New to the forum and POS Pizza

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coach_md

New to the forum and POS Pizza

Post by coach_md »

Hi, I am considering several options for a POS system for a pizza delivery place. I was considering writing an Access based application but then came across POS Pizza. I was wondering if anyone can help me get started. I am looking at the following.

2 order taking stations
caller id
tickets print in kitchen area

It seems pretty straight forward from what I have seen and maybe in the future I would add a kitchen monitor and a driver dispatch.

Ok, now for some specific questions. How does POS Pizza work with touch screen monitors and is the added cost worth it?

Is it better (subjective opinion) to interface the system with the cash drawer or keep the current cash register separate? I guess this would give me a check on the receipts.

Are there any recommendations for hardware vendors for the ticket/receipt printers?

I was thinking of getting marketing data for the area I'm in, phone number, addresses, names, and exporting that to the properly formatted text file so that i have a good base of customer/phone numbers preloaded. Has anyone done something like this?

I'm sure there will be more questions as I actually get started on this project and I hope you will all indulge me as I get going.
DrCool
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Post by DrCool »

coach_md

thanks for your interest in POS Pizza, I think you'll be more then pleased with the possiblities that it brings..

I think Touchscreens are well worth the added cost, it allows you to completely abandon the mouse and keyboard which is uneeded in a POS environment..

You should definitly use the Cash Drawer, the system isn't complete without it.. it would allow total integration..

go to POS Pizza's main site, and look at the POS related links, I'm sure you'll find plenty of vendors there.. http://www.pospizza.net/poslinks.html

I have never done this, but you shouldn't have any problems doing it, if you would like..

we will be more than happy to help you in any way we can..

Dr Cool
8)
I don't argue, I just state the obvious more clearly.

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Scott
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Re: New to the forum and POS Pizza

Post by Scott »

coach_md wrote:Are there any recommendations for hardware vendors for the ticket/receipt printers?
I would recommend an Epson TM series. These are available in several different models, and from several vendors.
coach_md wrote:I was thinking of getting marketing data for the area I'm in, phone number, addresses, names, and exporting that to the properly formatted text file so that i have a good base of customer/phone numbers preloaded. Has anyone done something like this?
We have a customer in Florida who did this very thing, but I can't recall who specifically it is, or whether or not they are on the forums. I'm sure if they are, and come across this post, that they will tell you their experiences doing this.

I would recommend downloading the Customer Import utility first, and getting familiar with the order that the text fields need to be in, in order to use the utility to do the import.

Using the system without pre-loading the customer database will typically only involve adding new customers for about the first two weeks, under normal conditions and then it should taper off from there.


Scott
coach_md

Post by coach_md »

Thanks for the information. I'm not sure yet if I'll need to do the import or not but as I go forward I'll keep it in mind.

I'll look into the Epson printers.

I think this weekend I'll have to sit down and go through all of the documentation and start making a list of equpment and a project plan.

I'm sure I'll be asking plenty of questions.

Mike
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Post by Scott »

We will be more than happy to answer any questions. You can post them here, contact us by telephone, or by email. :)

Scott
TallyPizzaMan

POS Equipment

Post by TallyPizzaMan »

We have been using POS Pizza for about a month and a half and like it pretty well. I bought a 2 node license but have not started using the second machine. I have a 500 mhz AMD with 128mb of ram. I bought an Epson TM-300U receipt printer off Ebay for about $50 with shipping. It is a serial but I would recommend buying a parallel instead. I have a Dymo LabelWriter 330 for my box tickets and it works great, it is USB. I use roll thermal paper instead of buying the expensive labels. We just print them off and staple them to the box. This is much, much cheaper. I bought it new from Office Depot for about $150. I also have an HP 1000 laser jet (USB) which I paid about $125 for after rebates, I use it to print reports. I have a $30 Seimens switch and a couple of patch cords to connect my two computers. You can also down load a utility called Fine Print which will let you print 2, 4, or 8 pages on one sheet of paper. I use the 2 sheet option which saves some paper. I started with a cash drawer that connected to my receipt printer but I could never get it to work. I sent it back and got one that runs off the serial port. I think I paid about $160 for the drawer from POS World. I probably have about $1200 in equipment for two order stations, software, and printers.

My biggest concerns are with the cash register side of the program. When you cash out a driver you cannot add on a credit card or check tip. The program should give you this option and it should also allow you to see the detail associated with that ticket such as a delivery charge. You can add the tip as a separate non inventory tax exempt entry to make your checks and credit cards balance at the end of the night and then do a payout for the tip and reference the check number or the credit card reference number. This method allows you to see the tip as non tax and keeps everything in balance but is a bit cumbersome.

It would also be nice if the program would allow you to show the amount received each day, in other words your cash till. On close out, this would make reconciliation a lot easier.

I would like to see the end of the night program show the taxable amount, tax exempt amount, and sales tax for each ticket. Currently it only shows the total including sales tax and the sales tax. It does not tell you if there was a tax exempt amount. I would also like for the end of the night report to indicate whether each ticket was paid by cash, check, or credit card.

My greatest worry is security. I don't want anyone but me to be able to use the Management Utility. I want to lock it down but I still need my staff to be able to print the end of the night report, the payout report, and the item report for the day. I don't want anyone to be able to delete or void orders whether paid or unpaid. You can always put in a negative non inventory sale to offset an order but then you have a record of it. You also have problems when you edit an order because it will drop an order number. You should be able to see each order number and not have skips. Skips make you think that a paid order was deleted.

I am also concerned about tracking when cash is taken into the drawer. In talking with Scott, my understanding is the time the order is placed is the only time that is recorded. For security, I want to know when the money was taken from the customer. In other words if a customer placed a phone order at 9 pm for carry out and came in and picked up his order and paid at 9:15 pm only the 9 pm would show. If you are watching your surveillance tape you want to know what time that order was paid for.

I like POS Pizza but I would like to see more stringent security measures. It should mimic a cash register in how it reports transactions and go beyond because it has more information and is easier to use and much less likely to have mistakes. On a cash register it is easy to hit cash instead of check or be waiting on a credit card to go through and not close out an order and then start entering another order on top of the previous order. It should also be impossible to purge voided orders, they should always be accessible in some manner.

If anyone has found solutions to these issues please advise.
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Post by H-Man »

I think pos pizza is a GREAT value for the money. It may not have everything that the more expensive packages have, but its definitely headed in the right direction! The thing you have to ask is: is it really worth paying $6000+ more to get that one feature that you don't have?

I would put it on the wish list, and it might just show up in the next version. If you look at the "what's new" file that comes with pos pizza, you will see what I am talking about. :D
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