Preparing for Valentine’s Day With Your Restaurant POS

Not everybody celebrates Valentines Day, but according to stats by Fundivo, 50% of Americans do. In 2016, American’s spent nearly 20 million dollars, and some of that money was spent in restaurants.

Here are some tips on how your restaurant can prepare for the biggest lover’s holiday of the year with your point-of-sale (POS) system.

Pull Stats From Last Year and Analyze Them

Unless this is your first year in business, pull your stats from last year and look at your sales volume. Find the trends. What sold? What didn’t? Determine your menu based off data. If the Seven-Layer Chocolate Cake sold out, you might want to make sure it’s on the menu again, and enough of it. If the Fettuccine Alfredo didn’t do so well, try another pasta dish instead.

Check Inventory

Use your POS to check your inventory. Nothing’s worse that not having the right ingredients for your menu specials. Order accordingly, based off your data and forecasting.

Let Your Customers Know

As soon as you know your menu, use your POS to send out an email to your loyal patrons. Give them a chance to book early. Perhaps you can give them an incentive with a free dessert if they book their reservations before 4pm or after 9pm.

You can also program your POS to print out details about your Valentine’s Day menu at the bottom of your customer’s receipt. That way they can be thinking about what they’ll be ordering on Cupid’s favorite day.

Update Your POS

Make sure your POS has the most up to date menu on the system and make sure it is ready to go on Valentines Day. Make sure all discounts and offers are inserted into the system.

Train Staff

Make sure your staff all know about any promotions. Don’t let them be caught off guard by coupons or questions about pricing. Make sure they are aware of any changes in the POS system. Provide training if needed.

Remember preparing for busy days can be a lot of trial error. There’s always a lot we can learn and fine-tune better for next time. However, let your POS system do the heavy lifting every time, it’s made for it.