What do you know restaurant POS systems?
March 22, 2016 9:42 AM Subscribe
Researching restaurant POS systems. Have a suggestion of a product or just things to be aware of?
As the techy friend, I'm helping someone research upgrading their POS system at their 70 seat restaurant. Thing is, that world looks way more confusing to me than I'm used to when digging in.
We've got a strong preference for non-proprietary hardware. Also, got sticker shock looking at some of the monthly fees.
Anybody have a suggestion of a product or just things to be aware of?
As the techy friend, I'm helping someone research upgrading their POS system at their 70 seat restaurant. Thing is, that world looks way more confusing to me than I'm used to when digging in.
We've got a strong preference for non-proprietary hardware. Also, got sticker shock looking at some of the monthly fees.
Anybody have a suggestion of a product or just things to be aware of?
I've seen a lot of folks using the Square POS lately.
posted by gregr at 9:51 AM on March 22, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by gregr at 9:51 AM on March 22, 2016 [7 favorites]
The gold standard for restaurant POS is Squirrel. If that's too rich for their blood, Square would definitely be the next choice.
posted by jbickers at 9:55 AM on March 22, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by jbickers at 9:55 AM on March 22, 2016 [2 favorites]
Know that software doesn't solve everything and that customizing is an important phase and should be a subject of focus and time spent investing in a smooth setup. Make sure they sit down and really think through their taxonomy, and work with the waitstaff and kitchen staff to get input on logically organizing the menu screens.
posted by Miko at 10:19 AM on March 22, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by Miko at 10:19 AM on March 22, 2016 [6 favorites]
Explore how future system upgrades can/cannot be implemented. I know that in my personal experience an option to save costs that we explored included taking orders directly through the website we maintained, cutting out a hefty commission claimed by third party delivery providers like GrubHub and Seamless. While the system we were using could handle an online ordering add-on, the cost of configuring it was prohibitive in our case.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 10:29 AM on March 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 10:29 AM on March 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Maitre D is awful. I am speaking from personal experience as well as being a professional software engineer. It makes routine things difficult and some things plain impossible. The UI is ugly but nobody really cares too much about that (it's not as if a pretty POS UI is something customers notice). But the behaviors are in many places pretty antithetical to how the service industry actually works (e.g., splitting checks is clunky, entering tips requires the whole amount rather than just the tipped amount, and some things will appear to work but then not -- any credit transaction canceled via manager access will print out cancellation slips but won't actually clear out of a server's finalization report, you have to modify it to a cash payment first and THEN cancel the ticket... I could go on). I can't really give you good positive advice here because I don't have experience with any other POS system unless you count paper and pen and a classic register. But I can tell you to definitely avoid Maitre D.
posted by axiom at 10:59 AM on March 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by axiom at 10:59 AM on March 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Maybe check out /r/KitchenConfidential. Lots of frank talk about running restaurants, including POS systems.
posted by JoeZydeco at 11:16 AM on March 22, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by JoeZydeco at 11:16 AM on March 22, 2016 [4 favorites]
Every restaurant I ever worked at used Micros, from Oracle. I'm not saying that it is the best or user friendly or anything, just that it is pretty ubiquitous. It might be worth finding out if that is because they offer good support, or just because they cornered the market first (before ipads existed) and therefore remain dominant due to inertia.
I would definitely talk to the restaurant staff to find out what would work best for them. What works for a server is not always what works for a bartender, or for the kitchen staff. Finding a system that allows all sections of the restaurant to communicate effectively is essential.
posted by a fiendish thingy at 12:28 PM on March 22, 2016
I would definitely talk to the restaurant staff to find out what would work best for them. What works for a server is not always what works for a bartender, or for the kitchen staff. Finding a system that allows all sections of the restaurant to communicate effectively is essential.
posted by a fiendish thingy at 12:28 PM on March 22, 2016
I went through this process for my restaurant and chose FuturePOS, I really like it and am satisfied with my decision after 4 years.
posted by masters2010 at 2:27 PM on March 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by masters2010 at 2:27 PM on March 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
I overwhelmingly do not recommend Clover. It is the worst. Feel free to MeMail me if you want details/enjoy furious ranting.
posted by kalimac at 2:45 PM on March 22, 2016
posted by kalimac at 2:45 PM on March 22, 2016
This is just my suggestion, based on working for years at a restaurant with a just-for-them POS system... and seeing how many other businesses, including restaurants, have gone to things like Square and etc. in the last few years.
But dude... there's a reason they call the "old style" ones POS, and I'm pretty sure it's because they're a piece-of-$***, not point-of-sale.
posted by stormyteal at 4:13 PM on March 22, 2016
But dude... there's a reason they call the "old style" ones POS, and I'm pretty sure it's because they're a piece-of-$***, not point-of-sale.
posted by stormyteal at 4:13 PM on March 22, 2016
I have a significant negative opinion if Revel. There's a tag I opened over a month ago, that later that night got combined with another in an "Add their tab to mine, I'm a baller tonight" way.
