifics, to decrease the chances that it will come out wrong. You keep customers happy and save money by serving them the right orders.

Track Costs - If you don’t have prices clearly entered in a database, you might as well let customers shop with their own pricing gun. You can use price stickers and label each item, but this doesn’t prevent witty thieves from swapping their price stickers. With a POS, every item is bar coded and tracker so you can always know and input an item’s right price. And if there are changes needed, you can do them all at once direct from your POS terminal!

Increase Patronage - Serving quickly and accurately your customers waiting in line can help keep customers coming in your door. And when your customers do not have to wait for a staff to bring their checks, collect payment and clear their tables, you can serve more customers and increase your sales.

Getting Accurate Reports - With POS, you can do more than what you could with multiple ledgers and spreadsheets. You can easily make record of sales, track, sort, organize data and make revisions whenever necessary. Reporting is a valuable component to a POS system. It allows you to track what is sold, see what is needed to be restocked and reordered, and help you make future plans. It can also be a helpful reminder tool when you’re running low on supplies.

Track Customers’ Data - POS can greatly help you increase customer loyalty. Consider this, every customer that enters through your door will be entered into your POS system when they order something. Keep tabs of the food they order and how often they visit your restaurant. Then use this data to compile information for targeted sales and other future plans. This inforamtion is also helpful to limit the poor selling merchandise you keep in stock and earmark funds for more popular items.

There are critical things to consider for your POS system purchase in any industry. Make sure to meet with at least 3-4 qualified POS vendors before making any decisions. In any case, you can always request for a free POS system quote, where vendors will be able to meet your needs once you’ve given them information of your POS needs. Provide each of them with the details of the information you wish to track and the features that can help you ease your job. Always be aware when the POS software appears to MAKE you do things differently. Follow this simple procedure in order to find the right software that can improve your business’ efficiency. With the proper restaurant POS solution at hand, makes your business more efficient, more profitable, more enjoyable, and keep your customers coming back!

Need more information or an online resource?

You may visit POS-For-Restaurants.com

The author of this article is the Vice-President of Customer Relations at POS-For-Restaurants with over 20 years of experience serving restaurants of all types throughout the U.S.

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Start out the year right for your restaurant POS systems. Let’s talk about some of the most common and crucial mistakes that are made in regard to some very basic configuration aspects of the computer system. Mistakes can seriously damage a restaurant or any other retail establishment, not to mention the amount of time and money on repairs. Even worse than that… it can frustrate you, your customers and employees.

Whether you already have a computer system or you’re going to configure a new one yourself — it’s important for you to make sure everything is done accordingly.

Don’t let me give you the wrong idea. I don’t always recommend configuring your own computer system! I recommend letting a professional do it for you. But I’m sure some of you will do it yourself no matter what I say. So this is for those of you that insist on doing your own computer installations and for everyone else to double check and make sure everything was done properly. This can help avoid major problems, be aware on the proper installations and save hours of precious time.

So here are some simple retail POS system configuration checklist for a Windows network you could follow:

1) Using a Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)
The number one cause of electronic component failure is from fluctuations in electricity (up and down). Having a proper UPS can solve this problem by providing clean power. I would recommedn getting a good UPS for your server. And it’s a good idea to use them on each of your worstations too.

2) Plugging All Cables Into the UPS
All cables that powers your computer and network must be properly plugged into your UPS. It’s also important to make sure cables that can carry electrical charges are plugged into a surge protector or UPS. For example, the phone line for your modem can fry your computer if you don’t plug it into a surge protector. So you better make sure that all cables are plugged properly. Your modem line, network cables, and power cords can cause severe damage if not plugged properly.

3) Tightening Up Security
At the very least, I suggest locking down your server with a password on all Windows accounts so your employees and hackers have more difficulty messing with your server.

4) Intalling and Configuring Security Tools Like An Antivirus Software and AntiSpyware Software
It is gravely important for you to make sure that these security tools are configured to updating automatically, so you would never forget.

