Your POS System - Please help

[LoveToEatATL]

Hi All,

I am doing some research on POS systems, and would love to hear your input on how you feel about the system you are currently using. I would love to hear from GMs, servers, chefs, bartenders...anyone who needs to track anything in your establishment.

What do you love about it?

What do you dislike?

What features would you like to see?

What features do you always use?

What features do you never use?

GM and Owners - did you buy your current system with everything intact (hardware and software) and what do you think is a fair price for said system.

If you could tell me how large your establishment is, that would be incredibly helpful. If you would not like to post your opinions here, please feel to PM me.

I have been an egulleteer for a long time and always value the opinions here.

Thanks so much!

Patti

[KatieLoeb]

Aloha or Digital Dining would be my top two choices. Really user friendly, touch screen, daily adds/changes are simple, easy for staff to use.

The only thing about a POS system is that it's only as smart as the person that set it up. If you are conscious about your programming choices you can get much more valuable information from daily and weekly sales reports that can be compared to inventories for tracking of loss/theft/waste, etc. But you really should have a long talk with the programmers of whichever system you lease/purchase to figure that stuff out.

PM me if you need more specific examples of what I'm talking about.

[phlox]

I like Aloha, too.

Right now I have to use an ancient version of Micros and it's such.a.pain.

As a server the features that are most useful to me are being able to find things quickly and the ability to manipulate checks. For some reason, Micros (I've used newer versions, too, and they're a little better) makes it cumbersome to split checks.

[KatieLoeb]

Micros was originally designed for stadiums and large format seating places. It still strikes me (even in its most updated software releases) as the "Flintstones" version of a POS. I imagine a herd of hamsters with stone tablets and chisels inside of it, slowly chiseling out each and every check.

[phlox]

Bwah!

I interviewed with the owners of a restaurant that's opening soon in my city, and they told me they were considering not only using Micros, but using the Micros version of Open Table.

It was hard to retain my composure.