Technology

Top 3 ways your POS could be selling more slices

With the right operational tactics, POS systems can improve a restaurant's bottom line, help it gain deeper insights, go above and beyond expected sales and take operations to the next level.

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October 28, 2022 by Brandon Solnit — Head of Content Strategy, PAR Technology

Pizza is one of the most popular meals around the world and is a dish you will find on almost every corner of our planet. Starring in some of the most iconic movies and tv shows, like Spider-Man and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the cheesy slice of heaven has become an American staple food and the go-to for a quick family meal.

Unfortunately, times are proving tough for pizza operators as not every customer is hungry for a slice of pie after a long day of fighting crime. And the current state of our economy is not making operations any easier for our favorite pizza joints, fraught with supply chain challenges and recession woes.

That's not to say that the future doesn't look red hot for the pizza category. With the right operational tactics, pizzerias can actually prove to enhance sales with their POS systems with strategies that enable them to improve their line busting, gain deeper insights from their data and enhance the experiences of their guest. Pizza operators can go above and beyond their expected sales with the right POS in place and take their operations to the next level.

Line busting

Walking into your favorite pizza parlor and facing an astonishingly lengthy line is a dreadful sight for any consumer. Long lines and even longer wait times ultimately decrease a pizzeria's overall customer experience and profit margins. Even the biggest pizza connoisseur is not willing to wait in Disneyland lines for a slice of pie.

However, one of the main functions of a modern POS system is its line-busting abilities. Line busting is a point-of-sale system's ability to support the busiest of lunch rushes and improve a brand's speed of service as well as assist with efficient operations. POS integrations like online/mobile ordering tools and kiosk solutions support line busting by allowing guests to place orders through multiple channels rather than simply ordering in stores.

Providing guests with multiple ordering channels promotes pizza sales because it makes slices available to a larger segment of customers. Not all guests want to order in stores and offering online and mobile ordering, as well as kiosks, will decrease the size of the line and wait times in stores while simultaneously boosting sales.

Data control for insights

Another way a POS assists with sales is by giving operators full visibility into their operations with data management solutions. Data management solutions provide operators with extensive customer and operational data that can be leveraged to identify trends and problems in real-time to keep operations running up to or above par. This could be by identifying low inventory levels and in-demand menu items or by offering guests discounts, promotions and personalization.

Implementing a loyalty program into your pizza operations and POS is a tried-and-true strategy for increasing pizza sales. Loyalty programs, like data management solutions, interact with the customer across all ordering channels to provide operators with extensive and comprehensive customer insights. These insights can be leveraged to deliver promotions and personalized rewards, like free menu items or free merchandise, when guests complete certain tasks. Having a thorough understanding of whom you serve and what they desire means operators can deliver the personalization their guests crave and provide ideal customer experiences.

Improved employee experience

Although the customer experience is instrumental to any pizzeria's long-term success, the employee experience is just as important when it comes to boosting sales. One of the major pain points restaurant employees and operators had with outdated legacy POS systems was the vendor spaghetti and aggregator hell they would create. Since POS systems can handle a variety of integrations, front-of-house stations would turn into a technology overload with an assortment of cables and tablets. Today, all POS integrations are on one device, ensuring accuracy and efficiency as employees do not need to switch between screens or devices during the ordering process. This also decreases the requirement for cabling, power outlets, and usage of existing Wi-Fi within the operations, as all systems work seamlessly in concert on a single device and within a singular mainframe.

To take the employee experience one step further, a pizzeria can integrate its POS with labor management tools. Labor management tools help forecast and schedule the right mix of staffing for every shift to ensure employees are working as efficiently as they can and are as happy as they can be. Satisfied employees lead to satisfied customers who are more inclined to purchase pizza from your parlor.

When it comes to increasing sales, everything falls on the shoulders of the POS. With the right POS in place, pizzerias can boost sales by enhancing the speed of service with more ordering channels, as well as leveraging customer and operational data provided to create ideal consumer and employee experiences.

About Brandon Solnit

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