5) Limit Your Employees’ Internet Access
Employees that surf the internet can cause more problems than anything. Anti-virus and anti-spyware software does help but if an employee inadvertently downloads the wrong program or accepts the wrong message, it can damage your system down. You may limit them by disabling internet browsing on their computer stations. Or another option is to password protect internet access.

For a restaurant, this is very important! In order to protect secured files from evil hands, limiting employee internet access is a must. A retail business owner has to enforce rules to protect his business as well as his profit. Otherwise, what good will a restaurant POS system do if it’s run by a misbahaved or ignorant personnel.

6) Configure Your Back Up To Run Every Night
As well proven in many situations, it’s best to configure your back up to run automatically after work hours. But you still need to remember to change your back up device (like tapes) every day.

7) Test Your Backup By Restoring Files Once A Month
I have talked to dozens people who think they have a good back up for restoring damaged files. But when they try to restore they find it hasn’t been working for months or years. That’s why it is very important to test your back up at least once a month by restoring files so you would know that it your back up is working properly. By the way, you should also remember o restore to an alternate file location so you don’t mess up your existing software.

So please check your computer system now. If you don’t, you might regret it later. Have a happy and successful 2009!

With over 20 years of restaruant experience, the author and Vice President of Customer Relations at POS-for-Restaurants.com, helps you use your technology to be more efficient and more profitable.

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A few simple tips for selecting Restaurant POS Software

Since technology keeps on growing, more and more restaurant and hospitality sector that are increasingly turning towards business management softwares to aid them with their needs, as well as to increase their efficiency.

It is crucial for any restaurant to select a restaurant POS software suite that is flexible and can grow with their business.

While not all business owners are comfortable with restaurant pos technology it can be a huge asset and vital to any hotel or restaurant wanting to trade immediately after installation, thus bringing in customers immediately. Always remember that a good POS software can save you money, time for training your staff, stock control, payroll as well as wages.

For the hospitality market sector, it is very competative and streamlining your business operations can mean the difference between failure or success. In this world, if you don’t keep pace with your competitors you could see yourself loosing your customer base through promotions and cheaper offers by smoothly run establishments operating management and restaurant software.

Restaurants are certainly no exception from this and having a good hospitality software suite for your restaurant or hotel is vital in being successful.

While there may be times when external factors can make a difference to your success, using the right hospitality software can significantly increase your chances of success and give you the edge over your competitors.

And if you are still searching for a software suite which is right for your business, make sure you look for a restaurant software suite that is robust, upgradeable, a great value for the price you payed for, and above all easy to use.

You also have to make sure that the hospitality software you purchase is adaptable to your needs. But if the software is inflexible and incapable of adapting or changing to meet your needs, it can cause more problems in the long run.

A retail POS business software should be easy to install and use, intuitive and does not require days of training; it should be fully modular, flexible and upgradeable to grow with your business. Additionally, you need to look for restaurant software that will run on your computer systems.

If you’re going to use multiple till then you’ll be needing a good back up system, a system that will replicate your master data file to another machine making sure you don’t loose data in the event of a system crash. You need to ensure that the restaurant POS you select will allow multiple hardware configuration, as well as payroll integration and data export to sage or quick-books. Most users will have at one time or another use Windows OS to run their computer, because many of the professional scalable POS and hospitality software solutions were programmed specifically [with windows in mind.

As a final consideration, your restaurant point of sale software should be fast and user-friendly, for the benefit of both you and your customers.

Mostly, restaurants are extremely busy especially during peak hours, so a POS system that workd quickly and doesn’t crashes easily would be the best choice!Since most good restaurants are always busy, especially during peak times, a POS system that will work quickly and not freeze or crash during constant use should be the one you purchase. A good stable piece of software may not be cheap, but it can really help your business run smoothly which gives you more time to concentrate on other areas of your business.

Support is one of the main priorities of any business, so you have to make sure you have the option of telephone support or virtual network connection support similar to yahoo and msn messenger this will be an optional extra with any good POS software provider and worth its weight in gold if your systems go down and you are unable to trade.

Always remember that software programmers knows far more than you. An overlooked point that many clients have regretted from my experience, make sure that whoever you purchase the software from can offer after- hours support should you need it, also a company in the same time zone is a very useful commodity.

