5 Tips To Choose Your PoS System Like A Pro

The Bustle team has more than 50 combined years of hands-on hospitality experience.

Our Hospitality Consultant, Milla, and Support Guru, AJ, have run and managed various hospitality venues both here and overseas.

The pair have used Bustle on the ground in fast-paced hospitality environments, and transitioned to customer success roles within the company itself, where they now help Bustle customers discover and use the features of Bustle to ensure the best setup for their unique needs.

Here, Milla and AJ share the 5 Hot Tips they reckon you should consider when choosing a POS system, from their unique point of view as hospitality owners and managers turned point of sale pros.

HOT TIP #1: Make sure your POS can guide your financial decisions

The Did I Make Money tool lets you quickly and easily calculate how much money your business made over a date range you select.

The Did I Make Money tool is designed to accommodate different preferences for you to track financial data. Whether you enter expenses and income on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis, the tool combines this information with Bustle records to generate accurate statistics on profit and loss over the selected time period.

With all the informative detail you want but none of the complicated financial jargon, it’s an easy way to keep control of your financial performance in real-time, without the hassle of approaching your accountant, downloading bank statements or combing through your accounting software.

AJ says:

This is quite a new addition and wasn’t in place when I had my own business using [Bustle]. I was excited when I saw it as it would've helped me answer lots of questions such as "Can I afford the extra staff member next week?" or "Have I been making enough to cover the expense of the kitchen's new blender?”

HOT TIP #2: Make sure your POS can easily cost your menu & track your stock

Bustle Stock Control deals with all your products, suppliers, invoices and stocktaking.

While we do recommend spending a bit of time at the beginning, once your products are all set up in the system, you’re just a few clicks away from a complete, accurate stocktake at any given moment.

Milla says:

“Gone are the days of manual stocktaking… printing out till sheets and spending hours to get a snapshot of the stock on your shelves.”

The recipe builder, located within each menu item, lets you add your products as ingredients to create a recipe, and then instantly calculates that recipe’s profit margin for that item.

Would those cheese scones be more profitable if we made them a touch smaller? Would reducing the amount of raisins in that carrot cake get a better margin?

The financial impact of these potential adjustments can be easily seen on the system… before you even head into the kitchen to test out your changes.

HOT TIP #3: Make sure your POS can showcase your current menu online

AJ says:

I can’t imagine any hospitality business not liking this feature. I rarely had time to check whether my Google menu was updated and it got quickly out of date. The online menu feature solves the problem of having lots of different menus in different places, and needing to stay on top of updating them.

The importance of your Online Menu is easily overlooked. It’s one of the first points of contact between you and your customers.

Bustle now lets you link your online menu directly to your live till, capturing any real-time changes, and keeping all your menus in perfect synchronicity.

Take the hassle out of updating your website, social media and menu portals, and avoid the disappointment that comes from keen customers being drawn to your business by an out-of-date menu.

Price changes, fresh offerings, specials and new-season items can be linked instantly from the menu builder to your online menu, which can be customised to suit your branding.

QR codes are also instantly generated which can be used in various ways, including by customers on the premises, potentially saving you heaps in menu printing costs.

Check out some of the amazing menus of our customers…
Verdure,  The Grind Kitchen and Bar,  Pasta & Cuore, The Beach House, The Hurunui Hotel.

HOT TIP #4: Make sure your daily cash up process is a breeze.

It only takes a few taps on your Bustle iPads to Cash Up each till at the end of the shift,  streamlining your financial tracking and making it easier to spot discrepancies.

Once cashed up and reviewed, the Bustle integration with Xero instantly sends your financial information straight through to your accounting system, meaning your business can keep on top of its financial picture, and reduce tons of unnecessary admin time.

Milla says:

It’s amazing how many people we talk to who are still maintaining offline spreadsheet systems for their daily cash up, or don’t do it at all. Being able to view any variance on your ‘takes’ at the end of each shift enables you to investigate issues as they arise. If you’re only tracking this at the end of the month, how would you know where to intervene?

HOT TIP #5: Make sure your POS has flexible hardware options

Working out the number and type of hardware options best for your business can be an intimidating step, especially when converting to a new point of sale system.

Milla says;

When we set up the first [Bustle] system, I was out of my comfort zone. It all felt like it was maybe ‘too easy’!? With other systems, they would come and install them for us, and if we had problems, we were at the mercy of waiting for the company to help. Plus we had to pay a fee each time.

That’s no good if your till goes down on a Friday night!

But with Bustle, because I set it up myself, I knew where everything was connected, and what might cause problems. That meant I was able to fix it or know where to look if I had teething issues. I felt really in control and even when I didn’t, support was really fast.

And a few more points to consider when setting up or switching systems:

Q: How long will it take?

A: Our advice is to allow a week or two for a brand new setup. Building your menu and inputting your products for stocktakes may take a little time depending on the complexity of your business.

While getting familiar with your Bustle system is super easy, remember there are many factors at play such as obtaining a merchant number from the bank, contacting eftpos providers, licence approval, etc. These tasks can easily add up.

Don't forget there’s plenty of guides to help you and your team in the support messenger and setup checklists.

If you’re adding a new venue to an existing business, or it’s not your first hospitality business, it could be as quick as a couple of days to get your venue up and running on Bustle.

Q: What if I want to swap from my current POS to Bustle?

A: We’re here to help you, every step of the way.

We’ll happily check if your existing hardware is compatible with our Bustle software, and we can assist with uploading your menu, send you training videos to get your team on board, and offer you a personalised training session with AJ.

AJ’s last word:

[Bustle] was recommended to me by friends in the hospitality industry, and using it for over a year at my food stall was a breeze. The intuitive interface meant minimal staff training, allowing me to focus on my service style. Starting with just an iPad was cost-effective and the quick customer support made it a great experience.