Except something burped, the computers got out of synch, and now the pre-combined tag keeps popping up every shift Im logged in for as an "open" transaction.
I just mgr pw past it when I close out my drawer. But the fact that this seems unsolvable has really made me think Revel is ass. Would not choose it for any bar I was opening.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 5:55 PM on March 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Except something burped, the computers got out of synch, and now the pre-combined tag keeps popping up every shift Im logged in for as an "open" transaction.
I just mgr pw past it when I close out my drawer. But the fact that this seems unsolvable has really made me think Revel is ass. Would not choose it for any bar I was opening.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 5:55 PM on March 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Former point of sale engineer/admin here, who managed systems across multiple stores for a medium sized business.
Fuckety FUCK anything like Aloha, Micros, Maitre'd, etc. They're all like 1995 hunk of shit pieces of software that have been patched endlessly to meet modern security standards/add features/plug holes and squish bugs. Their back end interfaces are universally byzantine and horrible. The company itself or local vendors they force you to work with seem to exist to know a mediocre amount about the software and bilk you out of assloads of money for service contracts while constantly under-delivering.
I would love to hear from the person above stating clover sucks because i'm curious why(but 1000x believe them), but honestly i'd go for square or revel and be perfectly fine with it sucking a little bit. A ~$400 or less ipad + their scanner and software package, maybe x2 or x3 is SO MUCH CHEAPER than any "real" POS setup. And it has resale value in the form of the ipads. And if you want to switch away from it, you don't have a boat anchor strapped to you.
Seriously please do not drop like $4000 on a "real restaurant POS". Upgrades when your service contract needs to be renewed, or they decide your hardware is "outdated", or you want to add a ~feature package~ to use apple pay or whatever are HUGELY exorbitant. Square added that shit with what, a goddamn $50-100 scanner and a software patch for free through the app store?
If i'm lucky i will never ever work with any of that shit again, but i'm always happy to give advice on it against the Big Name Professional Brands just because i think they all deserve to go out of business.
If i was to hypothetically open a bar in the near future, i would go buy ipads on craigslist and get the square kits. Infact, i know of several bars who literally do that because if someone pours a beer on it or a cup smashes into the screen... who cares? You'll cover that in less than an hour if the place is doing good, vs a several thousand dollar service call where they have to come out and "provision" a new terminal and deploy it.
Which leads in to what i would say is the biggest value in a square/revel/touchbistro sort of solution: Self service. Even if you want to, a lot of the Big Systems wont let you, or make it hard for bullshit reasons to just say swap in a new receipt printer or move the back bar terminal up front if one of them burns out. "Oh, yea the printer didn't work because that ones a 1214 and the other ones a 1212. One calls the printer port foo1, and the other calls it foobar1, so you have to go 12 menus deep in to the piece of shit configuration software and rename it then power the entire system on and off and wait 5 minutes for it to reboot".
You can keep a spare ipad in the back office with the software up to date, signed in, and literally just go plug it in within 10 seconds.
I'll go out on a limb here, but it goes without saying that if these folks are less than tech savvy, you want a Cloud Based system, rather than hard and software installed on the premises.
This is a bigbig point too. I'd say 10% of my work was just troubleshooting stupid problems with the shitty servers/desktop PCs that ran the back end. Or with routers locking up, or whatever. The classic systems are complicated, use parts that die a nonzero amount like hard drives and fans, and just generally need regular monitoring and tune ups. This is exactly why they milk the shit out of you on service contracts.
I know i'm basically reiterating my point but, yea. I made a living off of this stuff and i hate it.
posted by emptythought at 8:06 PM on March 22, 2016 [7 favorites]
Fuckety FUCK anything like Aloha, Micros, Maitre'd, etc. They're all like 1995 hunk of shit pieces of software that have been patched endlessly to meet modern security standards/add features/plug holes and squish bugs. Their back end interfaces are universally byzantine and horrible. The company itself or local vendors they force you to work with seem to exist to know a mediocre amount about the software and bilk you out of assloads of money for service contracts while constantly under-delivering.
I would love to hear from the person above stating clover sucks because i'm curious why(but 1000x believe them), but honestly i'd go for square or revel and be perfectly fine with it sucking a little bit. A ~$400 or less ipad + their scanner and software package, maybe x2 or x3 is SO MUCH CHEAPER than any "real" POS setup. And it has resale value in the form of the ipads. And if you want to switch away from it, you don't have a boat anchor strapped to you.
Seriously please do not drop like $4000 on a "real restaurant POS". Upgrades when your service contract needs to be renewed, or they decide your hardware is "outdated", or you want to add a ~feature package~ to use apple pay or whatever are HUGELY exorbitant. Square added that shit with what, a goddamn $50-100 scanner and a software patch for free through the app store?
