POS Technology

Table of Contents

Restaurant Description

POS System Overview

Restaurant Interview Results

Advantages for POS Upgrade

Required Features

System Requirement

Decision Matrix

Solution Recommendation

Forecasted Financial Costing

Plan of Action

People Implication

Financial Benefit

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3

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Restaurant Description

Our restaurant is a full service casual dining restaurant located in Bethesda, Maryland.

This location is a heavily populated area where many patrons come to enjoy a night out without

the busy traffic of the inner city. Our restaurant seats approximately 60 to 100 people depending

on the layout of the tables for the evening and if there are any private events booked. Our busi-

ness will be open for lunch and dinner hours daily, and on Friday and Saturday evenings we are

open two hours later than normal for the late night crowds prowling the streets.

There will be a small bar area for patrons who care to dine alone and/or have a

small meal with a few drinks. The main target market for our restaurant is young adults to mid-

dle aged couples, families with teenaged children, and elderly couples. The atmosphere will be

somewhat quiet for those who want to enjoy a peaceful meal and will allow for seclusion of pri-

vacy if needed. The style will be somewhat contemporary with a slight edge of the newest de-

sign. The lighting will be fluorescent and can be controlled according to the main crowd in the

restaurant for the evening. For example, on Valentine’s Day when many couples will want a ro-

mantic dinner the lighting can be dulled, whereas on an evening with a lot of elderly couples the

lighting can become brighter.

Our menu is specifically designed with our target markets in mind and offers a

large variety of delectable food. The range of our target markets is huge and covers a number of

different demographics within our community. Therefore our menu is designed to make it easy

for any guest to modify their order as much as they would like with minimal pricing differences.

We care about our guests and want them to feel at home in our restaurant. With easy to alter

menu options for our guests and a larger variety of selection, our restaurant creates a competi-

tive edge within the community.

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POS System Overview

The Point of Service (POS) System is an important part of technology used in the hospi-

tality industry, especially within restaurants. The POS System’s basic functions are responsible

for sending guests’ orders to the kitchen, keeping track of tables’ orders and adding up prices,

and settling tables’ transactions. Some POS Systems are advanced enough to keep an up-to-

date inventory database for kitchens and bars and inform staff when ordering needs to be done.

POS Systems cut back on service time and allow the servers to cater more to their

guests instead of spending all their time watching over orders. There are various kinds of POS

Systems available in the market for different types of restaurant venues. Finding the perfect

POS System for our restaurant is not a task to take lightly. Due to the size and volume of busi-

ness our restaurant has, we need a system that offers multiple terminals that are easy to navi-

gate with high speed internet access. Guest satisfaction and customer loyalty are some of our

top priorities in our restaurant. The smoother our process of order taking is, the easier it will be

to create customer loyalty among our guests.

Our menu is large so we can accommodate the different tastes of our guests that come

from our target markets around the community. We need a POS System that can accommodate

our menu size and offer easy ways for the servers to input any modifications our guests’ desire.

With our large selection of items and hundreds of different possible menu mix designs, we need

a POS System that allows us change our menu at any time and program preset modifications

for the servers to use on any item.

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Restaurant Interview Results

We interviewed various staff members from different positions within the restaurant in-

dustry to find any common grounds among different POS Systems. David Kimmell is a cook that

works for Brock & Company that uses the simplest form of POS, a cash register connected to

scales and credit card systems. Although this method is easy for training and keeps the prices

consistent, it has many drawbacks when competing with newer, faster technology. David

pointed out the higher rate of human error, approximately 1 out of 15, when entering information

into the system. The system is also very unreliable and crashes about twice a month and can

take up to two hours to fix.

Gillian Grunewald is the GM for Quench in Rockville, MD and she use Future POS in her

restaurant. Future POS is user friendly and easy to operate, however it is not a very reliable

system. According to the GM the system goes down approximately five times a month and has

a slow internet connection. Although the regional account manager is great and can get the sys-

tem running through a simple phone call, the system often crashes during the middle of service

when the servers are busy. Quench uses two terminals for their POS system, one for the front

of the house servers and one at the bar for the bartenders. Only one server can put in an order

at a time and causes backups during busy hours.

