COMPETITION has always been fierce throughout the hospitality industry, but never more so than today with ever rising costs sitting alongside increasing consumer expectations for service.

New restaurants, cafés, fast food chains and catering businesses spring up daily while clubs and hotels are expanding their operations to cover as many market sectors as possible. Business owners and managers feel they are working harder than ever just to survive.

But, according to the experts, the solution is working ‘smarter’ rather than harder, taking advantage as much as possible of the new generation technology now available to ease the burden.

It’s an issue that has been identified by key bodies like Restaurant & CateringAustralia who has included a strategy to increase the industry’s use of technology in its agenda for growth. It has appointed an overseas expert, Roger Grimes, to instruct the industry on the possibilities available and is also working with technology companies to ensure the systems available specifically meet the industry’s needs.

The latest point-of-sale equipment items — both stand-alone ECRs and computer-backed point-of- sale systems — are arguably the most valuable management tools available to hospitality businesses. But equipment manufacturers are constantly introducing new features to their hardware and software to the extent that the selection of a POS system has become a nightmare for businesses wanting to upgrade.

Jon Brewster, head of Sydney Cash Registers, says the “golden rule” when choosing any system is to look for simplicity. “Customers want a supplier who understands their requirements and has the range of equipment, knowledge and breadth of expertise to implement and support the best possible solution, whether this is a $400 cash register or a $15,000 hospitality POS system.”

“We find out what a customers needs — rather than what they think they need — and then tailor the simplest possible user-friendly system and service to meet those needs, including interfaces with the customers’ accounting systems such as MYOB.”

Brewster says that stand-alone ECRs, which have proven themselves over many years in the harsh hospitality environment — when PC-backed POS systems were still a gleam in the eye — remain a popular solution.

The new-generation ECR machines are versatile and multi-functional, capable of recording, monitoring and reporting on every transaction, providing ongoing data on stock in every department, running an effective membership/loyalty program and providing a highly accurate summary of the day-to-day trading. In fact, doing most of what the more expensive POS-PC systems do but without the need to be linked to a back-office computer. Importantly, they can also be used anywhere — such as at an outside event — without the need for expensive installation and networks and are so user-friendly that the system can be up and running and staff trained in less than a day.

But according to Brewster, the PC-based systems are also here to stay. Like ECRs, they are increasingly multi-functional, with ever more features. But this, he says, has created a number of problems for users. More functions and features mean a sharper learning curve and additional time, effort and expense as users have to master both hardware operating and software application systems, sometimes only to find their existing bookkeeping package is not compatible with the new system or the hardware has not been designed with the hospitality industry’s rigorous environment in mind.

“The bottom line is hospitality POS systems and PC systems are a bit like oil and water — generally they mix with difficulty although we are pleased to see that a few emerging companies — like Vectron Systems in Germany— are coming up with state-of-the-art solutions to what have been considerable problems in the past,” Brewster says.

There have been a number of recent POS innovations that are offering new benefits. These include the flip-top cash drawer, suitable for many different installations. With its small footprint, one of its key benefits is that it saves space. Also new is a simple but effective printer stand with a reversible terminal mounting pole which allows a touch screen to be worked from both sides of a counter. It removes the printer from the work surface while providing a safe mounting for the power supply. The latter was created by SCR in response to market demand.

Pilfering remains a concern for managers in the hospitality industry despite the advent of surveillance cameras and anti-theft products such as Cashcam. Brewster says the greatest deterrent, however, is still the accurate reporting capability of ECRs and POS-PC systems. They record the time when the cash drawer is unlocked and so allow management to link sales data and possible discrepancies to staff on duty at the time.

One of the leading players in the integrated POS-PC market, is the Adelaide based national company H&L, which has been selling and/or hiring user-friendly systems to every sector of the hospitality industry — from small café and wine bars to large clubs and hotel chains — for more than 20 years. National project manager, Sam Davey, says regardless of the size of the establishment, H&L can provide an easy to use POS systemthat fits the business.

Davey says H&L’s software is specially tailored to individual customer’s needs and, importantly, designed to integrate with MYOB and other external accounting systems and applications.

Sysnet is the core of all H&L systems and the result of 20 years in the hospitality business. Benefits include the integration of all data such as member databases, loyalty/reward programs, promotions, incentives, discounting and so on.

It means there is less time spent stocktaking, balancing tills, recording transactions, changing prices or transferring stock. With its extensive reporting capabilities it gives an instant view of the business at any time.

Hotel manager Lyn Humphries says the POS-PC system installed at her establishment, The Oatley Hotel south of Sydney, is one of the best moves the hotel has made. Humphreys says the system, from H&L, was particularly effective as a management tool because it is compatible with the Oatley’s MYOB accounting package. The system includes H&L’s popular customised Versaterm touch screen terminals, linked to an integrated back office PC, meaning data from every terminal can be recorded and correlated at the central control point. The tough-nut terminals are fast, easy-to-use and have inbuilt barcode scanners, making them valuable across different parts of the hotel’s operation such as the bar, bottle shop and bistro.

“At present, we are not using the system for our bistro as this is leased out, but the capability is there should we need it in the future,” Humphreys says. ”The system is also capable of running a comprehensive customer/loyalty program and we are currently in the process of setting this up.”

She says that although the hotel is not yet using the system to its full capacity, the benefits to date have been “enormous”. “One of the biggest advantages is the ease of price changing and with the system’s wide reporting capability, including staff and customer tracking, we can download what is happening in the bar and bottle shop at any time, what has been sold, at what time and for how much, what our stock situation is and when we need to reorder. We are presently installing a new beer system and the system will also allow us to maximise on, and keep track of, every sale.”

The Oatley employs around 30 people to cope with its strong bar trade and each staff member has his/her own ‘wrist watch’ scanner to operate the till which reports on every transaction — including no sales or cancelled sales. Humphreys says this has virtually eliminated the possibility of theft with management able to take a close look at and trace discrepancies, which will also show up on the installed video monitors.

Whatever system is used — ECR or POS-PC — a reliable printer is essential to take full advantage of the reporting capability. One of the latest developments in the area of printers is a new mobile printer from Epson that is based on its TM-T88 POS printer widely used in the hospitality industry. The TM-P60 is the company’s first wireless mobile printer and has been specially designed for the hospitality industry and includes. It has features including up to 20 hours battery life between recharging, crisp thermal printing, auto-cutter and drop-in paper loading.

Epson business systems manager Jason Whiley says the new TM-P60 allows immediate print-out at the point of service, inside and outside, in kitchens, at counters, tables, and bars, adding speed and convenience to customer service and eliminating queues around cash registers.

“We’ve combined all the features of TM-T88 like proven thermal printing technology, high reliability and low maintenance with industry-standard wireless cards, security protocols and drivers so that TM-P60 is instantly compatible with today’s best-of-breed and component-based POS systems. It incorporates the widely used ESC/POS command codes and relevant drivers. It even comes with such additional accessories such as shoulder strap, belt clip and multiple battery chargers.”

Whiley says wireless technology is becoming increasingly popular throughout the hospitality industry with several of the large fast food chains leading the way in trialling its potential for increased productivity. One, for instance, is making use of mobile terminals and printers at outside eating areas to take and print out orders and receipts, so all the customer has to do is present these at the counter.

“There will always be a place for cabled systems, but equally wireless technology is now a fast-emerging trend, particularly in the hospitality industry with its special requirements,” he says.

With all the new hi-tech equipment now in the marketplace, it can be a challenge to think about buying a new or upgraded system but those in the industry say the efficiencies that can come from a well designed and use system can be worth it.