POS systems are not only for payment processing – they can automate inventory management, saving so much time and making life less tedious for restaurant owners and venue managers alike. These systems help with stock control, till balancing, supplier management and much more. 

Read on to find out how a restaurant POS system can take the hassle out of inventory! 

The Benefits of Automating Your Inventory Management System 

Introducing automation to your inventory management processes increases profitability in various ways. These include reducing manual labour and gaining data-driven insights that let you capitalise on trends and find opportunities for improvement. 

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Restaurant businesses face a handful of costly operational challenges that need to be addressed if they’re going to maintain healthy profits. 

Demand Forecasting Based on Incorrect Data 

To order the right stock at the right time, accurate counts are required. That means your staff – when tired at the end of a long, busy shift – need to be diligent and thorough. Are you sure they’re going to do that? Every time? 

Every employee has been faced with the temptation to cut corners when they just want to get home after a long night of waiting on tables or serving drunken customers at the bar. Disgruntled employees who are not satisfied with their jobs will surely have no issue in cutting corners, no matter how it impacts the business.  

Even those with the best intentions are prone to errors due to tiredness or stress. Therefore, improving accuracy through automation is the way forward. 

Incorrect Portion Planning and Control 

Perhaps your business, like many others, relies on the head chef for placing orders based on their comprehensive menu knowledge. The issue arises when other members of staff have the responsibility of managing orders; they can easily make mistakes. 

The outcome? Customers are dissatisfied when their favourite menu item is unavailable and quality control also goes out the window, with dishes missing certain ingredients from time to time. 

Systematisation lets you regain control over stock availability so you can provide a consistent service and retain those loyal customers. One way to achieve that is using our recipe costing programme that comes with our back of house software. It helps you to easily manage everything from basic cocktail recipes through to entire restaurant menus. 

Transferring Stock Between Locations 

When a restaurant chain needs to transfer stock between two of their branches due to unexpected busy periods, these stock movements are not always recorded.  

The venue that provided the stock then appears to have high levels of wastage. Time may also be wasted in investigating why that is, whether there has been any theft involved, and so on.  

This kind of disorganisation won’t occur if you’re using a POS with built-in inventory management functionality. 

More Benefits  

Some other benefits of automating your inventory management system through your POS include: 

  • Streamlined and automated ordering processes: This can make it easier to track orders, inventory levels, pricing changes, and delivery information. 
  • Cost savings: Restaurants can save money by eliminating the human labour (and human error) associated with manually entering data into a system when tracking inventory and making manual orders. 
  • Improved accuracy: You can quickly identify any discrepancies between actual and desired stock levels, ensuring you never run out of key ingredients or popular items. 
  • Improved supplier relationships: Automating certain inventory management processes lets you easily keep on top of invoices and communications, ensuring positive supplier relationships.   
  • Greater visibility into ordering data: With automated systems, you can identify trends in customer purchasing patterns and make well-informed decisions on stock levels, pricing, and promotions. 
  • Customisable reporting: The best cloud based POS systems for restaurants provide customisable reports that allow you to monitor data on various operations – not just sales trends. Real-time reporting lets you adapt with agility. 

Features of a POS Inventory Management System 

Here are a few must-have features that all the best POS systems for restaurants should include: 

  • Stock Control: A POS system should track inventory from its arrival up until final sale. This function should allow you to scan in stock automatically so there is no manual counting involved, saving a great deal of time and preventing errors. These systems also track stock loss. 
  • Till balancing: A POS should ensure accuracy when till balancing, allowing managers to cross-check against system totals after staff perform initial counts. 
  • Reporting: Different POS providers offer different types of reports but at the very least, they should report on inventory and sales data, sending alerts when levels of popular products are running low. 
  • Supplier management: The best restaurant POS systems make it easy to manage supplier relationships, track purchase history, and manage invoices.

Introducing Sysnet  

Sysnet is the best restaurant POS system for customers that need inventory management functionality. It runs via a POS Controller PC at the back of house which communicates with all POS terminals. 