Yong Park is a server at Sushi Damo in Rockville, MD who uses Amigo POS system.

This POS system is set up to send orders to the corresponding kitchen station printer according

to what the guests’ have ordered. This feature cuts back on the total time spent serving the

guests as the kitchen staff does not have to delegate out the orders. Amigo also makes it easy

for the servers to modify any orders the guests have made with special requests. According to

Yong Amigo does not crash very often, generally when there is a power outage or a problem

with the internet connection. The only major flaw with Amigo is a printing problem. The printers

do not always print out at the correct stations causing confusion in the kitchen.

The Executive Chef at The Comus Inn, Elise Wendland, uses Digital Dining in her

restaurant. Digital Dining has an easy to use touch screen and does not crash very often, about

once every other month. When the system is down it generally takes a phone call and the prob-

lem is fixed within 45 minutes. The system allows for easy input of orders and the margin of er-

ror is low, approximately 1 out of 50. While Chef Wendland does not have many complaints

about her system, she feels it is out of date and does not give her restaurant any kind of advan-

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tage. For example Digital Dining does not offer an easy way to modify orders which leaves more

room for errors.

The front of the house manager Sam Petrella at Dogfish Head in Gaithersburg, MD just

recently upgraded to the POSitouch. Sam feels this system gives Dogfish Head a huge advan-

tage in the industry. The system has only crashed once in the four months he has been using

POSitouch and was able to be up and running within 30 minutes. The POSitouch offers preset

menu modifiers, easy methods to separate checks, allows managers easy/quick access to all

the checks, and compiles end of the day numbers through various reports. The system also has

automatic modifier screens for each item that are predetermined by the managers and is pro-

grammed so every possible modifier is available for the servers to use. The main disadvantages

to using POSitouch are the system does not offer a floor plan to use on screen and the checks

have to be closed out in a certain order when using multiple payment types or the system will

not close the check.

Advantages for POS Upgrade

Over the past eight years our restaurant has been in business and during our growth

stage, we perfected our menu mix and now we want to improve our customer service aspects.

We need an up-to-date POS System that gives our restaurant a competitive advantage over our

competition. Better technology within our restaurant can improve our guests’ experience as a

whole during their visit. The latest in technology is always evolving so we need to make sure our

system is compatible with any upgrades that will be offered by the vendor. By choosing to up-

grade our existing POS system we will increase our efficiency rate and decrease our labor

costs. The overall service time for our guests will greatly decrease along with the error percent-

age rate from the servers and the kitchen. Trendy POS systems have features for management

to program and add modifications keys that are specific to our restaurant. This makes it easier

for our service staff to enter orders for the kitchen to prepare and the modifications are easier

for the kitchen staff to understand.

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Required Features

The existing POS system that we have been using in our restaurant is outdated and defi-

nitely cannot be compatible with the growing business. Since we have a large variety menu the

efficiency of service has always been one of our biggest challenges for our restaurant. Special

requests are often overlooked by servers because the current POS system doesn’t have modifi-

cation functions programmed into the system. Our system always seems to be crushing during

the busiest evening services because of our high traffic volume. Our current POS system keeps

track of limited sales data which does not provide enough information for our management team

to analyze trends for menu mix planning and human resources purposes.

Our restaurant definitely requires an updated, full featured, simple to use, and re-

liable POS System. We need an up-to-date POS System that can increase efficiency and im-

prove customer service and ultimately increase our competitive advantage over our competitors.

A full featured system is critical for efficient daily operations, accurate inventory control and ef-

fective management planning. The system that our restaurant is looking for also needs to be

simple and user friendly, so we don’t end up spending a fortune and long periods of time train-

ing our employees. Also, the system needs to be able to keep up with the rapid growing pace of

our restaurant. At the same time, the POS system should be able to be compatible with wireless

add-ons which will cope with our marketing and service plans in the near future.