With over 20 years experience in the industry of Point of Sale Systems, the author of this article is the Vice President of Customer Relations at POS-For-Restaurants.com, an online information service to help restaurants receive competitive bids for hardware, software or a complete restaurant point of sale system.

Visit them at POS-For-Restaurants.com

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Making Sure Your Point Of Sale Equipment Is Secured

In credit card commercials, although they show us a couple of happy shoppers swiping their credit cards as they go on a shopping spree and enjoying the convenience of a cashless society, they tend to forget to discuss the very real danger of identify theft at the cash register.

The director of embedded solutions for Solidcore (www.solidcore.com), Monica Chauhan, a leading provider of real-time change control software, cites Gartner Group statistics showing that four out of five data breaches occur at Point of Sale (POS) systems.

Locking it Down

Chauhan states that if these Point of Sale systems aren’t properly locked down, they can be vulnerable to attacks. “For decades, embedded devices consisted of specialized hardware running proprietary software, but in recent times, there has been a shift towards standardization, such as Unified Point of Sale (UPoS) in the retail industry.”

“Standardization has enabled devices to become increasingly interconnected and has allowed for the use of off-the-shelf software on commoditized hardware running commercial or open operating systems, such as Windows XP Embedded, WEPOS (Windows Embedded for Point of Service), and Linux,” Chauhan observes.

Chauhan also included, the security risks for POS equipment owners came from greater system flexibility and quicker development time of these equipments.

These Are Vulnerable Systems

From Robert J. McCullen, chairman and CEO of Trustwave (www.trustwave.com) – a security firm that specializes in information security and compliance management solutions, agrees with Chauhan that many but not all POS systems are vulnerable to exploitation.

McCullen says, a little dial-up swipe machine has a low risk, but computer-based and/or have Internet access (risk lies in those two prime factors) devices are more prone to vulnerable exploitation.

Another thing, McCullen said that if a POS system stores credit card track data, exploitation can occur, and the swipe terminals can easily be exploited through tampering.

“Generally, hardware swipe terminals have low exploit risk, rather a higher risk of tampering, and thus the tampering will allow hackers to read the cards, whether through a Bluetooth device used later to get the card data or other efforts to retrieve the information,” McCullen explains.

Chauhan points out other vulnerabilities. She claims that because today’s POS systems are similar to networked PCs, they require constant patching. Chauhan says embedded systems have also become vulnerable to changes that are unauthorized and inappropriate as they are handed off to others in the distribution channel. Results of this can cause malfunctions to the equipment and may even loose their PCI DSS (PCI Data Security Standard) requirements.

The Challenges With PCI DSS

Both Chauhan and McCullen agreed that POS equipment is faced with unique challenges with its PCI DSS compliance.

“Requirement 5 states that you must use and regularly update antivirus software,” Chauhan says. Antivirus software can be a very high overhead expense for a low-footprint POS system, she even notes; inspite of that, change control software can eliminate the need for antivirus software.

For example, Chauhan explains that NEC Infrontia installed change control software on its POS offerings and thus prevented unauthorized code from breaking unpatched systems. With this software, NEC Infrontia was able to remove the antivirus software that affects the performance of their devices, according to Chauhan.

PCI DSS Requirement 6, “Develop and maintain secure systems and applications,” presents unique challenges, Chauhan notes.

It will be tough for POS equipment providers in ensuring that their systems sustain PCI compliance after the equipments are shipped through the dealer network and put into production.

According to Chauhan, StoreNext (www.storenext.com), a large supplier of technology and POS systems for independent grocers and small chains, solved PCI DSS Requirement 6 patching challenges by embedding Solidcore change control in its systems.

StoreNext was able to reduce the amount of time they spend on monthly test and patch distribution cycles by reducing its patch frequency to quarterly. Chauhan also claims that the PCI auditing requirement can be met through change control software.

Other challenging areas, as McCullen affirmed, include data encryption and user-based access controls.

Questions?

For more information and advice on this topic you can quickly contact a Restaurant POS professional serving your area.

