Would You Pay $37,000 for a Cash Register?
by 
Katy Winthrop

If you’re anything like I was when I owned and operated two small restaurants with small margins and small budgets, you probably think one thing when you think of POS – expensive and not worth it!  

Too expensive in fact for any single restaurant owner like you or me to even consider.  Well, not too quick!  If I had it to do over again (god forbid!), I would have taken a little more time to consider the advantages.  At that time, I could’ve listed a hundred disadvantages to buying a POS--cost being at the top of the list.  However, I traded in my menus and aprons for business cards and business suits, to spend my days and nights to change that typical thinking – a paradigm shift of sorts for the small restaurant owner – Point-of-Sale is cheaper than buying a cash register. Use it for what it is, a powerful management and marketing tool, and you will recognize better returns than you ever thought possible – all for a few dollars a day!

A cash register, is a cash register, is a cash register!  Whether it’s a hundred dollar register from the office supply store, or a thirty five hundred dollar register with a few extra fancy buttons, both are designed to do the same thing – serve as a place to enter orders and track your cash.  Both registers leave you with the same result – rolls and rolls of useless paper, employees that work around the buttons to steal from you and inventory that is not tracked walking out your back door.  You may try and manage this situation by spending your time sorting through these endless rolls of paper, trying to figure out what is coming in and what is going out and where the mistakes are being made.  Having been there myself, I know what an impossible task this is, not to mention that your employees know you don’t have a complete grasp on what is going on.  When you’re out of control, they will take advantage of it.  Probably not because they are bad people deep down inside, but rather because they are opportunists like most of the rest of the population.  Rather than spending your time attempting to pinpoint where the money you have made is going, how about using that time to make more money?  You can do that when your system is based around a reliable database that will store data, produce reports in a format that you can understand and alert you to situations where they may be a problem in your restaurant.  A good point-of-sale solution is going to provide you with that database and the ability to analyze your data with ease.

If you’re opening a new restaurant or already managing one, consider how you can start saving and making money today with a point-of-sale system.  Your savings will be recognized in your ability to track inventory, the accuracy of the amount charged for each transaction and the prevention of employee theft.  You will make money by utilizing the software in the areas of client loyalty and retention, gift cards, online web ordering, self-service kiosks and other exciting offerings available with a great POS system.

Let’s say you have a customer order extra cheese and make a substitution and both changes are indicated as costing twenty-five cents each on your menu.  As much as you might insist that your servers and cashiers charge for both of these changes, we all know how likely this is to happen.  Maybe they will charge for one and not the other, or maybe they will not charge for either, or maybe they will catch both charges on this order and not the next ten.  Either way, that fifty cents is likely to walk right out of your door again and again, costing you as much as ten or fifteen dollars every day.  Consider adding that loss to what you lose in incorrect change given, inventory that is lost because you have no controls in place and orders that are voided out of the system where the money goes right into the pockets of the ones handling your cash.  These costly errors and actions have typically cost our customers twenty five to a hundred dollars each day.  These same areas of loss are often the primary reason for a staff’s resistance to accepting a new point-of-sale system.  However, with greater controls in place you will see your profits grow!

Not only does a good point-of-sale system allow you to save money where it would typically be lost, it also empowers you with new ways to make money that you would not have been able to make with the traditional cash register.  One way of increasing profits is the implementation of a program such as Client Loyalty where you reward your customers, especially those who are repeat customers, for purchases made at your establishment.  You will have the ability to track and reward purchases made by giving customers Client Cards.  Customers must present their Client Card at the time of payment to be eligible for points awarded for their purchases.  Your retention rates will increase and you will begin building a database of information on your customers and their buying habits.  You will have the ability to use this data to offer coupons and specials, as well as a database of contacts and addresses for mailing and emailing campaigns.

In addition to Client Loyalty, other money-making programs are easy to implement, such as a Gift Card program, online web ordering and self service kiosks.  

Overall, a good POS system will allow you to cut out the typical areas where a restaurant owner loses money and provide you with additional and powerful tools for increasing profits and customer retention.  Knowing these things, you will be hard pressed to find a cash register anywhere that could be less expensive than a quality point-of-sale system.  With an average cash register costing around five hundred dollars and up to a hundred dollars a day in errors, you could be and probably are spending about $37,000 each year for that register!  With a quality turnkey point-of-sale system you spend around three or four dollars a day and profits can soar.  And, the features that come with such a system can allow you to earn as much or more than an additional six figures in revenue each year without the unnecessary expense of a cash register.

If you’re operating with the small margins and small budgets like I was and looking for a way to increase your profits and reduce theft without bankrupting yourself in the process, consider a low cost investment that makes good sense.  A point-of-sale system is not too expensive even for the single restaurant owner like you or me.  Point-of-Sale is cheaper than buying a cash register and it is money well spent!  You will be able to use it as a powerful management and marketing tool and you will start to recognize higher returns sooner than you think.

Would You Pay $37,000 for a Cash Register?

I’m sure you’re questioning how in the world I can show you that a point-of-sale investment can be cheaper than a three or four hundred dollar cash register from your local office supply store. So, let me preface this by saying that not all companies founded their businesses on the same principles or operate with the same mission as our company, Hospitality Data Solutions. The Principals of this Atlanta-based company came together with long histories in the restaurant business and hospitality technology with the goal of operating a lean and strong company, powered by the relationships built by exceeding the expectations of restaurant owners.  We took this experience and chose the very best software available, PixelPoint.  

With a 10-year history, this Canadian product has more cutting edge features than any other software, and at a price less than most competitors.  PixelPoint’s principles were very much in line with our own – they put their money where it counts – programmers and technical areas focused completely on improving the company’s offering.  After choosing this best of breed software, we carefully selected our vendors to put together turn-key systems at a price that no one can beat. Sure, we did this for the mere competitive factor of having the lowest price, more importantly however, it enabled us to better meet our goals.  With a creative and flexible team and an out of the box mentality, we have been able to consistently create systems and prices that are more in line with the needs of every size of restaurant operator.  So, while the tide is turning in favor of a wider range of restaurant owners to be able to afford such systems, Hospitality Data Solutions is leaps and bounds ahead of the competition in offering the most affordable and robust turn key point-of-sale systems – systems that, when used as the powerful tool they are, will make you money and not cost you money as does the typical cash register. -- Katy