System Requirements

· Operating Systems: Windows XP Pro SP3, XP Embedded, WEPOS, POSReady,

Vista SP2, Win 7, Server 2003, Server 2008 Foundation, Server 2008, Server 2008 R2

· CPU: 1.5 GHz or better Intel based

· RAM: 1 GB or more

· Hard Drive: 2 GB or more free space

· Input: Resistive touch screen

· Printer: Thermal receipt printer with USB interface

· Cash Drawer: Printer driven interface (If cashier ability is needed)

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Decision Matrix

Category Requirement Weight Micros E7 Score POSiTouch Score Aldelo Score    % Scale (1-10)   Scale (1-10)   Scale (1-10) 

Statistic Product Performance 8% 8 0.64 9 0.72 8 0.64

Statistic Vendor Reputation 7% 8 0.56 9 0.63 8 0.56

Subjective System Cost 5% 10 0.5 5 0.25 8 0.4

Subjective Flexibility of Contract 4% 6 0.24 5 0.2 9 0.36

Subjective Compatibility with other OS 3% 7 0.21 9 0.27 8 0.24

Statistic Security 6% 9 0.54 8 0.48 7 0.42

Statistic Cost of Upgrades 3% 5 0.15 5 0.15 6 0.18

Statistic Employee Training 5% 7 0.35 7 0.35 8 0.4

Statistic Installment 3% 8 0.24 8 0.24 8 0.24

Subjective Warranties 7% 10 0.7 8 0.56 9 0.63

Statistic System Requirements 2% 7 0.14 8 0.16 7 0.14

Subjective Contingency Plan 6% 4 0.24 7 0.42 6 0.36

Subjective Flow of System Operations 7% 9 0.63 9 0.63 9 0.63

SubjectiveSystem Features and Ad-dons 6% 5 0.3 8 0.48 7 0.42

Statistic Telephone/Email Support 5% 8 0.4 8 0.4 8 0.4

Statistic Overnight Replacements 4% 10 0.4 8 0.32 8 0.32

Subjective Auto Purchase Order 2% 5 0.1 8 0.16 10 0.2

StatisticOnsite Technician Avail-ability 4% 7 0.28 7 0.28 7 0.28

Binary Touch Screen 3% 10 0.3 10 0.3 10 0.3

Binary Wireless Handheld Devices 4% 0 0 10 0.4 10 0.4

Binary Receipt Printers 3% 10 0.3 10 0.3 10 0.3

Binary Kitchen Monitors 3% 10 0.3 10 0.3 10 0.3

  Totals 100% 163 7.52% 176 8.0% 181 8.12%

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Solution Recommendation

Based on the research our team has conducted and the statistics provided on our deci-

sion matrix, we have concluded that Aldelo for Restaurant Pro software is the best purchase for

our restaurant. Aldelo has 8.12% favorability over Micros E7 with 7.52% and POSiTouch with

8.0%. According to our decision matrix, Aldelo for Restaurant Pro has a distinctive advantage in

the following categories: flexibility of contract, cost of upgrades, employee training programs,

automatic generation of purchasing orders based on inventory file, and most importantly up-

grades with wireless handheld devices. Before our team has conducted any research, we were

determined to find a POS system that has a handheld device attachment. Once our restaurant

installs this upgrade, our staff can input orders anywhere in the restaurant and focus more on in-

teractions with our consumers.