The author of this article is the Vice President of Customer Relations at www.POS-For-Restaurants.com with over 20 years experience in the restaurant point of sale industry.

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Not so long ago, controlling labor cost in the food service industry was done by just going with the flow. Having an effective labor control meant by being able to manage employees during a rush to keep the operation up and running, and send them home as quickly as possible when the rush is over.

To effectively make projections of future sales, restaurant manager keeps track of their business’ performance for the past couple of weeks and converted those numbers into an staff schedule. And when the day is done, the manager sits down on his desk calculating time cards for the day’s labor percentage where success or failure of those efforts is going to be determined.

However, those days are no longer with us because of restaurant point of sale systems that has taken over many of the functions a restaurant manager used to do manually.

With the minimum wage set to rise to .25 over the next few years, operators are looking for every tool they can find to keep labor costs under control.

Jim Phillips the general manager of a Pizza Inn restaurant, tracks down his daily labor record via the store’s Point of Sale System. He uses a restaurant POS system from Pixel Point.

“I check my labor cost every 45 minutes when I’m in the restaurant,” Phillips  said. “I can pull it up on the terminal, hit labor cost and it tells me where my labor stands, or if I want to I can go into my hourly stats and look at those,” says Phillips.

With a restaurant POS system, you can view forecasted sales, actual sales and a variance between the two. It can even show scheduled hours versus actual hours for added convenience.

Since the system can tell you everything you needed; the number of dine-ins and buffets, you can have more time making future plans. It can even give your supervisor, kitchen staff and assistant’s hours all in a breakdown.

An extra pair of eyes

Some POS reports show labor trends over time, and with this owners or district managers can track labor cost manager performance shift-to-shift, said the marketing manager of Speedline Solutions Jennifer Wiebe. This system also provide detailed reports on manual editing of time clock reports so you can easily spot potential abuse.

You can even use the detailed information provided by time clock reports for labor board reviews of attendance-related employee terminations.

And at the end of day, your POS system can generate payroll- and employee-information export files to integrate with above-store accounting systems or third-party payroll services.

The POS also can assist managers properly assign employee-shift by the forcasted sales report and by generating a schedule from them.

Managers can efficiently schedule to meet their labor targets using sales forecasting and their labor plans. The Pixel Point scheduling tool is linked with employee skills and availability that can speed up the scheduling process.”

Restrictions on hours and breaks for minor employees can be enforced through schedule- and time-clock alerts. The schedule can also include a built-in time clock that requires a manager’s for overriding late clock-ins or early clock-outs.

Mostly, operators sets their clock-in and clock-out times within 5 minutes before or after the actual time.

“Employees can’t clock in until 5 minutes before their scheduled shift or clock out late without a manager override. The system tells me if an employee is supposed to be off but he is still on the clock.”

This article’s author is the VP of Customer Relations at POS-FOR-Restaurants.com – a national organization of retail and restaurant POS systems dealers.

For more information see their website at POS-For-Restaurants.com

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Click here for a video that explains the risk of non-PCI compliance

PCI and Credit Card Security Background

Since magnetic strip cards were invented, both restaurateur and their customers have been enjoying the convenience of accepting and using credit and debit cards. However, given the skyrocketing cost and frequency of credit fraud, well established card brands such as Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and JCB have taken preventive measures to safeguard their stakeholders.

The mag stripe on credit cards was invented by IBM in 1968 and became the industry standard. Since the track data is easy to read and duplicate on the mag stripe, the card brands, the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council built a set of standards to secure cardholder data that begins with the directive: ‘Don’t store track data.’

The PCI Standards

There’s the three-pronged approach that the PCI Security Standards Council took for protecting consumers, merchants/restaurateurs and banks:

• PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) ‐ includes all entities that store, process, or transmit cardholder data (Merchants, restaurateurs, service providers, processors, etc.)

Deadline for Compliance: Month of January 2007 (deadlines are long passed)

What this Means – All restaurateurs (in spite of size) is required to complete and submit a PCI Self-Assessment Questionnaire annually to their Acquiring Bank.

