
Page 3 of 3	Thinking outside the square Which brings us back to why you bought your POS system in the first place. You went looking for a few cash registers to spruce up the look of your bar, after all you've just invested a couple of $squillion on some fine renovations (that was just the interior designer's fee) and thought that the old cash collectors needed a revamp. Lo and behold, your research led you through 4 different POS showrooms, a pubcrawl to discuss the pros and cons with 27 different hotel managers and the dawning realization that at least 98% of your barstaff put their last holiday to the Bahamas on your personal bar tab. So you set about getting even and gaining control, at last the universal panacea is within your reach, buy your new POS system, whack it in, set and forget and watch your bank balance treble. Yeah right! Just as your chef, your cleaners, your suppliers and your staff need your guidance, so does your POS system. If you don't feed it properly, massage its datafiles, keep a close eye on it and check its weight regularly, it will prove just about as useful as the three pallets of whoopee juice RTD that were a real bargain and going to be the next big thing in 1999 but still occupy 3 cubic metres of your cellar real estate. (You just can't bring yourself to trash them can you?) POS systems require at least one competent pilot who understands something about stock control and has more than an inkling about IT; not hard to find the IT component these days, every 15 year old knows that he is the next Bill Gates, but correlating both sides is sometimes more challenging. You bought the system to improve your cost controls, now you need someone who can control the system. Stocktake companies abound in the pub and club stratosphere but not all know how to utilize the POS system to give the publican the advantage. Many are still using old Excel spreadsheets with (hopefully) updated wholesaler pricing to give you a bit of a clue as to where your stock variances are occurring, but the POS system can provide all this information as long as it is properly and carefully maintained. Christine Stacey from Quality Hospitality has trained her "Beam-counters" on numerous POS platforms including IRP, Jetz, Task Retail and Micros. Quality Hospitality guarantees an accurate result to the client within 3 months of gaining clearance for take-off, with a combination of accurate counting, upgraded staff training, improved systems and maximising the functionality of the POS system. "It usually takes around 3 months just to clean up the debris from the lack of systematic application, but once the results start to explain the variances rather than just log them, the owners realize that the POS system is a potent control weapon on the bar" Christine enthusiastically offered. "Garbage in ... Garbage out, the quality of results is only as good as the information supplied". With today's technology being redundant before you walk out the door with it, it is critical to be aware of the ability of your new purchase to integrate with other systems in your venue. You now know some more of what is achievable, just one final tip, insist on a driving lesson before you leave the showroom or better still, employ a competent system pilot, and someone to watch over him and someone to watch over him and someone to watch him ...... ! < PREVIOUS PAGE

Thinking outside the square

Which brings us back to why you bought your POS system in the first place. You went looking for a few cash registers to spruce up the look of your bar, after all you've just invested a couple of $squillion on some fine renovations (that was just the interior designer's fee) and thought that the old cash collectors needed a revamp. Lo and behold, your research led you through 4 different POS showrooms, a pubcrawl to discuss the pros and cons with 27 different hotel managers and the dawning realization that at least 98% of your barstaff put their last holiday to the Bahamas on your personal bar tab.

So you set about getting even and gaining control, at last the universal panacea is within your reach, buy your new POS system, whack it in, set and forget and watch your bank balance treble. Yeah right!

Just as your chef, your cleaners, your suppliers and your staff need your guidance, so does your POS system. If you don't feed it properly, massage its datafiles, keep a close eye on it and check its weight regularly, it will prove just about as useful as the three pallets of whoopee juice RTD that were a real bargain and going to be the next big thing in 1999 but still occupy 3 cubic metres of your cellar real estate. (You just can't bring yourself to trash them can you?)

POS systems require at least one competent pilot who understands something about stock control and has more than an inkling about IT; not hard to find the IT component these days, every 15 year old knows that he is the next Bill Gates, but correlating both sides is sometimes more challenging. You bought the system to improve your cost controls, now you need someone who can control the system.

Stocktake companies abound in the pub and club stratosphere but not all know how to utilize the POS system to give the publican the advantage. Many are still using old Excel spreadsheets with (hopefully) updated wholesaler pricing to give you a bit of a clue as to where your stock variances are occurring, but the POS system can provide all this information as long as it is properly and carefully maintained.

Christine Stacey from Quality Hospitality has trained her "Beam-counters" on numerous POS platforms including IRP, Jetz, Task Retail and Micros. Quality Hospitality guarantees an accurate result to the client within 3 months of gaining clearance for take-off, with a combination of accurate counting, upgraded staff training, improved systems and maximising the functionality of the POS system. "It usually takes around 3 months just to clean up the debris from the lack of systematic application, but once the results start to explain the variances rather than just log them, the owners realize that the POS system is a potent control weapon on the bar" Christine enthusiastically offered. "Garbage in ... Garbage out, the quality of results is only as good as the information supplied".

With today's technology being redundant before you walk out the door with it, it is critical to be aware of the ability of your new purchase to integrate with other systems in your venue. You now know some more of what is achievable, just one final tip, insist on a driving lesson before you leave the showroom or better still, employ a competent system pilot, and someone to watch over him and someone to watch over him and someone to watch him ...... !

< PREVIOUS PAGE