Putting POS to the Test
Recent Advances Make the Impossible Happen for Operators

POS technology has made it easier than ever before for bars and clubs and restaurants of all stripes to do what they do best –– namely being hospitable to the masses and then presenting them with a check at the end of the evening for the good time had by all.
    Among industry professionals whose job it is to feed and quench the thirst of this thundering horde on a daily basis, it is a task that grows more monumental all the time, and one that is made infinitely simpler and even doable by technological leaps capable of turning ordinary bar and club owners and operators into superlative versions of themselves in an electronic instant.
    The recent advances in POS systems such as checkout and server-based hosting equipment alone have translated into shorter lines at the front door of clubs, quicker cocktail turnarounds, as well as the reassurance and come-back comfort that a customer feels in settling up with the house at the end of the evening without the credit card leaving his or her sight.
    Yet if POS breakthroughs are a blessing to guests, then they amount to a godsend and a lifeline for those industry insiders who make a living it this service-oriented and people-centered line of work. These days, a venue owner or manager need only imagine a new need for something in the way of POS in order to discover an application that meets or exceeds the need. Who would have imagined, back in the days of heavy metal hunt-and-peck cash registers, that one day a computer chip in a bottle would one day send a signal to inventory every time a drink is poured from it as a POS check on the house’s most valuable commodity?
    New time and step-saving wonders that boost staff efficiency as well as customer satisfaction proliferate in today’s $537 billion hospitality industry, with companies such as Posera (Maitre’D), WaiterPad, Azbar, Micros and Squirrel leading the way into an even better, techno-enabled tomorrow. It is a good thing, as Martha Stewart would say, for a hospitality industry being called on to take care of greater numbers of patrons all the time.

Litmus Test
    One venue that puts POS technology to the test is Pacha NYC, located on West 46th Street in Manhattan, where Owner Eddie Dean relies upon both the Micros 9700 POS system as well as the HP Proliant G3 Server for server-based hosting of all menu information to and from 25 workstations spread across four floors.
    “For a venue this size, anything but a POS system would be a nightmare,” Dean says. “Menu item changes and reports would have to be done on each separate station. There would be no central storage location for information or configuration.”
    Using a touch screen like the Micros 9700 is intuitive for most employees, and training is very quick, he says. And managers have granular access over every aspect of the system, from adding new employees, to changing the layout of the menu screens.
    As the nightclub that is Pacha is presently configured, Dean says each workstation is a self-contained touch screen PC with credit card reader. “All credit card transactions are conducted over a high speed 128 bit encrypted TCP/IP connection, which is much faster than the standard use of a telephone line.”
    The near incredible advantages that accrue to operators with today’s smart POS are best seen in real time, when the club is at its peak, and thousands of sales transactions may be happening all at once.
    “In an ever-changing business like nightlife, having the ability to make changes or adjustments to your sales system is now almost a requirement,” Dean says. “Menu prices change, new employees are hired, special offers are given, and there may not always be much time to do it.” With a computer-based POS system, he says the flow of the menu items can be arranged to better facilitate fast customer service. If items go unordered, it is a simple matter to remove them and put more popular items at the fingertips of our employees.
    A good POS system also can be an 800-pound gorilla in lifting sales volumes, Dean says. “The decrease in service time between when a drink is ordered to when it is served pays off through increases in sales volume. Being able to see what items are selling well and what items are not also allows management to purchase the right items as well as push other items that may need some extra help to get sold,” he says.
    It’s an almost instant feedback tool for all customer interactions that Dean says he would never want to be without in the highly competitive business of nightlife. “The system is also flexible enough to allow us to sell any type of item, from alcohol to T-shirts on the same system. And if one station goes down, it’s a simple matter of plugging in a replacement.”