Must-have Systems to Maximize Your POS System

By David Scott Peters I’m passionate about efficiency. Call me lucky because I’m one of those people who turned my passion into a career: helping independent restaurant and bar owners use systems to be more efficient, profitable and successful. Each day I teach independent restaurant owners how to compete with the big chains. To do this, I show restaurant owners how to do two important things: 1. Use systems 2. Maximize restaurant industry tools they’re already paying for First, let’s talk about systems. One of the things chains have going for them is the efficiency they achieve by systemizing everything. I teach independent restaurant owners these same exact operational systems. They’re called SMART Systems. They are Simple, Measurable, Applicable, Repeatable and Trainable. SMART Systems cover every operation in a restaurant, from your back door to your front door and are designed to help you delegate and still trust that everything’s getting done properly. In addition, with systems in place you get numbers and reports that give you the ability to measure your success and make improvements where needed. If you want to increase profits and lower costs, the best way to do it is to implement systems. With these systems in place, you can then focus on part two mentioned above, the tools of the restaurant industry to make your systems go further. One of those tools is your point of sale (POS) system. I want to teach you how to use your POS system as an inventory manager, but before I can, you have to have certain systems in place. These systems ensure your POS system gets quality and accurate data. To use your POS systems as an inventory manager, you need to have the following systems in place: Yield tests for ingredients: Know how much of your product actually gets used. An example I use is Romaine lettuce. Once you cut off the browned tops, the roots at the end, then peel off the outer layer that’s wilting, you’re left with about 50 percent of what you paid for. Therefore, your full cost is really just for 50 percent of what’s delivered to you. Your POS system needs to account for this to use it for inventory. Recipe book: To have accurate recipe costing cards (see next system), you must first have a recipe book that captures all recipes in your bar and/or restaurant. This includes drink recipes for your everyday drinks and your house specialty batch drinks like margaritas or sangria. Every time a drink is rung up at the register, it will deduct from the inventory of the items that are in that drink. Recipe costing cards, including batch recipes: These are the key to inventory, food and pour cost and your total cost of goods sold. In fact, they operate on a six-degrees-of-separation-principle in that they are connected to almost all systems in the bar or restaurant in one way or another. They are essential to running an efficient, profitable and successful bar or restaurant. Clean and labeled shelves in all storage areas: With clean and labeled shelves in your liquor closet, walk-in cooler and dry storage, you can easily identify each of your inventory items, know how much is on the shelves and when it doesn’t match the POS system report. These systems apply across a bar and kitchen, so if you have both, then both sides of the business need to have these systems in place to accurately use your POS system for inventory. With these systems in place, you can be sure you have the right data in hand to properly use your POS system to support your inventory. If you would like to learn more about these systems and their benefits, give me a call at 1-877-457-6278, ext. 1 or sign up for our next restaurant workshop at www.restaurant-profits.com. David Scott Peters is a restaurant expert, speaker and founder of TheRestaurantExpert.com. He specializes in teaching independent restaurant owners how to use systems for increased sales and increased profits. He is the nationally acclaimed restaurant coach whose unique “SMART Systems” approach to boosting profits has earned him the title of, “The man who can walk into any restaurant in America and find $10,000 in undiscovered cash before he hits the back door – Guaranteed!” Learn more tips, tricks and secrets in David’s free weekly e-newsletter, “Instant Action Systems.” Simply sign up to receive the e-newsletter at TheRestaurantExpert.com.