Site Map
 
 
 
   
  Home
  News & Events
  Our Business
  Products & Services
  Our Clients
  Contact Us
   
 
 
 

 

Volanté Systems POS (Point of Sale) & Restaurant Software Solutions: Serving Up Profits and Productivity

With the economic turmoil of late and hospitality companies tightening their belts, one might think that point of sale and restaurant software purchases would be one of the first items to go on indefinite hold. But maybe it's during tough times such as these that it makes the most sense to invest in a modern, efficient and flexible restaurant POS software solution.

Traditionally, restaurateurs have looked at the front of the house for ways to increase profitability and productivity. But by doing so, they're overlooking a very important opportunity to take control of their business and their costs. And that opportunity doesn't reside on the floor - it's found in the back office with their POS system.

The success or failure of your business can depend on how you improve upon operational efficiency. A flexible POS and back office system can greatly assist you in doing this, and save you time and money, by helping you take better control of your business and your costs. And it can be done in numerous ways.

Nowadays, everything is about convergence and getting all systems into one. A modern restaurant POS and back office system will handle the complex connections between POS terminals on the floor, the kitchen, the back office and the inventory backend. Integration with the back office means that managing inventory and food and labor costs becomes much easier. Real time access to data can help you determine good sellers quickly. And report generation and menu changes can be done on the fly, so managers have more time to spend with customers. This translates into improved customer service and speed of service. Throw in some customer relationship management tools, and the bottom line is further boosted with the ability to implement customer loyalty programs, create gift cards, or track customer transaction histories for example.

And it's not only restaurateurs who can benefit from this type of technology. Excellent results can also be seen in other venues, such as hotels, universities, stadiums, casinos, arenas, or even racetracks.

Modern restaurant software will handle the complex connections between the POS terminals, the kitchen, the back office and the inventory backend. Throw in some customer relationship management tools, and the bottom line is further boosted with the ability to implement customer loyalty programs, create gift cards, or track customer transaction histories.

The University of British Columbia's foodservice operation quickly realized significant gains when they implemented their new POS system. Their former system was comprised of a mix of old style cash registers and rudimentary point of sale systems spread throughout the university on multiple subnets. UBC was desperate for an efficient system that could help streamline operations.

Their most pressing need was the ability to process 2500 hungry students at lunchtime while managing the school's many different residence meal plans at the same time. They needed a point of sale system that could not only save money, but generate revenue too. The new system needed to be very reliable, and Managers needed access to data in real time.

UBC definitely felt the pain of not having a modern restaurant software solution in place. Sean Lee, IT Manager at UBC, comments on the many technological challenges that UBC used to face.

"Processing 2500 students in an hour and a half used to cause database overload." Says Lee. "Our old system had lots of hiccups"

Another primary concern for UBC was accurate data reporting. "The old system used to lump all the data together, and it was difficult getting reporting from all the different systems." Lee explains. "We couldn't isolate daily sales if polling wasn't done regularly. And even then, daily sales were often tabulated manually."

After exploring several possible POS systems, UBC decided on Volanté Systems point of sale and back office enterprise system.

Volanté stands out from other industry players due to its innovative approach to point of sale. Volanté is developed in Java, so it's cross platform compatible. Having the choice to run on Linux and not just Windows is very attractive these days, as proprietors are looking to Linux more and more due to it's cost savings and ease of use. Users can save on expensive Window's licensing fees, for example. Volanté also offers CRM tools, employee management features, and a full reporting suite.

"Volanté has helped tremendously - data is on demand and in real time." Says Lee. "Having data in real time is a big deal to us. Synchronization is done every fifteen minutes. We can now see what our best sellers are, at any time of day. We can order food much more efficiently, and we can easily see what items aren't selling too. We can also update menus on the fly"

Volanté also allowed UBC to monetize its student ID cards, which has significantly added to the bottom line. "ID cards are dining membership cards, they now have unlimited buying potential." Lee explains. "Anyone can add money to his or her ID cards at any POS terminal. This is really efficient." And purchases aren't limited to just restaurants or food and beverage. ID cards can be used in UBC's retail outlets as well.

Andrea Bronstein, from Toronto's Baycrest Health Sciences Center, also chose Volanté when she set out to replace the cafeteria's aging cash register system with a more up to date restaurant POS software solution. For Bronstein, the results were immediate.

Baycrest provides care and service to approximately 2,000 people a day through the Baycrest Geriatric Health Care System. In addition to patients and residents, Baycrest's busy cafeteria also welcomed outside business. The staff at Baycrest were using antiquated, 20 year old cash registers, which were not only slow and inefficient, but had also become impossible to repair. Making the simplest changes to a menu item had become a complex task requiring hours of work.

"We were looking for something where changes could be made without having to be on the floor." Says Bronstein. "With the old system we had in place, it would take hours at each register to make any changes at all. Now, we can update the whole system quickly from the back office."

Baycrest started seeing payback on their investment right away. "We've definitely noticed more accurate tax reporting." Bronstein adds. "We're now also keeping better track of actual sales, inventory control, etc. Everything is streamlined, so further cost benefits will be sure to come."

Investing in the right POS and restaurant software solution is a smart move, even in the most turbulent economy. Hospitality operators greatly benefit by being proactive and addressing areas where their business may be leaving money on the table. By doing so, they put themselves in the enviable position of serving up profits in uncertain times. And that's a good place to be.

Technology has found a way to solve many of the problems and limitations that have existed historically in restaurant POS software and application systems design. Volanté has taken full advantage. For more information on Volanté's point of sale and restaurant software solutions, please visit our Products page, or email us at sales@volantesystems.com.
 
 
developed by Lala Media
© 2008 Volanté SYSTEMS LTD. All rights reserved. Any product names or logos referenced are trademarks of their respective companies.  Website optimization & promotion by mis