Chances are that you are bogged down with tons of ideas about the floor, kitchen, furniture, cutleries, etc... I'll leave all this with you and your interior designer.Straight to the point, in order to get your business running, you will need a Point of Sale (POS) system, where orders are taken, cash is received and food served. For small and medium businesses like us, a system that is easy to use, easy to make changes, easy to monitor and easy to generate reports is what we want. I have used the bulky computer based touch screen system, I am still bad at it and they cost 3 to 4 times more than one should pay.
Genius POS system, uses iPad as the interface. It is just another app in your iPad. This is already a plus point for me, just install the app and I can work on the operation details anywhere and whenever I want... by the beach, in other cafes while watching their operations. This app is supported by iOS only. The purchase of this app is a ONE-OFF payment and do not have recurring annual fees.
Here's how the whole system works:
I am using one iPad (1), one printer (2), one cash drawer (3) and one wifi router (4). All service staff logs in individually on the iPad (1) to key in the order. Order chit is printed and handed to the bar (my bar is next to the cashier so I do not need another printer). If your kitchen is a distance away, you will require another kitchen printer (5) wired to the same wifi router (4).
Each service staff will be responsible for the order until the payment is made and the cashier checks out with a receipt.
You may consider letting your service staff use the iPad (6) ordering terminals, where they can take orders in front of the customer, but I won't do that unless the iPad belongs to them.