• Payment Application Data Security Standard or PA-DSS ‐ it covers all applications used to store, process, or transmit cardholder data as part of authorization or settlement. (Point-of-Sales (POS) application developers)

Deadlines for Compliance:

Oct. 1, 2008 ‐ Only the software that is compliant with the new payment application security standards must be used by agents, merchants and payment processors.

Oct. 1, 2009 ‐ Termination of any noncompliant payment applications that merchants might still be using in their environments will be required.

July 1, 2010 ‐ Mandatory use of only the payment applications that support the new standards.

What this Means – If, after the deadline, a merchant/restaurateur is not running a PA DSS-validated application, means that they automatically fail their PCI assessment and could lose their ability to accept credit cards.

• Pin Entry Devices (PED) Standard – this covers all PEDs and is aimed at ensuring that the cardholder’s PIN, and any sensitive information such as resident keys, are protected consistently at a PIN acceptance device.

Deadline for Compliance:

Jan. 1, 2004 ‐ To all newly purchased Point of Sale (POS) PIN Entry Devices, they must pass by a recognized laboratory of Visa and be approved by Visa.

July 1, 2010 ‐ Mandates that every POS PEDs must pass and get approved by PCI SSC from one of its recognized laboratories.

It Means ‐ Merchants/restaurateurs have two years to replace older, un-approved PEDs.

The Do’s With Payment Card Industry (PCI)

• Make routine vulnerability scans of your POS systems.

• Prepare a security awareness training for your staff.

• Make system access audits.

• System activity logs should be monitored.

• Separated employees should no longer have access privileges.

• Install software patches.

• Be serious when it comes to any threats, have an incident response plan.

PCI Don’ts

• Whole credit card numbers must not be stored or archived.

• Do not transmit credit card data unencrypted.

• With Payment Card Industry, it is not simply about proving you are compliant with the standards – it’s all about making you and your customers protected.

PCI’s Effect on Restaurateurs

Given consumers’ expectation of universal acceptance of using credit cards, restaurateurs’ validation that they are giving protection to their customers’ personal data is great for business:

Reputation / Image

In any competitive business – no restaurateur would want to be named as the store where a personal card data was stolen.

Protects Ability to Accept Credit / Debit Card Payments – by not complying and/or a breach can risk a restaurateur’s ability to accept credit/debit payments. In many cases, credit/debit payments account for 80% to 90% of transactions. Losing your store’s ability to accept credit/debit cards means reduced customers.

The Effects of State Privacy Laws

A breach that discloses personal credit card information in one of the 40+ States with privacy laws may give a double impact on a restaurateur. Being off-side with PCI will result in penalties and lawsuit costs. Being off-side with State Privacy Laws is a crime punishable by confinement with possibly more serious consequences.

Complying / Security Strategy

• Ensure your restaurant or store uses PA‐DSS or PABP validated POS systems

• Ensuring that you use approved PEDs

• Have regular security awareness training for your staff – particularly supervisors

• Doing a background check on all employees that has administrative access to your system is a must

• Have a ‘Confidentiality Agreement’ contract with your staff

• When it comes to your PCI Self Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ), carefully and accurately complete the form and when you’re not sure with your answers, just ask

• If gaps in PCI compliance are identified, develop a realistic plan to straighten it out

• Maintain mature controls to sustain compliance

• Access controls

• Always have double factor for system and device management

• Properly store your strong passwords and secure passwords

• Keep monitoring system activities for possible attacks and record evidences

• Controlling your wireless access points

• Always maintain a secure configuration

• Segment networks

• Have an Incident Response Plan and test it to make sure that it’s always ready when needed

• Test and audit the cardholder environment like your business depended on it

It may be an overwhelming task the first time but when everything else is in place, an ongoing PCI compliance is not an expensive job. Besides, it’s a good practice for businesses to protect the sensitive data that your customers trust upon you.

Do You Have Any Questions?

For more information and advice on this topic you can quickly contact a Restaurant POS professional serving your area at www.POS-For-Restaurants.com

The author of this article is the Vice President of Customer Relations at
POS-For-Restaurants.com with over 20 years experience in the restaurant point of sale industry.

