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Boost Back of House Workflow Efficiency With POS

August 9, 2023
MX POS | Blogs | Merchants
clip art restaurant back of house cooking, front of house cashier working at a fast food restaurant

Quick summary: The main focus for restaurant managers is often times directed to streamlining front of house management. When this happens back-of-house management is neglected.

But, believe me, focusing on your back-end operations is as important, if not more than front-end operations. Shifting your focus can generate magnificent returns for your restaurant business. 

As a restaurant owner efficiency is priority number one. Let me paint a scenario: your consumer enters, takes a seat, orders food, and leave soon after receiving and eating it. For many restaurant owners this scenario is the ideal. It keeps you business flowing, improving customer satisfaction and hastening table turnover, which raises sales. Having a strong correlation and management between front and back house teams is essential for this to happen.

Now this is where the restaurant POS system comes in place! 

A point of service (POS) system is an excellent tool for increasing productivity. There typically used in front of the house for various duties. Facilitating clear communication, hastening the process between receiving and preparing orders, and decreasing potential errors, POS makes everyone’s lives easier. 

Why not apply this cutting-edge technology to back-of-house activities to ensure improved management and collaboration? Do you agree? 

If you’re still wondering, then let’s go through how your POS system can boost back-of-house workflow efficiency. 

How Does a POS System Improve Efficiency? 

The back-of-house (BOH) department in a restaurant typically includes all the kitchen staff. So the chef, sous chef, line cooks, prep cooks, and dishwashers are all BOH. They prepare and cook the food, clean and maintain the kitchen, and ensure all safety and hygiene standards are met. But for effective management with strong correlation between back and front house – having robust technology in place is a requirement. 

In many small-medium sized restaurants, BOH activities are managed using simple systems such as paper checklists and manual inventory tracking. However, as restaurants grow and become more complex, technology can become increasingly important in managing BOH activities. For example, efficient POS system can streamline work and inventory tracking, automate ordering and purchasing, and monitor food costs. It can save time and reduce the likelihood of errors or waste.

1. Better cooperation with the Front house team!

A crucial consideration when discussing how to boost BOH efficiency in your restaurant, is how they collaborate and communicate. The ultimate goal is to lead to a better overall process and results.

To simplify things between both of these departments, the POS system comes to the rescue with its out-of-the-box functionality. 

Here’s how the POS system Improves Efficiency by streamlining communication:

Selecting the right restaurant POS system can boost your back-of-house workflow efficiency and have a significant impact on your restaurant’s overall productivity. 

(A) End-To-End Management

A good POS system can streamline your restaurant’s operations by managing inventory, tracking orders, managing employee schedules, and simplifying accounting and bookkeeping tasks. When back-house operations run smoothly, it creates a ripple effect throughout your restaurant. Implementing POS not only directly helps BOH, it ultimatley leads to better cooperation with your front-of-house operations.

(B) Faster Delivery

Through the restaurant POS system, your servers will be able to take orders more efficiently, your kitchen staff will be able to prepare food quickly and accurately, and your customers will be able to enjoy a seamless dining experience.

(C) Analytics and Decision Making

A good POS system can also provide valuable insights into your restaurant’s performance by generating detailed reports on sales, inventory, labor costs, and customer data. POS data enhances restaurant decisions, boosting profits and customer happiness through informed choices.

Therefore, investing in a high-quality POS system is a wise decision for any restaurant owner. POS systems can boost your back-of-house workflow efficiency by increasing cooperation with their front-of-house operations.

2. Bump Screens: Lesser Time, Better Management!

Having a restaurant POS system with a bump screen saves you a lot of time as a restaurant owner. Thanks to bump screens, no more time is wasted looking for pens, paper and equipment to track orders.

The bump screen keeps everything in one central spot, making operations quicker and more effective. It saves your restaurant a good deal of time. You might also use this time to improve your customer service or make your cuisine a little higher quality. 

Swift, responsive systems route orders instantly, accelerating the entire process by directing them where needed upon placement.

Maximize results with integrated bumper screens and POS for data tracking and analysis, harnessing their combined potential. 

A POS system can keep track of how quickly meals are delivered to customers on average or how many orders are placed for a single dish. It might help you identify meals that require a bit more time to prepare and how to speed up the process in the back of the house. 

