Just as the restaurant business is evolving, so, too, is restaurant POS software. Here are a few of the hottest restaurant POS applications trends currently heating up the market:

1.    Increasingly, POS software serves as the “central nervous system” or hub of the restaurant, tracking and controlling not just sales activity, but everything from inventory and ingredient usage to ordering from suppliers.

2.    POS software is becoming the “conduit” that’s used to handle customers’ interaction with restaurants, whether customers are on-site or not. In cases where customers are interacting remotely with restaurants’ POS systems, contact is occurring via mobile phone (for example, the exchange of text messages containing orders, marketing messages and the like) or the Internet (social networking and online ordering).

3.    Loyalty is being integrated into social networking applications as a growing number of customers gravitate away from traditional ways to track rewards, and as restaurateurs seek new means of attracting and retaining clientele.

4.    Restaurant operators are leveraging information from POS systems to “feed” social networking; for example, they are taking information about what customers ordered and sharing it via social networking sites to garner even more interest in their establishments. For example, “200 people tried our new sandwich last Thursday. Come in and give it a try, too.”

5.    Interfaces between the POS system and other technology components, such as digital signage, are being established to do a better job of promoting to customers.

To find out more about how to leverage these trends in your restaurant, contact pcAmerica or visit www.pcamerica.com.