ePub: the rise of handheld EPoS
Al fresco dining, the smoking ban, table service, more food, more entertainment, the need to upsell, staff motivation. It's all heading in one direction - hand-held EPoS.
Portable terminals can also help the back office. With just a couple of clicks, the hand-held currently being promoted to pubs by EPoS giant Zonal converts into a stocktaking tool that claims many advantages over the traditional pencil and stocksheet.
Zonal's Symbol Pocket PCs are equipped with a built-in barcode reader for scanning the products themselves on the stocktake walkabout and will store the count. And because it is continuously talking to Zonal's Aztec EPoS in the back office it knows how much you've sold - and how much you should have left. If the numbers are adrift it will alert you immediately.
If you've got a multiple bar operation it can count each bar separately and tell you exactly where you are losing stock. And it can feed the results back into Aztec to help produce an automatic order.
It's yet another reason for pubs to invest in hand-held terminals.
Their cost has slowed progress, but there's no doubt in Zonal sales manager Mark Isaac's mind that they are the future.
His hand-helds are the more expensive sort. But they are robust enough to withstand the rigours of a pub environment, even outdoors. "We test them by dropping them from four feet onto concrete," he says. "They cost twice as much but they will last."
The new stocktaking function - faster and more accurate than the old stock sheets, according to Mark - joins a wide range of uses that are only just being exploited.
The screen on Zonal's version can be tailored to mimic the outlet's bar tills, making it easy for staff to use. Pricing can be centrally controlled and varied according to the time of day, for instance, or for promotions.
Staff serving at tables, in the garden or on the floor use a stylus to take the order on the touch screen and it is automatically transmitted to the bar or kitchen while they take the money.
The system comes into its own not only in food-led pubs but in beer gardens and while there is entertainment on or big screen sports - when customers are reluctant to abandon their seat to go to the bar.
"In Scotland, busy bars and clubs are using hand-helds to queue-bust," reports Mark. "Staff can take orders from people waiting to get in and by the time they're through the doors their drinks are waiting for them."
In America, bars have hit on an HR angle for portable EPoS. Staff performance around upselling and promotions can be measured and the best sales people can be sent out onto the floor while the others can concentrate on making up the orders.
"We have also found that because the system is so easy to use it will help in staff retention," added Mark.
