The new trend for foodies is visiting food trucks, but even as food trucks gain popularity, operators face notoriously low profit margins. To keep your business truckin’, you need just the right amount of essential features in your POS system.
Neglecting these crucial features is a guarantee that your food truck POS will flop.
1. Ability to accept multiple payment types
“Cash-only” is a severely debilitating way to operate your food truck. You may think that you can survive with your clunky old cash register, but if you want sales skyrocketing, you need to upgrade.
A food truck POS that can accept multiple payments is going to open your business to a much wider array of customers. Today’s consumers are carrying cash less often, and some aren’t even carrying wallets anymore! The smartphone has taken the place of debit and credit cards.
The last thing you want to do is turn away a long line of hungry customers because you can’t accept their card or mobile payment. Just make sure that your payment processor isn’t dependent on WiFi, so you’re never stranded without a connection.
2. Generate order tickets for cooks
The food truck industry requires that you operate quickly. Pen and paper order tickets might have worked in the past, but your customers will expect more high tech operations to ensure their food comes exactly as they ordered—no matter how many special requests they made.
A food truck POS that provides printed tickets will help your chef see the exact order quickly and easily—no more straining or guessing what the chicken scratch says. Your operations will be running smoothly with more accuracy in the kitchen.
3. Process several orders simultaneously.
Don’t limit yourself to taking, cooking, and processing payments for orders one at a time. Your food tuck POS should be able to process several at a time so that you’re always operating at peak efficiency and moving those hungry customers through the line quickly. Slow lines will have the customers in the back moving on to someone else. Don’t let this happen to you.
4. Allow customers to split orders or pay with multiple tenders
In general, the simpler you can make it on your customers and on yourself, the better. Have customers splitting a side of fries? Let them split the check with your food truck POS. Have you ever had a customer who’s a little short on cash? With a food truck POS that lets customers pay with multiple tenders. You’ll never have to pause for a tricky payment again.
5. Make elbow room in tight quarters.
Food trucks are a cramped space, so you want to optimize the little real estate you have. Choosing an all-in-one POS system will reduce the footprint of your POS. De-cluttering your cables between your POS and peripherals will also give you a sleeker, more organized look. You can choose integrated POS hardware, so you won’t be filling counter space with receipt printers and magnetic stripe readers.
6. Mobility isn’t just about your wheels.
Another option for making the most of your food truck’s tiny space is mobile POS. Mobile point of sale systems still have the powerful tools you need to make transactions and analyze sales information, but offer a compact and wireless option. Rugged tablets often require a smaller upfront investment, with a monthly software service fee, so you can pay as you go. Make sure you select intuitive software to make transactions quick and painless.
Your business requires a high quality food truck POS with features that are meant to help you manage the unique challenges you face on a daily basis.