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Why can’t I just stick with paper records?

It takes a considerable amount of time to record every business transaction by hand. And it still doesn’t include the time to duplicate the information into a spreadsheet or database for further analysis! A POS system can keep track of all sales, returns, taxes, inventory, etc. so you’d be able to concentrate on other important plans for your business. While your POS system do all the crucial tasks, it saves time and increases productivity more than makes up for the expenditure.

I’m not that good with it comes to computers. Will I be able to use POS and its functionality?

You should be able to handle a POS system with no problems. A vendor can help you to set up the software to do the things that you want. And then be able to navigate a POS system’s menu easily. When your POS vendor sets you up, they will provide full training with you and your employees for how to use it. And in case of problems, a POS customer service professional is just a phone call away!

What equipment do I need to get set up?

POS customers need a phone connection, internet connection, and working electrical outlets. If you have these components, vendors can set you up with POS in a cinch! You don’t even need to own a computer since most vendors provide one as part of the entire system package.

Can POS help me prevent theft?

POS systems have multiple tools that can help you prevent this. There are various applications which can allow you to accurately track inventory items so you can estimate exactly how much profit you should realize for every sale and pinpoint problems with your margins. And if ever there are discrepancies, it will raise immediate red flags so you can address the problem head-on.

Can POS handle sales or manage inventory?

Both can be handled by your POS with no problems! You can input all the information you want AND check out the inventory… and those aren’t just the tasks you can do, there are lots more you can do with POS. POS terminal and software also allows tracking of sales performance, you can even generate reports, set up reminders for inventory that needs to be restocked, as well as plan for future sales campaigns. Use your collected customer data for targeting effective sales campaigns and fill your shelves with the items they purchase the most.

When do I need wireless?

If you’re a business person on the go, especially doing tradeshows or processing orders in a restaurant, it’s best if you use wireless technology. With this, you can easily process any transaction without having to go back to a POS terminal.

Should I go straight for a flat-screen LCD monitor, or start off with CRT monitors?

You can get more benefits using LCD monitors over to CTR monitors, and of course it also depends on the work environment. First of all, they look great on any counter tables, they take up less space, less electricity and they can last longer. CRT screens are fine for low volume sales and if you’re not sure that POS will fit your business. But with the additional benefits when it comes to flat screens, there will be little cost difference between the two.

Wich printer is better: a dot matrix printer or a thermal printer?

For most businesses, a thermal printer works best. There are less moving parts so it’s less likely to break down. If you work wireless, it’s the only option you’ve got. Even so, the dot-matric printer is a safer choice for hospitality kitchens since the heat from the ovens, grills, and fryers could warp thermal paper and ink.

What happens if my POS suddenly breaks down during business?

This is why back ups are so important for any type of business. System failures can happen any time – power outages, system crashes, viruses, natural disasters, etc. By implementing a backup solution (preferably offsite so your important files is protected), you ensure the system is always up and running when you need it the most. More importantly, by backing up data, you ensure you can easily restore all customer information, as well as your sales figures and reports you’ve saved prior to the crash.

How about customer support?

Well, customer support vary from vendor to vendor, so there isn’t a simple answer to this question. While one might have round-the-clock telephone support and local repair technicians, others may only have phone support during normal business hours and can only schedule repair requests a full day in advance.

This is one of the reasons you should keep in contact with your POS vendor. Since customer support is likely one of your most pressing needs, look into the offerings of different vendors, take time evaluating each, and make a straight decision before purchasing.

What if I have multiple locations?

Generally, if you a few more of POS systems in various locations of your businesses, you can choose from two options. The first is each location operates independently with its own terminal and software. You can then send reports over to the corporate offices at the end of the day or week.

For the second option, you can have all their POS terminals connected to a central server so that uploading and downloading of data is in real time. What you’ll benefit from option number two is that it’s available remotely. But, since several POS terminals will be working on the same server, expect backlogs when all send their information at once.

With both solutions, it’s imperative to have a robust back up solution since all locations will be sharing one server – if it fails, every location could be inoperable.

Does my POS software needs license?