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Forecasted Financial Costing

First Year Ex-penses

Second Year Ex-penses

Pro 3 Station Restaurant POS

System- Cashier/Wait/Bar Stations

$5,580 (3 terminals)

Aldelo Annual Techni-cal Support Contract $495.00

Ethernet Kitchen Printer Kit with 50ft

Cable$349.00

3 Aldelo License Fee for PDA Device $885.00

Menu Programming $395.003 Wireless Handheld

Devices

$2,274.00(Partner Tech EM-

200)Software Installation

Fee $0.00

Aldelo Annual Tech-nical Support Con-

tract$495.00

Aldelo License Fee per PDA Device $295.00

Handheld Wireless Devices

$758.00/Device(Partner Tech EM-

200)Aldelo Manager Training Session $249.00

Aldelo Staff Software Training Session $75.00

Travel Expense to NuRol Headquarters

$700 (Airline tickets,

transportation, food.)

Hardware Shipping Fee $0.00

Hardware Installation Fee $149.99

Total Cost $9,045.99 Total Cost $3,654.00

Instead of purchasing the hardware, software and printers separately, we have found an

Pro 3 Station Restaurant POS System- Cashier/Wait/Bar Stations from NuRol. NuRol is an au-

thorized distributor of Aldelo based on Atlanta, Georgia that carries a variety of POS hardware

and software systems. The all in one package includes three Aldelo Pro user licenses, three

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LCD touchscreen monitors, three complete POS PCs, three thermal printers, two electric cash

drawers, three networking kit, all required cables and softwares. By purchasing this package,

NuRol has also agreed to provide free installation and training session on the hardware and free

installation and set up of the payment processing software.

The Aldelo Annual Technical Service Contract provides users with 24/7 live technical

support including remote access assistance. The contract also includes the latest software up-

dates during the contract period. We have chosen to purchase the PDA devices from Partner

Tech EM-200 because they are one of the certified hardware for use with Aldelo software and

its physical attraction. We have decided to slowly purchase the wireless PDA devices because

they are high in cost. When we first upgrade to Aldelo for Restaurant Pro, we will only purchase

one wireless PDA device for management training and use. After the first year in production, we

will purchase three more wireless PDA devices for the head servers to use during their shifts.

Partner Tech EM-200 PDA Specification Sheet

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Plan of Action

The implementation of the Aldelo for Restaurant Pro will take approximately two weeks.

Implementation Plan

In the first week

The Aldelo engineers will perform a site survey in the first week. On site surveys are to

ensure all prerequisites are in place so they are no surprises on installation days. The techni-

cians will then have a week to gather all information needed to complete a list of information that

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the restaurant owners have to know about the installations. This will also be the time where the

technician discuss and negotiate the installation schedule, customized menu, system compo-

nents and prices.

Menu Programming

In the first week

Aldelo’s menu programming services includes creating POS database, inputting the

menu structure into the database, table layout, basic employee information, front of the house

layout, etc. Menu programming implementation saves consumers’ time and maximizes deploy-

ment simplicity. To have menu programmed in the first week will create time for manager and

employee training in the second week.

Site Preparation

In the second week

To increase financial and time efficiency, site preparation and deployment will take place

in the same week. Site preparation and deployment will take place in approximately two days.

During site preparation, the technicians will carefully examine and execute step by step installa-

tion preparation to prevent any disruptions to operations. To successfully install the new POS

system, an uninterruptible power supply is required in case of any power outages. It is our

staff’s responsibilities to make sure that the installation site is clear before the installation.

Deployment

In the second week

The actual deployment will be on the second day. The installing spot will be at our old

POS system. It is possible that our restaurant will be closed on deployment day so both the

technicians and our staff and focus on the new POS system.

Acceptance Testing

In the second week

Acceptance testing will take place the same day of deployment. Aldelo technician(s) will

conduct an extensive acceptance on the newly installed Aldelo for Restaurant Pro. They will en-

sure each of the components functions appropriately defined by the management team of the

restaurant. The technicians are responsible for checking the following areas.

← Hardware stability and efficiency- whether the hardware is functioning property and

speed of information retrieved is in the correct time interval.

← Software reliability- the accuracy with processing program’s data.

← Data Integrity- whether the software is nicely integrated with the hardware.