Whether you operate a single venue or multiple locations, Sysnet has your inventory needs covered. It can interface with a broad range of third party systems for full control over your venue/s (such as accounting software, Property Management Software, booking systems, and many other integrations. 

How Does Sysnet Simplify Inventory Management? 

Stock Control 

This module has a huge array of functions. Users can: 

  • Order and invoice for goods 
  • Manage the transfer of stock between locations 
  • Complete stocktakes 
  • Record wastage and discrepancies 
  • Manage inventory lists and pricing 
  • Control promotions 

Till Balancing 

Compare the actual till takings with system totals to ensure there are no discrepancies and that data is accurate before its passed to your accounting software. Variance reports will also let you keep an eye on any trends linked with specific POS operators. 

Supplier Management 

The supplier management functions let you keep track of suppliers and order history in one centralised place. It integrates with accounting systems for seamless invoice management and generates historical reports. 

Debtors

Sysnet Debtor Accounts allow customers and businesses alike to have credit in your venue. You can set up different debtor categories for reporting purposes. In addition, the debtor clubs feature lets you give discounts to debtors, both on and off premise. 

To keep things automated, set up standing orders so debtors are charged on a recurring schedule without you having to think about it (this can work on a pay on statement or pay on invoice basis). 

You can produce email statements and invoices, and record all communications using the notes feature. 

Audit

Easily track all activity carried out at the POS terminals. It’s easy to locate specific transactions due to the array of filtering options. You can also reprint old receipts or export data in various formats. Transactions can be stored for up to 60 days (you choose the exact period). 

SiPOS 

Our SiPOS application allows staff to process transactions beyond the main trading locations. One example would be the extra revenue generated from recycling empty bottles. The application can also be used to pay debtors as well as create quotes and convert them to invoices within seconds. 

Access Control 

Access control is provided based on different types of user profiles, and wristbands or cards provide the highest level of access. Authorised users can view reports on the activity of individual staff, such as discounts, refunds, and no sales (opening the cash drawer).    

In-App Communication 

Users can message each other within the software whether they are at the front or back of house. This saves time as important notices can be sent out to everyone at once and there is no need for staff to stop what they’re doing to call down to the front of house or go there in person when the bar/restaurant is busy. 

Reporting

Our POS reports on sales and automatically generates recommendations for re-ordering. Other reports pertain to stock, debtors, suppliers, members, users, managers, and processing. Reporting categories are also grouped on the main screen for easy access. 

More Automation Through Utilities SysInfo Processing 

With Utilities, you can set up time switches so that certain functions happen automatically. This could be running promotions, happy hours, member pricing, and so on. 

This module also lets you: 

  • Create user-friendly keyboards, menu pages and navigation with the POS keyboard designer. 
  • View a real-time snapshot of current venue activity – this includes current till totals, till reads, open tables, table items, payments and split bills, and tables opened in training mode. You can also view which Members and Debtors Accounts have been active. 
  • Back up the database. 
  • Handle end of period processing (end of shift, end of day, end of month, etc.) – you can also set them to run automatically if needed. 
  • Generate processing reports. 
  • Set-up the automatic printing or emailing of reports. 

Shelf Labels 

Produce labels for any products in your inventory. Labels can include a description, price, and barcode for efficient stocktaking. Also, labels runs let you easily reprint when prices change. 

How Does Cloud Based POS Software Improve Inventory Management? 

A cloud POS system is the best choice if you’re looking to use an inventory management system. It lets you manage operations remotely and its high performance ensures it can handle the fast paced nature of hospitality, with the numerous transactions and fluctuations throughout each day. 

Conclusion 

A cloud based POS system solves many day to day challenges that restaurant managers face. It enables accurate demand forecasting so the correct orders can be made, and there is no time wasted on wondering how a bunch of stock went missing when it was actually delivered to another branch when they had unexpected demand. 

The best cloud based inventory systems will help you automate your stock inventory processes – from scanning in stock to till balancing; from supplier management to reporting. Our solutions also come with an in-built CRM system for seamless customer management.  

Are you ready to take the hassle out of managing your restaurant business? Contact us today to book a free demo and witness the power of Sysnet in action!