If i'm lucky i will never ever work with any of that shit again, but i'm always happy to give advice on it against the Big Name Professional Brands just because i think they all deserve to go out of business.
If i was to hypothetically open a bar in the near future, i would go buy ipads on craigslist and get the square kits. Infact, i know of several bars who literally do that because if someone pours a beer on it or a cup smashes into the screen... who cares? You'll cover that in less than an hour if the place is doing good, vs a several thousand dollar service call where they have to come out and "provision" a new terminal and deploy it.
Which leads in to what i would say is the biggest value in a square/revel/touchbistro sort of solution: Self service. Even if you want to, a lot of the Big Systems wont let you, or make it hard for bullshit reasons to just say swap in a new receipt printer or move the back bar terminal up front if one of them burns out. "Oh, yea the printer didn't work because that ones a 1214 and the other ones a 1212. One calls the printer port foo1, and the other calls it foobar1, so you have to go 12 menus deep in to the piece of shit configuration software and rename it then power the entire system on and off and wait 5 minutes for it to reboot".
You can keep a spare ipad in the back office with the software up to date, signed in, and literally just go plug it in within 10 seconds.
I'll go out on a limb here, but it goes without saying that if these folks are less than tech savvy, you want a Cloud Based system, rather than hard and software installed on the premises.
This is a bigbig point too. I'd say 10% of my work was just troubleshooting stupid problems with the shitty servers/desktop PCs that ran the back end. Or with routers locking up, or whatever. The classic systems are complicated, use parts that die a nonzero amount like hard drives and fans, and just generally need regular monitoring and tune ups. This is exactly why they milk the shit out of you on service contracts.
I know i'm basically reiterating my point but, yea. I made a living off of this stuff and i hate it.
posted by emptythought at 8:06 PM on March 22, 2016 [7 favorites]
We use touchbistro. It's simple, easy to use, relatively cheap, runs on iPad.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 2:12 AM on March 23, 2016
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 2:12 AM on March 23, 2016
For the short period of time I had a restaurant up and running, we used square, and it was perfect for our needs. It's dead simple to set up a menu on it, and has a surprising amount of sales history functionality. Also, the ability to process credit card at thier pretty low (I believe it was 3%) rate is fantastic. Can't recommend it enough.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:41 AM on March 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Ghidorah at 4:41 AM on March 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
Update on why Revel is ASS:
Motherfuckers pushed a system update on THURSDAY, which proceeded to crash on FRIDAY IN TH MIDDLE OF GODDAMN HAPPY HOUR!!!!
Fucking morons. If a single fucking tech bro at Revel (or anyone in their friends/family/social circle) had EVER worked a service industry job, they would have known that you fucking push an update on MONDAY so it burps oN TUESDAY and gets fixed by WEDNESDAY.
YOU DONT FUCKING ROLL OUT UPDATES TO THE SYSTEM RIGHT BEFORE FRIDAY BECAUSE IT CRASHING IN THE MIDDL OF YOUR MONEY-MAKER HOURS IS ALL THE WAY BAD.
But no, these propellerheads were so fucking impressed with their new tweaks, they just had to get it out ASAP.
Avoid Revel in your shop at all costs.
A Most brilliant bunch of absolute fucking morons who need to spend a month or two waiting tables and pulling pints before they can present themselves as having created something of value to offer the professionals.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 4:51 PM on April 9, 2016
Motherfuckers pushed a system update on THURSDAY, which proceeded to crash on FRIDAY IN TH MIDDLE OF GODDAMN HAPPY HOUR!!!!
Fucking morons. If a single fucking tech bro at Revel (or anyone in their friends/family/social circle) had EVER worked a service industry job, they would have known that you fucking push an update on MONDAY so it burps oN TUESDAY and gets fixed by WEDNESDAY.
YOU DONT FUCKING ROLL OUT UPDATES TO THE SYSTEM RIGHT BEFORE FRIDAY BECAUSE IT CRASHING IN THE MIDDL OF YOUR MONEY-MAKER HOURS IS ALL THE WAY BAD.
But no, these propellerheads were so fucking impressed with their new tweaks, they just had to get it out ASAP.
Avoid Revel in your shop at all costs.
A Most brilliant bunch of absolute fucking morons who need to spend a month or two waiting tables and pulling pints before they can present themselves as having created something of value to offer the professionals.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 4:51 PM on April 9, 2016
Response by poster: So we ended up going with Breadcrumb. The set up has been nice and easy, and the customer service has been eager. We open in 2 weeks or so, so it ain't battle tested yet but so far so good.
posted by john m at 3:18 PM on August 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by john m at 3:18 PM on August 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
The place I just starts in uses breadcrumb, and it's fucking brilliant after the Revel experience. Best of luck!
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 11:18 PM on August 24, 2016
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 11:18 PM on August 24, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
Also, pay extra for advanced support.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 9:46 AM on March 22, 2016