Point of Sale Menu Programming

Let's start with the basics of a POS menu. First you have items, these are the actual menu items. Next each item should have modifiers. Modifiers are choices, they could be how a steak is cooked or the choice of dressing on a salad. Some modifiers are required and some are not. It is important to get this right. The chef can not start cooking a steak if they don't know the temperature requested. Steak and burger temps are examples of modifiers that should be required. The way in which the modifiers are implemented are the meat and potatoes of the menu programming. If the Modifiers are not done correctly the servers will use the special instruction part of the POS. Then there are ingredients, these are the choices that make up the modifiers. You can attach a price to the ingredients to make sure you don't lose money with upcharges. Some POS’s can also add more money if you add an adjective such as Heavy or Extra which can also help you save money. At all costs the servers should NOT be using an open text box to enter information about the food they are ringing in. First typing in what the customer wants is time consuming, this is valuable time wasted during a rush. Second, it will end up costing you money over the long run. Pennies add up; extra dressing here, extra mayo there, etc…

There are two main schools of thought on menu programming. The first is how most POS resellers program a menu, they take a group of items and program them together. For example, they would take all your appetizers, find all the modifiers that pertain to all of the items in that group and make them all available. This is the quick and easy way to make a menu. A better way is to program each item on its own. Itt takes longer to program a menu this way it will be accurate for each item. Each item will have only the modifiers it should have. In the long run I believe the more time spent on the front end of the menu programming will pay dividends in the future.

When Programming a menu, the more time spent in the beginning will deliver you a better product. The goal of the POS is to give your servers more time with customers not with the POS. The smallest amount of touches that allow servers to order exactly what the customer wants and for the restaurant owner to account for any and all charges. When you are happy with what you came up with just stop. Once the servers and bartenders start using the POS muscle memory starts to build. A seasoned server can almost punch in an order without looking. So when you are done stop messing with the menu until you have a new menu rolled out.