Cheers is dedicated to delivering hospitality professionals the information, insights and data necessary to drive their beverage business by covering trends and innovations in operations, merchandising, service and training.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/580366
www.cheersonline.com 36 • October 2015 Mini, which accepts near fi eld communication (NFC)-based payments from mobile wallets. The "all-in-one" management tool helps streamline operations, expand business intelligence and improve the customer experience; it also facilitates payments in a safe, secure environment, the company says. Clover Mini's cloud-based software makes it easy for owners to manage their businesses on the go, Schulze says. For instance, users can view activity such as inventory or staff hours while running errands away from the restaurant, or even monitor how much waiters are being tipped, he notes. Pricing varies by a number of factors, but the company says it's comparable to a single-use terminal, which by most estimates can cost about $300. But Clover Mini adds more functionality as a full business management tool vs. a POS terminal, according to First Data. Borgata Pizza Café in Columbus, OH, deployed the Clover system this past March and added the Clover mobile handheld devices in April. "We used to get really backed up on the weekends with customers trying to check out and pay, but now we don't have that problem," says owner Ed Bisconti. Other Clover clients include Restaurant Vivolo in New York and Serendipity in Concord, CA, a vocational restaurant run by the students of Mt. Diablo High School. Another client is Kristina Rae's, An All-American Grill in Dimondale, MI. Owner Roxanna Mann lost her eyesight completely in 2008 after a long degenerative illness; Schulze notes that she uses the voice activation software on the Clover Station to manage the register independently. AT THEIR FINGERTIPS Lightspeed Restaurant is a cloud-based product line offering bars, nightclubs and restaurants mobile point-of-sale, business management and customer analytics technology. It also improves in-house communication, according to Lightspeed CEO Dax Dasilva. "Lightspeed, for example, can send an order to the kitchen in a different language if the chef and line cooks and servers happen to speak different languages," he says. For the back of the house, Lightspeed offers a single view of data, giving owners one anytime/anywhere look into sales and inventory across locations and on any device. It also provides instant menu updates, making it easy to change listings, images and prices across restaurants and websites, as well as communicate inventory. Lightspeed offers the front-of-house mobile tableside ordering, table-to-kitchen integrated workfl ow using an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. It also enables quick opening and closing of bar tabs, activated by a credit-card swipe, and live visual fl oor management tools to help manage seating and payment, and return with change or a credit-card slip. And its Server mode brings 95% of the POS terminal functionality right to the table with the server. This ensures that orders are placed in a timely and accurate manner, and keeps the servers on the fl oor with their guests. "All modes facilitate payment through the POS system, and speed up the payment process for everyone," Ravelo says. The company is currently developing MenuWeb, a web-based menu display and ordering system to accompany the product. While online ordering is widely available, he notes, "our system will allow restaurant operators to update menu changes in just one place rather than updating multiple systems. Changes made in our cloud- based MenuApp control panel will push to both the web and the tablets instantly." Cloud computing has made a huge impact on both POS and tablet menu ordering within the restaurant industry, says Mark Schulze, head of the Clover App Market at First Data, which acquired Clover in 2013. "With the cloud, everything is now seamlessly connected, meaning customers can order how they want—from the web, a kiosk, a tablet menu or even in line," he says. "The point-of-sale centralizes the ordering experience and makes it more integrated into the overall workfl ow." First Data introduced Clover Mobile, a wireless, tablet-based POS system, this past November. In June it unveiled Clover "Tablets are easier to customize and use, and much more portable than traditional POS computer stations and software." —Kris Berglund, Red Cedar Spirits Clover Mini, launched in June, accepts near fi eld communi- cation (NFC)-based payments from mobile wallets.