Handheld POS systems. Why they are great for your restaurant

Six easy ways handheld POS can improve services at your restaurant

Speed and accuracy are two of the most important components in the restaurant industry. Over the years, restaurants have realized that they can increase both with a reliable POS system.  And like any technology, these POS systems have evolved to make your restaurant more efficient than ever. Handheld POS can help keep running your restaurant business smoothly and with ease too. These devices allow your wait staff to serve each table directly, improving flexibility, speed and accuracy of your restaurant’s service. Better yet, these features are supported by cloud technology which tracks and stores data for your restaurant in a central location. Let’s explore six ways handhelds can improve service at your restaurant.

Increased flexibility, portability and speed

A handheld POS device increases flexibility for your restaurant staff. Your servers or employees can meet your customers where they are - for example in the drive thru before the call box - and easily take their order. This portability not only allows your restaurant to service customers faster, but it lends itself to easy scalability. Think about the early days of COVID-19 induced quarantine where restaurants were setting up pick up tables in their parking lots: imagine how easy it would be to process payments with a handheld POS device? This applies to all kinds of scenarios for restaurants that want to set up a food truck, establish a stand at a local farmers market or want to serve walk up customers in an urban area. A handheld device allows your restaurant to flex its service style easily and with little or no disruption to service.. 

It’s easy to use

Unlike a lot of modern technology flung on business owners, handheld POS devices are easy to use.  Handhelds make it easier for your restaurant to scale quickly and efficiently should you be trying to open new restaurants or flex your service offerings to provide new services such as curbside pickup or drive thru. The interfaces on these handheld POS devices are also very streamlined, so it can be easier to train your employees on how to use them, allowing them to get quickly up to speed to serve your customers.

Faster service leads to happier customers

If you put yourself into your servers’ shoes, it’s easy to see how much time is spent walking from each customer’s table to the central POS terminal to enter orders. That time spent traversing the restaurant could be better spent serving more customers and increasing your restaurant’s sales. With your servers spending less time walking across the restaurant to place orders, they’re able to get food to your customers faster which contributes to better customer service and overall happier customers. With a handheld POS device, your waitstaff is less likely to make input errors when recording customer orders because they can log them in real-time and even go so far as to put in special requests for extra sauces. Speed and accuracy are two of the most important components of running a successful restaurant, and a handheld POS can help you achieve these goals.

More table turnovers equals more money made

We’ve mentioned that faster service can lead to happier customers, but speed can also drive revenue growth at your restaurant. Again, because your waitstaff is spending less time running back and forth to enter orders on a POS on the counter, they’re able to serve more tables faster and create more table turns.

They can simply place orders and accept payments at the table using the handheld device and move on to the next table. As a result, customers get their orders faster, eat their food sooner, pay for their tickets quicker, allowing more time for the next group to come in.

By turning over more tables in a given day, your restaurant can increase overall sales. These handheld POS devices can enhance your service and boost your sales in one fell swoop.

All of these features are supported by the cloud

We’ve established that handheld POS devices can increase your restaurant’s flexibility, efficiency, ability to serve customers and sales, but perhaps the best feature of this innovation is the connectivity. While your servers are moving around collecting orders, all of that data is being stored in a central database that can be accessed from anywhere. This information can give you insights into how your restaurant is performing day over day or year over year which will help you make more informed decisions about your menu, marketing strategies and growth targets.