How the Right Point of Sale Platform Can Help Improve a Restaurant’s Finances

From my current role as Revel’s Chief Strategy Officer, I am very familiar with the latest developments in point of sale (POS) technology. Not only that, but I’ve had an opportunity to witness major changes in the POS space throughout my career. In this blog post, I’ll leverage those insights to share my advice on how POS technology can make restaurateurs' dollars go further. In case you missed my last blog post, I reflected on Revel’s attendance at industry conference FSTEC. 

Turning Industry Challenges into Opportunities

It’s inescapable in the news these days: inflationary pressures are causing individuals, families and businesses to think twice before spending money. Residual staffing shortages and changing consumer preferences are compounding pressures when it comes to the challenges facing restaurants today.

But it’s not all bad news out there. Our clients have shared countless success stories with me in recent months, crediting their technology stacks as the reason they’ve been able to pivot their business models and improve their finances. 

With automation and tech-based time savers ingrained in the platform, Revel’s POS platform isn’t just easy to navigate, but yields genuine efficiencies throughout each transaction, from order placement to final delivery. Continue reading for some of my technology must-haves when it comes to combating inflation, staffing shortages, and general fatigue when it comes to evolving alongside today’s economic pressures. 

Time and Cost Saving Technology Solutions 

Self-Service Options for Restaurant Guests 

Increasing table turns is an easy way to pile on your profits. When you do the math, seating one additional customer at each of a restaurant’s tables each day can add a significant boost to operators’ bottom lines. 

Revel SmartOrder is a contactless order-and-pay solution that allows diners to quickly complete meal transactions from their own mobile devices. This contributes to cost savings in a few ways:

• Offsets labor costs—Because it is a self-service solution for restaurant guests, SmartOrder reduces the need for employees in front-of-house roles and allows employees to focus on more back-of-house operations for a quick and excellent dining experience. 
• Requires less hardware investment—Guests already have payment devices in their palms and pockets through their mobile devices. 
• Increases average bill size—The digital order-and-pay solution allows diners to view and select from all available menu items along with their possible modifiers (some of which come with added cost), as well as automated prompts for upsell combos. 

In addition to Revel SmartOrder, which is a great option for table service restaurants, Revel’s self-service kiosks are also sought after options for improving a restaurant’s finances. Leveraging self-service kiosks shortens order-processing time by several minutes per order and entirely eliminates order entry and cashier roles in stores. The result is a positive customer experience and reduced staffing needs. A win-win in my eyes! 

Increased Time Savings for Operators and Employees

Revel’s mobile and contactless order-taking capabilities, integrated third-party orders, and using paperless kitchen operations result in immediate and sustained time and cost savings. 

Revel eliminates the need for paper tickets and displays orders digitally as they come in on a kitchen display system. Staff can manage orders more efficiently and eliminate any gaps with automatic syncing between the kitchen display system and point of sale.

Mobile order takers (MOTs) are another great option for time-savings because they’re a powerful line-buster tool. For quick service restaurants, line peel is costly, especially when it sends potential guests to your competitors. Also great solutions for full service dining rooms, MOTs help ensure orders are captured accurately and immediately from the table, blending guest experience with digital efficiency. 

Whether you leverage MOTs to keep the lines moving or to reduce wait times in general, they’ll keep you from missing valuable sales and keep lines moving. 

Savvy Marketing and Loyalty Programming

Over 70% of consumers are more likely to recommend a brand if it has a good loyalty program. There’s a good chance that if you’re reading this, you have probably cashed in on a free food item after a certain number of purchases! And when integrated with a point of sale (POS), the resulting data can be a powerful tool when considering ways to entice return customers. 

Loyalty programs increase guest spend and visit frequency by forming branded connections with customers and through personalized rewards programs, often in the form of email, in-app notifications, or SMS text messages. 

Access to real-time data and insightful reports in the Revel’s management console also allows operators to create creative marketing campaigns that resonate with their guests. And being able to quickly confirm customer demand and tweak new offerings for optimal uptake contributes to incremental revenues throughout the franchises.

Revel’s Platform is Here to Help 

Whether you’ve taken advantage of some of these concepts in varying forms at your business today, or you’re left with some new ideas for your business, I hope these solutions give you a real sense of how beneficial it can be to invest in the right technology for your business as a cost saving measure. 

If you’d like to learn more about how Revel’s cloud-native platform could help improve your restaurant’s finances and benefit your bottom line, schedule a meeting with us here!