How a Restaurant Management System Lets You Run Multiple Outlets with Ease

Running a restaurant is no cakewalk. It is a hectic task requiring full day’s attention and even after a restaurant shuts down, the restaurateur’s work is never done. They must compile data, look at sales, count profits and whatnot. While efficient managers and employees help ease the workload even they cannot be relied upon completely. In such a scenario where managing one single restaurant is such a huge task, multiple outlet management seems like a distant dream. That is where the need of a smart restaurant POS software comes into the picture.

The Need for a Restaurant Management Software in Running a Restaurant Chain

The biggest problem that restaurateurs face during multiple outlet management and restaurant franchises is having no control over the operations. One has to rely on the reports sent by the restaurant manager of each outlet about the business. This is a manual process that is time-consuming and also has the scope for errors and misappropriations. A cloud-based restaurant management software provides the real-time data and reports of all the outlets that you can view any time, right from your mobile.

Restaurant Management System Features that Help You Run Multiple Outlets 

A cloud-based restaurant POS software gives the owner complete control over the operations of the restaurant. You can control everything starting from inventory to customer satisfaction from anywhere and from any device, even his mobile. Below are a few ways in which a restaurant management system or a comprehensive restaurant POS helps in multiple outlet management of a restaurant seamlessly.

1. Real-time Reporting & Analytics

While managing different outlets it is not possible for the owner to be physically present at each one of them all the time. This leaves a lot of room for a lot of scope for misappropriations and internal theft. Features in the restaurant management systems solve this problem by giving the owner real-time updates of what is happening in his multiple branches. This way it is very easy for him to keep track of all that is being done.

Restaurant management apps give you a remote agency over each outlet so that as the owner you can manage any outlet from anywhere in the world.

(i) Live Outlet Count

Restaurant POS software allows you to keep track of all functions and operations happening at all your outlets. Since multiple outlets mean that the owner cannot physically be present at all of them live outlet count enables him to digitally know which of his outlets are open and currently serving customers.

(ii) Total Bill Count

An intelligent restaurant management system such as Posist has the total bill count feature which enables you to keep track of the total number of bills generated. Besides showing total billing details it even gives itemized individual billing details of each outlet.

(iii) Items Sold Count

The system also lets you see the count of the number of items sold across all outlets as well as items sold in each outlet every day. This not only helps reduce counter thefts but also allows you to understand which dishes are being ordered more frequently and which dishes are not performing well enough so you can change inventory or menu.

(iv) Track Discounts

Different discounts may be offered on different food items at different days and different times of a day at different outlets. This makes it hard to keep track of discounts that have been offered and can thus lead to an opportunity of internal theft by the restaurant staff who can pocket the money by saying that it was a discount that was offered. Restaurant Management systems help you by keeping track of discounts that have been offered and even telling the amount worth of total discounts.

(v) Sales Details

It is important to review the daily and monthly sales happening at each of your outlets. Use the restaurant management system’s live sales details of each outlet in your mobile. This will give you not only net sales and gross sales of each outlet and total but also the amount spent by each customer in individual outlets. Your restaurant POS can help you get insights related to sales real-time, and on a regular basis. 

2. Stock & Inventory Management

When you are under multiple outlet management, keeping a track of the stock consumed at each outlet can become tedious. An integrated restaurant management system gives you detailed reports of the daily stock consumption of each outlet. If you have a Central Kitchen, you can manage the circulation of stock with ease based on the stock requirement of each outlet.

It also allows you to set re-order levels for raw materials so that you can order for the particular item before it goes out of stock. You can create Purchase Orders right in the restaurant management system. An automatic email is sent to the vendors as soon as the Purchase Order is raised and remains open until all the items are received at the outlet. This way, you can monitor the status of the stock items purchased and received without having to even visit each outlet.

3. Recipe Management

The biggest issue with multiple chain restaurants is maintaining consistency in taste, quality, and quantity. This can be easily achieved through the Recipe Management feature in the restaurant management system. It allows you to set a standard recipe for each item which is followed at all the outlets that ensure that the prepared dish turns out the same each time, even when different chefs are making it. In case you need to make some changes in the item, the recipe can be updated centrally across all the outlets. 

4. Vendor Management

A restaurant has varied stock requirements which means that you have to deal with multiple vendors and suppliers. As the number of outlets increase, managing a large number of vendors becomes a humungous task. Vendor Management is an essential feature of the restaurant management system that allows you to create and manage vendor profiles of different outlets at a central level.  You can add the contact details of various vendors and even these vendors can log in, read, edit and add comments to the purchase order.

5. Central Menu Management

When you are running multiple outlets of the same brand, introducing a change in the menu becomes a harrowing task since your IT guy has to manually update the menu in the POS at each outlet. It is still achievable if you are running 4-5 outlets. But imagine the time and effort required in updating the menu across all the outlets if you are running a chain of 50 restaurants spread across the country. A cloud-based restaurant management system solves this problem easily. All the changes made in the central POS Menu are reflected instantly across all, or whichever outlet you want to them be updated too.

This saves time and eliminates the scope of any errors!

6. Central CRM

A cloud restaurant management system comes equipped with a central CRM and has now become the need of the hour. For one, it allows you to have one central customer database. This means, that once a customer’s details are stored in the CRM, their contact details and ordering history is automatically visible to the other outlets as well. Based on this information, your staff can upsell items even if the customer has visited that particular outlet for the first time. Secondly, it works very well in running Loyalty Programs and Reward Points that can be utilized by the customer if they are visiting a different branch location. 

7. Outlet Specific Discounts & Offers

Most large chain restaurateurs struggle when it comes to marketing in different geographies. A marketing campaign that works in one city may not work in another. Running outlet level offers and discounts also become a tedious task and these campaigns should be specifically designed to target the audience of the particular region. A restaurant management system allows you to create custom campaigns for different outlets. If you see the sales declining of a particular outlet, you can run specific offers and discounts or invest more in marketing for that restaurant.

In the new era of technological developments embrace restaurant management systems and run that dream chain of restaurants easily and successfully!