On the button: pub technology

Modern EPoS set-ups are now so advanced they can provide complete pub management systems, helping to save time and money and boost profits. Ian Boughton reports

Technology ain't what it used to be; EPoS is not just EPoS any more — what used to be 'electronic point-of-sale' has developed so dramatically that even a small one-site bar can now operate with management information that used to be available only to the corporates.

"We have reached a 'them and us' situation," says Clive Consterdine at Zonal Retail Data Systems. "There are pubs that are getting the full benefit of these systems, and those that aren't. That's the pity of it.

"What EPoS has become is now an entire end-to-end pub management system. The initial theory is easy — it used to be about a system for taking cash, then it managed stock, so you know what you've got at any one time, and now it's integrated stock and payment."

The key word is integrated, which for a pub manager means saving time, eliminating errors, and generally making life easier for the licensee. The latest move is that if you run low on any one item, the system will automatically reorder that item from the supplier with the best price.

"What is terrific is the way details have moved on," says

Consterdine. "The ability to design the 'buttons' on the screen the way you want them means quicker service and fewer errors. The depth of analysis and reporting you can now have in your back office means that you can

analyse what's happening in your business in a way that used to take someone at head office to work out. The smart operators are recognising that this is much more than just another kind of till."

The modern EPoS is a system that really can increase revenue, say several suppliers. At EZ Touch, Paul Roberts advises licensees to appreciate how loyalty cards have turned into ways of increasing income.

"Before Christmas, a British Legion bar generated £340 more revenue in one week, by creating a members' swipe card," explains Roberts. "This card, presented when a member buys drinks, means that the till charges them members' prices; guests do not have a swipe card so the till automatically charges them the club standard price.

"You can also add a third price structure, the 'hired-out room rate', and because an over-18s night will generate more cash than a senior citizens' night, you can programme several of these rate structures. If there's a private party in the hall tonight, you set your tills to a 'category-two night' or whichever structure fits the clientele."

Loyalty card​

At the Wiremill in Lingfield, Surrey, supplied by PointOne EPoS, joint owner Anthony Pender uses his loyalty card as a paid-for membership card, sold at £20 per year. This means he can email members well in advance of events such as Mother's Day, which are fully booked far ahead, and leave the management time to concentrate on food instead of worrying about filling empty tables.

Then, by equipping waiting staff with hand-held devices to send orders from table to kitchen, he found faster service during the meal doubles his orders for desserts.

If you have a system, use it to the full, says Chris Hawkins at Pager Call Systems.

"One key aspect is, there's no point in having a system if people can't make a booking, and your EPoS can be your online 24-hour reservations clerk — but it can also improve how effectively you take your bookings.

"We've all wondered why we took 20 bookings all for the same time on a Saturday night, but on your website, the booking system knows it can only have so many people turning up at eight, so it offers the next one at quarter to, or quarter past.

"If the customer books online, they receive a text and email confirmation, and the venue manager sees a 'new reservation' in their table-management system. During service, it acts as a 'live diary' — by colour code, you can see which tables have how many people, who has been there for how long, how many are on starters and who is on desserts."

Pager Call Systems offers a free one-month trial, and says it is a five-minute job for the client to download and install it for themselves.

A download is also offered by the Epos Company, which says it has been making vast investments in software to achieve a highly effective yet simple system.

"We have stripped away all of the confusion," says Reza Valadkhani. "Feedback from customers and engineers has helped us to develop a package that is very easy to use."

This now includes the Harmony kitchen video system.

"At a glance, chef and staff can monitor new orders as well as the status of current orders. It automatically promotes orders as one is completed, escalates overdue orders, and cuts down on errors such as lost tickets. As both your waiting and kitchen staff have screens, this keeps front-of-house aware of progress. In the kitchen, screens are even more robust. We are far more used to chefs prodding screens with wet fingers!"

Hard-wearing technology is a trend, confirms Direct Business Equipment of Manchester. "We now supply EPoS all over the world," says the company. "We have bars in places such as Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Serbia, sending data back to central offices in Monaco. Due to many of our locations being remote, we have to use the most reliable hardware and software — we work closely with Toshiba and Casio, two of the best hardware manufacturers.

"There has been a move towards more robust hardware," agrees Andy Phipps of ICRTouch.

"The new terminal from Panasonic has been designed for harsh environments and features fan-less design — less heat equals less power consumption, and greater reliability."

But, he adds, do think about the reliability of your portable equipment.

"Security in sign-on is now by iButton (a microchip in a small stainless-steel container), RFID (radio-frequency identification) fobs or fingerprints. Magnetic cards can be troublesome if used by staff, as they tend to wear out quickly."

The new concept of end-to-end management has brought up more interesting features in staff management. As staff have to log in to use EPoS, management can be more aware of what they are doing.

At the Wiremill, the PointOne system records which promotions are doing well, which member of staff has sold what product best and how much time is wasted. The Wiremill found staff wasted around 25 minutes at the start of each shift just 'getting ready', and that some staff took unauthorised cigarette breaks.

By rounding up working time to the minute, not the hour, the management achieved a complete removal of unauthorised breaks. At Zonal, they have even been working on log-in by camera — no more false entries to cover someone who is absent.

Music link​

Astonishingly, there is now even a link between EPoS and a pub's music set-up — at Valeway Technology the company's PCDJ music system can be installed on the same bar-based control system.

"We've done this for a few customers," says operations director Paul Moss. "It runs behind the EPoS software, in that one 'button' on the EPoS display calls up our music interface. Once you've done what you need to, you exit, and you're back on your till software again.

"We do like to speak with your existing EPoS provider before we do this, but it does make it much simpler and cheaper than buying hardware. A lot of our service is now very simple, such as guaranteeing never to play the same piece of music twice on a schedule; there is no longer any way for your customer to be able to tell the time of day by what tune is playing in the bar!"

Who thought EPoS was just about tills, eh?