It even keeps you updated about popular meals that require special attention to save time. As a result, the kitchen can run more quickly overall, increasing the restaurant’s success.   

3. Group Orders 

Even still, all these advancements might not be sufficient. There could yet be a little gap for an order to slip through.

Don’t get confused; we are talking about group orders. We have seen so many restaurants killing it out there with customer experience. But when it comes to group orders, they usually struggle.

It mainly happens because the back house is updated (Just on time when they receive an order), and they have less time to prepare & deliver, leading to delays. The order is also disorganized, confusing the team to get started and operate properly. 

But, the restaurant POS system can solve this problem as well. 

Let’s find out how a POS system improves efficiency & speed…

POS systems have in-built functionality to take orders and update the back-of-the-house team(in a proper manner). 

The front-of-house team can use this built-in functionality to aggregate a table’s orders altogether and send them to the kitchen as a single order rather than as individual dockets, but only when the full order is prepared to be served.

You’ll receive one that is automatically categorized per item, and the combined order will be stacked for your convenience. It’s simple to read through and begin preparing appropriately. There was only simple stacking and delivery, no back-and-forth or extensive research. 

4. Leverage POS System for Waste Management! 

There are a lot of things going on in the kitchen. And it’s not unusual for objects to get knocked over, cross-contaminated, or anything else to happen in such situations. It frequently occurs. 

Your cooks have created a delectable recipe that is so ideal, so delightfully straightforward, and so basic. Customers can’t stop ordering it because they love it so much. 

But then comes a pause. 

Now your customers are no longer interested in this dish, and you are left with lots of ingredients that you longer need. But you need to move on. Then it occurs once again. 

So, what should you do now?

As you may have suspected, the answer is your POS software. POS software assists you in data analysis and inventory management in a way that prevents overstocking. 

Your restaurant POS system can help calculate the amount of each stock needed each meal by letting you input your current stock and inventory. Then this method tracks just how much stock you’re using each day and updates on what inventory needs a refresh. An added bonus of this approach is since it reminds you and keeps track of the products you may have forgotten about – therefore it reducing the likelihood that food will go to waste! Your now saving time and money at the same time your being enabled to be more stable. 

5. Skip the Traditionals and Incorporate Sophisticated Tech!

If you are tired of juggling a clipboard and pen while managing the inventory for your restaurant? It’s time to upgrade your system and streamline your back-house management with an end-to-end solution.

With the latest POS technology and its integration facilities, you can manage your restaurant inventory from your smartphone, tablet, or even computer. Say goodbye to the days of manually tracking inventory and hello to real-time updates that help you make informed decisions.

With your tech-driven restaurant POS system, you can easily track every aspect of your restaurant’s inventory. This way, you can avoid running out of crucial items and ensure that you always have what you need to keep your business running smoothly.

But the benefits of an end-to-end inventory management system don’t stop there. You can also track your costs, monitor waste and spoilage, and even predict demand based on historical data. By understanding your inventory on a deeper level, you can make informed decisions about how to improve your restaurant’s profitability.

Plus, with the cloud-based POS technology, you can access your inventory management system from anywhere, at any time. 

So what are you waiting for? Ditch the clipboard and upgrade to an end-to-end inventory management system for your restaurant. Your back-house management will thank you!

Conclusion

Here’s a wrap on how your POS system can boost not only your front-house activities but back-of-house activities as well. 

You might have been using the POS System for your restaurant’s front-of-house operations but unable to gauge its effectiveness for back-of-house.

And, if you are not using a restaurant POS system at all, you are losing out on many capabilities that will simplify your restaurant operations in so many different ways. 

Here’s a quick tip: Whether you need advanced reporting features, mobile ordering, or inventory management, finding the right POS system that can boost back-of-house workflow operations is quite important. So, do your research and find the right one from the available alternatives. 

Staying ahead of the curve is crucial in today’s competitive restaurant landscape. But now, you can do it seamlessly with the added advantages of a sophisticated benefit-driven POS system. You can differentiate your restaurant from the competition and elevate your operations to the next level. 

If you are looking for a feature-rich POS system for your business needs, check out how Priority’s efficient POS system can streamline work and your restaurant operations as a whole.