Management and Staff Training

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In the second week

We have separated the training into two categories: managerial and non-managerial em-

ployees. The training sessions will take place at Aldelo’s headquarters in Atlanta, GA. Aldelo

manager’s training session is tailored to the restaurant managers and owners who need to have

a strong grasp of all aspects of the restaurant’s pos applications. Topics covered in this session

will include company set up, sample menu item setup, start and end day procedures, sample

transactions, and generation of different reports. Training session for managerial employees

may last over two hours. The Aldelo staff software training session is tailored towards the wait

staff and cashiers that focus more on transactional features and functions of the POS applica-

tions. Topics covered include sales transactions, returns, payment options, work orders, item

lookup, and consumer demographics. This training session usually takes forty five minutes. To

maximize learning efficiency, the trainer will use manuals, DVDs and videos to approach all as-

pects of the new POS system including potential problems and solutions. The trainer will also

provide real life customers’ scenarios that had occurred with other users of the same software.

Duration Expected

The restaurant plans to have the newly installed POS system for as long as possible.

That is defined as the restaurant staffs are able to maximize efficiency and profit of this newly

inputted POS system. However, we will consider new POS system once Aldelo for Restaurant

Pro no longer satisfy our needs.

Contingency Plan

The greatest risk that is associated with Aldelo is possible technical problems. We have

an annual technical support contract that offers a 24/7 live call center with technical support ser-

vices. Technical services are provided via telephone, email and remote access. Included the

agreement is the access to the latest software updates during the contact period. Aldelo also

provides a complimentary 30 day free support for every new customer. If by any chance the

POS system shuts down completely, our staff will simply take orders by hand and send the hard

copy of orders to the kitchen.

People Implication

One of the greatest benefits of having the Aldelo for Restaurant Pro is to increase effi-

ciency and improve customer service. Once the transaction between the order taking process

and sending orders to the kitchen is smoothed out, we can also increase customer satisfaction

by cutting service time, increase guest turnover ratio during a dining period, generate more rev-

enue per day, and also decrease skills required by our front of the house staff. Despite that we

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are spending large sums of money to install the new POS system and training program, it is fi-

nancially more efficient in long term because it reduces the time and procedure a wait staff has

to conduct during service, therefore saving time and money.

Financial Benefit

Aldelo for Restaurant Prof is cost effective because it reduces the cost of ownership.

Restaurant owners’ cost of ownership is significantly reduced from reasonable start up invest-

ments and lowered ongoing maintenance costs. Application updates are centralized to the

server computer only. Therefore, updates on PDA devices are not necessary. The benefits of

the new POS system focus on reducing complexity and efficiency of the restaurant.

← Takes care of all point of sale activities

← Accurate recording of reservation and guest lists

← Gift card management

← Provides records of customer tracking

← Provides house account charges

← Inventory and recipe file tracking

← Labor and scheduling control

← Variety of financial reports.

Risk Management Evaluation

Concerns and Initial Approach to Address

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Our initial concern of purchasing a new POS system is the amount of money we need to

spend and whether it will actually benefit our restaurant. Our budget continues to change as we

notice the different components we need to purchase in order for the software to function

smoothly. Our decisions continues to change due to the following factors:

• We would like to purchase from a authorized reseller which could be more expensive.

• We have to purchase hardwares, softwares, user license fees, etc for three stations

(Cashier, bar, and wait station).

• We have to decide how many staff should attend the training sessions, therefore our pro-

jections increased due to travel expenses.

• We would like to purchase more PDA devices/ however each license fee and PDA cost

over $900.

• Whether our staff can get used to the new POS system within short period of time.

Contingency Plans

In case of any malfunctions with the POS system or internet issues that prevent the POS

system to function correctly, our restaurant staff will simply resort to manual payment recording

methods and hand written tickets for the kitchen. The restaurant does have a power generator

to power the POS system and preserve fresh and perishable products in case of any power out-

ages. However, the restaurant will not operate if there is no power.

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