5 Reasons Why Having a Strong POS Partner is Critical to Operational Efficiency
Andy Huang, COO of The Captain’s Boil, offers advice to operators looking for a new POS system
We launched our Cajun style seafood concept, The Captain’s Boil, in Toronto just two years ago. The concept was inspired by traditional Cajun Louisiana style recipes and we offer high-quality seafood with an Asian-inspired flavor. But what began as a community-based restaurant expanded quickly to more than 28 locations across six provinces.
In order to continue strengthening our presence both nationally and internationally, we needed to find a way to streamline our operational efficiencies to continue to grow. We recognized we were at a disadvantage using our current point of sales system which was an older legacy solution. Initially, we thought there were only two types of point of sale systems available, a traditional legacy point of sale system and a cloud-based startup, but through our research, we learned that the capabilities of modern POS systems are changing.
Through our search we found five major reasons to make a change:
- Saves Time - We were tired of the manual process that involved multiple spreadsheets, Google documents and, at times, even receiving some handwritten reports from franchisees. Upgrading allows us to dig deeper into our data faster and with more clarity.
- Promotes Expansion – We needed a POS system that was built to scale and offered multi-unit support. Our legacy POS was outdated and took several hours for us to run one report, and the cloud-based startups weren’t capable of supporting our rapid growth. Finding a partner that gives us real-time access to track metrics like inventory across multiple stores has given us the confidence that our POS system will keep up with our expansion.
- Offers More Control – We ultimately chose our partnered vendor, Givex, because its administrative portal site gives us more control over our data and allows the corporate office to manage multiple tasks efficiently.
- Analyzes Data- Data-focused POS systems analyze every aspect of your operation and send you real-time stats – whether you’re a full-service restaurant, quick service restaurant or a retailer. For The Captain’s Boil, this gives us better visibility to manage our staff and monitor our performance across all locations.
- Caters to tech friendly clientele – More and more millennials are choosing to dine out and are looking for ways to connect with our brand on their phone or through online ordering. Swapping to an upgraded POS system allows our brand to offer a seamless purchasing experience across multiple devices and gives us the ability to cater to our customers no matter how they’re ordering.
The importance of having a strong POS partner has become a critical component for the efficiency of business operations and making the change has allowed us to concentrate solely on growth and less on the things holding us back.