You typically need an individual license for each terminal hosted on your network. There are POS vendors who’ll offer you discounts depending on the number of terminals that needs licenses.

Do I need to purchase a service contract?

It’s certainly worth the expense if you want to stay up and running at all times. Once your POS system is set up, you can now use it for day-to-day operations and analysis for future plans. If the computer breaks down or got hit by a disaster, you probably don’t want to keep it any longer.

Depending on the vendor, a maintenance contract can cost a few hundred bucks a year and provide you with peace of mind so you can concentrate on running and growing your business.

Need additional information or an online resource?

Go to POS-For-Restaurants.com if you want to receive multiple quotes for your Restaurant Point of Sale System.

The author of this article is the Customer Relations Vice-President at POS-For-Restaurants with over 20 years of experience serving restaurants of all types all over the U.S.

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POS Software Overview

Looking for the best Point of Sale Systems for your restaurant? Find them out here, compare and get ready to learn about online restaurant management softwares: for order tracking, payment processing, monitoring staff and more

Restaurant owners would do perfectly well a good restaurant POS system, but between the confusion of hardware and software, monthly contracts,programming setup, leasing equipment and peripherals, that simple old cash register relieves all the hassles.

But remember; that breath of fresh air can be costing a restaurant owner thousands more than the what costs them on a monthy POS system. Just imagine having one central computer system that tracks staff schedules and kitchen inventory, keeps track of orders and wait times, creates reservations and can even accept online orders.

Restaurant POS software and hardware

The software, whether it’s Aldelo, Aloha, FuturePOS or Micros, consists of the program you’re running and not your touch-screen monitor, hand held PDA devices, keyboards, mouse and printers. As with any expensive POS, there’s always a catch at the end so never close a deal on the spot. You may find several vendors who offers very low prices for their POS software, but intentionally neglect to inform you that it will only work with their super expensive computers.

Note that a company that really works hard to provide good quality programs does not need to make a business of vending computer components. Or worse, lease them at a very high rate. When closing a deal, you need to figure out how much it’ll cost you for each components. You may find it a lot easier paying for a monthly fee of for a computer but after a year, it’s likely paid off at $600 and the whose part is that the client will still continue to pay after another year since it’s a lease, so while technology changes the outdated equipment is still being charged as if it were new.

Online Restaurant Management

The ability to access the system from a remote computer is a great feature. Imagine this – enjoying a lovely breakfast in Palm Beach with your laptop sitting next to you and seeing the security camera. With a few keystrokes you can check your labor percentage, send out an email to your manager reminding him of your business’ anniversary party tonight.

You might want to do a few check ups on your server, staff log and see their performance for today. This feature is such a relief, now you can go back to being pampered.

Programming a Restaurant POS System

Many POS systems are specifically designed to be programmed by the end user, which can really be intimidating at first. Check to see if their company has a list of consultants or other help for programming to help you out. Many POS Software companies team up with the restaurant owner making sure that the software can satisfy their business needs.

It would be a wise decision to look for these companies that offers this kind of service for free as you get started with your business. Charging for a fee course after a year later really isn’t out of line but charging for initial training isn’t standard practice with every company.

The Best Point of Sale System for Restaurants

Always remember, every restaurant or bar has their own needs. A hot dog drive through will need less options than a steak house or pizzeria. A restaurant bar and grill requires different features than of a donut shop. Every restaurant has their own unique requirements. It’s much better to send away for every information packet. Does it have a warranty or guarantee? How about a trial period? Will the POS system work with your current credit card processor, or it it requires you to switch? Can you export sales data to your Quickbooks or other accounting software?

So before you head on to your local POS vendor and close a deal, better weigh in first those POS software and hardware options of yours! It can save a restaurant owner thousands of dollars, not to mention the stress and headache of ending up with the restaurant point of sale system that’s not worth all the expenses. Listen to a salesman’s 15 minute pitch and review each pitch carefully. And finally, consider listening to the advices and suggestions of other restaurant owners before deciding on which point of sale system you’re going with.

For more info about point of sale systems, go to: www.POS-For-Restaurants.com

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