7 Essential EPOS Features for Small Hospitality Businesses

Why a Modern Hospitality EPOS System is Essential for Small Businesses

As the owner of a single pub, restaurant, or café, you might question whether a modern hospitality EPOS (Electronic Point of Sale) system is necessary for your business. Many EPOS providers emphasize their large-scale clients, multi-location capabilities, and enterprise-level features, creating an impression that these systems cater exclusively to big businesses. Often, the pricing structure seems tailored for larger establishments, leaving small business owners feeling excluded.

However, implementing a robust hospitality EPOS system offers numerous benefits that can greatly enhance operations for smaller businesses. Beyond its impressive features, an effective EPOS system can save significant time, increase revenue, and reduce the overall stress faced by small business owners. In this article, we will explore the key features to look for in a hospitality EPOS system suited for smaller establishments.

1. Speed of Service and User-Friendly Design

A well-designed hospitality EPOS system prioritizes speed and ease of use. Such systems streamline the entire process, whether taking orders and payments at the bar, adding orders to tables, splitting bills, or recording tips. Each function should be intuitive, enabling staff to complete tasks in the shortest time possible.

Considering the high turnover rates in the hospitality sector, a user-friendly EPOS system allows new staff to become proficient quickly, often from their first shift. This efficiency leads to smoother service, shorter waiting times, and the ability to serve more customers. Collectively, these advantages justify the investment in an advanced EPOS system.

2. Industry-Relevant Reporting

One significant advantage of an EPOS system is access to detailed, itemized reporting. This capability allows you to track not only total sales but also identify best and worst sellers. An industry-specific EPOS takes this a step further by providing customized reports essential for hospitality operators.

For instance, due to fluctuating sales patterns throughout the week, having sales comparison reports that align current periods with the same days from the prior year is vital. This ensures you compare apples to apples rather than assessing different weekdays, which can mislead your analysis.

Moreover, staff wages represent one of the largest expenses for hospitality businesses. Access to reports detailing staff costs in relation to sales enables you to operate profitably. With real-time visibility into wage percentages directly via the EPOS, you can make informed staffing decisions on-the-fly.

Additionally, other critical reports such as stock and wastage, cash variances, tips and service charges, discounts, promotions, and service times are equally beneficial to small businesses as they are to larger multi-site operations.

3. Understanding Your Margins

Maintaining healthy profit margins on food and beverage sales is crucial for profitability. A quality hospitality EPOS should allow you to monitor gross profit (GP) for each menu item by inputting both sales and cost prices. For items that require recipes, costs can be automatically calculated based on ingredients used.

Comprehensive sales reports further illustrate the expected GP for any period based on your established prices, while performing stock takes will show you the actual GP after accounting for waste or stock loss. This functionality eliminates the need for external stock takers, a cost that can be detrimental to small businesses.

4. Streamlined Stock Ordering

A robust stock management procedure enables your EPOS system to track current stock levels and sales history. This data can then automatically generate orders for suppliers, simplifying the ordering process. Not only does this save you valuable time, but it also minimizes the potential for errors.

5. Effective Loyalty Programs

Loyalty schemes are not exclusive to large businesses; however, the complexity of implementation often deters small establishments. A well-structured loyalty program drives repeat business and fosters better customer relationships.

To succeed, a loyalty system must facilitate easy customer sign-up and allow seamless scanning of loyalty passes for points or benefits. Additionally, operators should leverage customer data to tailor targeted marketing communications that encourage repeat visits.

While the complexity of integrating an EPOS with loyalty systems has previously hindered small businesses, modern hospitality EPOS solutions now incorporate built-in loyalty programs. Customers can register online and receive a digital loyalty pass, which they can scan at the register, centralized customer data simplifies targeted marketing efforts.

6. Integrated Booking System

In today’s market, an increasing number of small businesses utilize booking systems for managing reservations and facilitating online bookings. However, keeping track of these bookings can prove time-consuming for owners working shifts.

A hospitality EPOS system with an integrated booking solution simplifies this process. By directly linking bookings to the EPOS, there’s no need to switch to a separate platform to manage reservations. You can view all bookings, including arrival and departure times, right on the EPOS’s table plan.

7. Seamless Accounting Integration

While built-in features hold significant advantages for small business operations, integrating accounting systems provides unique benefits. Leading hospitality EPOS systems feature compatibility with popular accounting software like Xero and Quickbooks.

This integration allows daily sales and payment data, along with petty cash expenses, to be automatically posted to your accounting system without requiring manual input from you or your bookkeeper. Additionally, utilizing tools that generate invoices from receipts can further automate bookkeeping tasks.

Conclusion

While every small business has unique needs, a good hospitality EPOS system can offer substantial benefits comparable to, or even exceeding, those available to larger enterprises. Many of these features are particularly advantageous for small businesses where time management and simplicity are paramount.

Tabology offers a cloud-based hospitality EPOS system equipped with an integrated booking system, loyalty platform, and staff scheduling tools. Committed to delivering cutting-edge technology with a personal touch, Tabology provides unparalleled support backed by a team of experts with real hospitality experience.

Discover more about Tabology today.