POS Software Blog

Today’s QSR customer has evolved.  This is clear in the diverse offerings on the menus of the most popular fast food restaurants that are famous for their burgers and fries.  Although the burger and fry customer still exists, QSR’s have adapted menus to satisfy today’s more health-conscious consumer.   It has been proven that a steady diet of burgers and fries will shorten one’s life significantly and cause a multitude of health problems along the way.  Hence, the recent success and growth of QSR’s like Subway, Qdoba and Panera just to name a few.

Even the smallest of towns in the US have at least one great bakery.  When researching the numbers, there is a wide disparity from source to source.  The reason for this is that bakeries come in so many different flavors.  Some market research includes segments of the industry that are fairly specialized like donut shops and bread outlets.  Others include “big box” bakeries like Panera Bread.  Personally, I would classify Panera as a QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) rather than a bakery.  Nonetheless, the numbers are staggering.  Simply put, every city and town has a need for a great bakery.

In 2011, the National Coffee Association reported there were 22,549 coffee shops in the USA.  This was an 18.4% increase in the number of stores over the previous 3 years.  We are clearly a nation that loves our java.  More importantly, we love the charm and atmosphere provided by these coffee shops and tea houses that seem to appear on every street corner.  We love the aroma, the décor and the trendy music playing in the background.  As a society, we love the entire coffee shop experience.

There is nothing in the world like the charm of a small, independently owned and operated café.  Small villages in Europe are lined with these small treasures.  Most towns in America offer a fair share of these gems as well.  Smaller cafes provide a warm intimacy that is very hard to come by in the larger chains.  Each has its own persona in terms of ambience and menu offerings.

Most QSR’s (Quick Service Restaurants) use an automated POS system.  The need for speed in the industry is such that QSR’s were early adopters of technology that helped to serve the customer as quickly as possible.  Other necessities such as cash controls, high-speed integrated credit card processing and waste controls drove QSR’s from cash registers to cafe POS systems long before most other types of merchants.

When I was in restaurant management, there was nothing more important to me than speed of service.  Several factors came into play when striving to be a leader in this area.  Some of these factors included operational issues such as employee training, the physical layout of the operation, procedures in place, attitude and proficiency and finally, technology.  In the 1990’s when my restaurant deployed a computerized point-of-sale (POS) system, speed of service was suddenly easier to achieve with each and every visitor.

Do I really need a POS system for my simple quick-service restaurant?