As a restaurant owner looking for a restaurant operations system, you want to find one that meets your daily needs and fits your business’s growth goals.
The problem is – there are several restaurant management software (RMS) options out there, and choosing the best one for your specific restaurant business might be overwhelming.
To make things easier for you, we’ve prepared this guide to help you understand some key features you ought to consider when choosing a restaurant operations system.
What is a Restaurant Management System?
A restaurant management system is a comprehensive software designed to streamline restaurant operations. Most of these systems contain elements of restaurant point-of-sale systems and more complex back-end solutions to simplify basic management-related tasks, such as:
- Order management
- Payment processing
- Inventory management
- Employee scheduling
- Customer relationship management (CRM), and so on.
Modern restaurant owners rely on restaurant management systems to increase operational efficiency and enhance customer satisfaction.
Benefits of Restaurant Management Systems
Restaurant management solutions are transforming the restaurant industry so much that their market size will likely increase to over $12 billion by 2029 (up from $4.98 billion in 2022). This is because of how helpful they are in addressing the day-to-day challenges restaurant operators like you face when running their business operations.
Some of the most essential benefits of restaurant management systems include:
- Streamlining restaurant operations and workflow by automating routine tasks, like fulfilling customers’ orders and taking payments. This reduces wait times and optimizes staff productivity.
- Improves customer service delivery, leading to better customer experience and repeat business.
- Offers financial management tools, including secure payment processing and expense tracking solutions to help with cash flow management and budgeting. A good restaurant management system also provides analytics tools and reports you can use to make informed business decisions.
- Helps track sales in real-time, providing crucial customer data, including their most popular meals, peak times, and other customer trends. Proper sales tracking can inform your menu management and business promotional strategies to reduce operational costs and increase sales.
- Monitors stock levels and predicts inventory needs. These insights prevent stockouts and over-ordering so you can run your business smoothly without wastage.
- Helps with managing employee schedules, payroll processing, and performance evaluation. The right restaurant management software automates workforce management. You can monitor employee availability and automatically allocate more staff members during peak hours or reduce others during less busy times.
- Allows employees to communicate better. Restaurant management software promotes an accurate flow of information between the wait staff, executive chefs, and cashiers. This ensures that customer orders get fulfilled accurately and your business runs effectively.
- Protects against data breaches while helping you comply with the required financial regulations.
Key Features of the Perfect RMS for You
Every restaurant has its unique needs. Because of this, there is no one-size-fits-all restaurant management solution for all restaurants.
However, all the best restaurant management software have specific features and functions restaurant owners require to meet their needs. Here are the irreducible minimums you should look for in a restaurant management system:
All-in-One Solution
There are different types of restaurant management systems. Some streamline operations on one aspect of your business and require third-party integrations to help you manage your daily workload. Others consolidate several operations into one system.
Take a restaurant POS system, for example. Such software helps you manage the financial aspect of your business by simplifying sales tasks. You can process payments, including cards and mobile wallet payments, manage your billing information, print receipts, and all, but that’s just about it.
To perform other essential daily functions, say labor management or inventory control, you’ll likely have to integrate your point-of-sale system with relevant third-party systems. Often, this can be costly and will take a while to get used to.
Consider getting all-in-one end-to-end restaurant management systems. These solutions streamline back-of-the-house (BOH) and front-of-the-house (FOH) operations in one platform and are, thus, the most robust, reliable, and cost-friendly types of restaurant operations system.
Specifically, choose end-to-end software with core point-of-sale system features, menu, order, inventory, and personnel management solutions. You want to ensure you can perform almost all restaurant operations on a single system within a few clicks. Check out our article on the Top 5 All-In-One Restaurant Operations Systems to choose the right one for your needs.
Hardware Compatibility
If you already have multiple devices, to simplify some operations, look for an all-in-one restaurant management software compatible with your existing hardware. It will help you adopt the new software smoothly and at low costs.
Otherwise, you might have to spend a fortune getting suitable hardware for the RMS. You also risk losing critical customer and sales data during the transition.
User Experience
The best restaurant management platform makes it easy for all relevant restaurant team members to use. If you require hours of extensive training to understand how to navigate a system, it’s probably not the right option for you.
Such a system will lead to frustration instead of increasing efficiency. Your employees will spend too much time trying to find out how to navigate the system, and customers will get frustrated waiting for services.
Intuitive/Automated Menu Configuration
The prices of menu items change from time to time. Look for a system with an intuitive menu configuration solution so you can keep up with these changes as they happen. You should be able to update your menu items and prices almost automatically.
If you’re unsure whether the restaurant management software you prefer has an automated menu configuration solution, ask the software service provider. Or try it out before you purchase. Most RMS service providers will let you try their product for free for about two weeks to 1 month before you buy.
If you struggle to update your menu items during the free trial phase or require client support from the service provider to perform this function, find an alternative software.
Cloud-based or Online Management
For restaurant owners with several branches in multiple locations, a cloud-based or online management feature is a must-have for three main reasons:
First, you can track data and manage all your branches remotely from one dashboard.
Second, you can consolidate data from all branches easily. You’ll know how each branch performs and can tell which ones make you the most money.
Third, you can manage your restaurants on the go at a fraction of the costs it takes to run a more conventional on-premises restaurant management system. You’ll pay a predictable subscription fee for one overall system instead of several, i.e., one per branch.
Reporting and Analytics Features
Proper reporting and analytics features are vital for business growth. They provide accurate sales, customer experience, and inventory data. Restaurant managers, owners, and other stakeholders require this information to make strategic business moves and grow their ventures.
Always consider whether your preferred RMS offers in-depth but easy-to-follow reports on key performance indicators for customer service and employees. You should be able to view past customer orders and gauge your customer satisfaction score from all the customer feedback you’ve received. And, on top of that, assessing your employee performance.
Loyalty and Reward Implementation
An RMS that allows you to implement customer loyalty and reward programs puts you ahead of the game. You’ll retain more customers and stay above your competitors at all times.
Most small business owners in the food industry also use loyalty and reward programs to boost their marketing efforts. These programs encourage customers to share their dining experiences on social media platforms in exchange for loyalty points or free meals.
As a result, customers bond with the brand and market it simultaneously. The best restaurant management software should let you implement such programs effortlessly.
Excellent Technical Support
Nearly all technology systems require technical support to fix issues that may arise with time. Look for restaurant management software with a 24/7 (weekends included) chat or hotline technical support team.
This will ensure you’re well-covered and can handle any system issues. You can also prevent downtime and other technical interruptions, especially on the busiest days for restaurants, i.e., weekends.
Conclusion
To get the perfect RMS for your food venture, evaluate your current business operations and future business goals. Then determine the purpose you want the software to serve and list all the must-have software features and functions required to meet your purpose. Our guide above will help you with this.
You may also want to consider how well a system can scale with you if you plan to grow and add more restaurant branches or introduce additional income streams. Restaurant management software that allows scaling offers seamless integration with various software that support the new income stream.
One way to make more money is to hire out your restaurant venue for various events. Consider integrating Perfect Venue into your preferred RMS and watch your restaurant revenue effortlessly grow. It will help you streamline operations and optimize your income to get the most from it.
Book your free demo today to see how this platform can help you scale your venture.
