An AI receptionist for restaurants: judged on the rush
Simultaneous calls, party size and real turn times. What it should handle alone, what it must refuse, and the allergen test that disqualifies a vendor.
Insights
For the people running the floor.
Page 7 of 9.
What a restaurant POS system actually does
Five jobs, four cost lines, and the questions to ask before choosing. Plus the part every POS comparison leaves out, which is the phone.
Choosing a POS as a small restaurant
Most lists are written for far larger rooms. The five things worth paying for, the three that are not, and the ten-minute demo that tells you the truth.
What a bar POS has to do that a restaurant one does not
Taps per pour, tabs that stay open for hours, transfers at shift change, and tips with legal consequences. The bar-specific things that decide it.
What a restaurant POS system costs, line by line
Four lines, and the monthly fee everyone compares is usually the smallest. Why processing dominates, with the arithmetic at $60k a month.
The cheapest restaurant POS is rarely the cheapest
Three ways the advertised price misleads, the one-year total that ranks vendors honestly, and where cheap genuinely costs more.
What a free restaurant POS actually costs
The software really is free; the processing is the product. The arithmetic that decides it, and why low card volume makes free the right answer.
Quick service POS: the only number that matters
Seconds per order. What makes entry fast, the counter-specific features, and why buying for reporting is the common mistake.
Handheld POS: where it pays and where it does not
The walk disappears and the kitchen starts sooner. Also the small rooms, weak wifi and complex menus where it makes service slower.
The five kinds of restaurant POS, and which you need
Rather than another affiliate ranking: how the category divides, which group fits which restaurant, and the four questions that actually differentiate.
Cloud POS does not mean it works without internet
Almost everything is cloud now, so it is a weak filter. The question that matters instead, and how to make a vendor prove the answer.
Prime cost: food and labour only make sense together
The two halves trade against each other, so watching either alone misleads. How to calculate it properly, and why purchases are not cost of goods.