QSR POS – The Ultimate Guide to Fast Food POS System

“Quick Summary” Consumers nowadays demand convenient and instantaneous access to services. This is especially true when it comes to ordering food—both online and offline. As a result, 86% of restaurant goers frequently visit quick service restaurants (QSRs) compared to last year. Your fast food restaurant needs to level up its services if you want to continue attracting customers and survive in the market.

What are QSRs?

QSR stands for Quick Service Restaurants. It refers to fast food restaurants such as Mcdonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell, and more. These food establishments focus on speedy and efficient services where customers can get their orders within minutes. It usually entails no table service, limited menu items, and takeaways.

The QSR industry continues to grow quickly, thanks to digital technology. Customers can now order food online and get meals without leaving their homes. But this adds new challenges to your fast food restaurant as you now have more platforms and sites to manage. You need a fast food POS system or a QSR POS System to meet your customers’ demands.

What is a POS system?

An ideal amalgamation of software and hardware makes a POS or a Point of Sale system, that allows you to manage and process transactions with your customers. It is your modern-day cash register where customers can pay for their purchases. Restaurant POS systems can also serve as a platform where your customers can place and view their orders. This paves the way for self-service for your customers.

The system can also collect and store customer data and other information directly from each transaction giving you an extensive view of your restaurant’s performance, revenues, customer behavior, and more.  

Modern POS systems also help centralize all your processes within a single platform. This makes managing your fast food restaurant’s digital and brick-and-mortar operations easier. It also ensures that your front-of-house and back-of-house operations are entirely in sync.

Benefits of QSR POS System

1. Faster services

Through QSR POS, you can complete transactions in just a few clicks. All you need to do is enter the order on your POS software or device, which will automatically process everything, including payments. This makes checkouts easier and faster than ever.

2. Centralized processes

Your POS system is more than just a glorified cash register. It also helps you manage all other processes in your operations, such as payment processing, order management, inventory management, and menu customization. It unifies all your processes to have everything you need in one place. This makes it easier to scale up and expand your restaurant business. 

3. Streamlined workflows

90% of restaurants are increasing their investments in automation to streamline their operations. Fortunately, digital POS systems offer various automation tools so that your employees can focus on serving customers. It automates repetitive tasks such as payment processing, order tracking, inventory management, and more. You can even use QSR POS to create a self-ordering kiosk in your restaurant to prevent long queues at the counter and lessen your staff’s workload.

4. Boosted transparency

A QSR POS can also help boost transparency when processing customer orders by storing all the information needed in a single database, making it easier to review and compile sales data at the end of the day. Other POS systems also generate reports so that you can gain valuable insights in just a glance.

5. Better flexibility

QSR POS can also increase your operation’s flexibility. It allows you to process orders and payments through mobile devices. As a result, your employees can have more freedom to move around the establishment without going back and forth to the cash register.

Read Here, the hidden benefits of a POS system for quick service restaurants.

POS system features to look out for

There are countless POS systems available in the market nowadays. Some POS systems are designed specifically for QSRs. Each one offers a wide array of features that would benefit your fast food business. Nonetheless, there are some must-have features that you need to look out for when buying your own POS system.

Customization

Customizability is an important element in your POS system. This allows you to create a POS system that can accommodate all your establishments’ demands and priorities. You can customize your POS system by choosing what tools and features you want it to have. For example, you can have a pizza builder if you are a pizza restaurant. If not, then you can choose to have it removed from your POS system.

Customization also comes in the form of personalizing its interface to match your brand’s identity. You can add your restaurant’s logo, pick font designs, customize layouts, and more. Other POS systems also allow you to customize dashboards and reports to your liking. You can also use it to customize menu items.

Ordering and payment

The best POS for fast food should serve as a unified platform for processing orders and payments. It’s more than just a digital cash register. Customers can also place their orders through either self-service or table side. You can also use it to manage tickets, view order history, refunds, and returns.

This feature can also pave the way for mobile tablet ordering and payment acceptance. Simply install the POS software into a tablet or any mobile device. You can then use that device to accept customer orders and payments, speeding up the checkout process.

It also centralizes order management and payment processing from your online and brick-and-mortar operations.

Inventory management

Inventory management is critical to running a restaurant. Irresponsible inventory management can lead to negative consequences such as spoilage, loss of profit, or unnecessary expenses. Hence, you must constantly update your inventory to ensure that you have enough ingredients or menu items in your restaurants.

Look for an inventory management feature in your QSR POS system. It tracks your inventory in real-time so you can better control how much you stock ingredients or products for your menu. Some POS systems can even notify you when your stock levels are low and need replenishing.

Analytics and reporting

One of the biggest advantages of a modern restaurant POS system is its analytics and reporting features. This feature allows you to extract data from your customer transactions and turn them into valuable insights that you can use to improve your operations. For instance, you can use your POS system to keep track of how many orders you get in a day, what are the popular menu items, do you get more orders online or offline, and more.

This data allows you to make smarter decisions for your restaurants since it’s more reliable and accurate than your gut feeling. It can also help you keep up with your customers' changing demands and the latest market trends.

Integrations

The past few years saw many restaurants accelerating digital transformation in their operations. Nowadays, many operate using different business solutions and apps. Integrate your POS system with other fast food software for a more seamless and smoother digital experience. Doing this doesn’t just benefit your customers but your employees as well.

Integrations automatically synchronize data across all your solutions, making it easier to shift from one application to another while doing tasks. For example, you can integrate your POS system with your accounting software to record each customer’s payment into your finance books.

Choosing the right software

There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all POS software system for restaurants. Each business has its own needs and demands. Hence, you must choose a POS system that fits your organization. So go ahead and check out different examples of POS systems to find out which would work best for your restaurant.