> >> I've got a small restaurant *which* has four > >> interests, in order of priority: > > I did a restaurant a couple of years ago. The realities are: > > 1. For all of the reasons Matt pointed out (and more), direct them to
> buy an off-the-shelf POS system. The better POS systems already have > the accounting/inventory/etc, built in. Some even have a loyalty club > option included with interface to a web site. Dumb question: what's a 'loyalty club'? Would you have a name or link to a POS vendor that has this option? > Some also had the wireless PDA or tablet thing worked out. They work *far* better than > anything any one of us could develop as a one-off application. > > 2. Training is a *huge* issue. Servers are a combination of young, > usually pretty smart kids (usually college students), older ones for > whom it is "just a job." The former "get" computers, the latter > don't. All wait staff and cooks come and go like bums at the bus > station. Ditto managers. As soon as one crew is trained, 50% of them > are gone. The owners mostly are "artistes" who want to cook. They > can't or won't manage the _business_. It has to be dead-simple-easy > or nobody will use it. The POS systems are all touch screens. The > restaurant is laid out on the screen, they "touch" their tables to > get going. Interestingly enough, the Intuit POS hardware package has no touch screen component. The IBM package does, though. Be nice to know of other major vendors in this category. > 3. Restaurants are retail. Any system work or updates have to > be done after hours or early in the morning. I can't tell you how many 2 am > sessions I had. The guy doing their hardware stuff had it worse. I'm just in this for the initial consulting part. That's why I want to install products that include sound and ongoing vendor support. This is where IBM has always shined, but at a cost. > 4. They can't afford you. The good POS systems are expensive, but no > single restaurant can afford to have a custom system built. The > margins are just not there. A chain run by actual business people, > yes. They can spread the cost. A single restaurant will not > survive it. > > I got involved when a guy I knew bought the restaurant. I > recommended to him what I am recommending to you: Upgrade to a good POS system. > The owner chose to keep their old, sucky Access-based POS system. I > built a loyalty system which integrated with the POS system > and their Web site, and had a few other capabilities the POS system didn't. It > was very kludgy, but it works. I got paid only because the owner had > very deep pockets, but I wish he had followed my original > recommendation. Thanks for the valuable testimony. Nothing like hearing from folks who have been there. I'll post about any significant developments. Bill > Ken _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
