What is a POS system for a restaurant or pub in Ireland?
POS stands for point of sale: in a restaurant or pub, where a table is opened and an order is taken. The term is often used for the till too.
Short answer
- A restaurant POS is where a server opens a table and records the order.
- The order taken at the table goes to the kitchen, without a handwritten ticket.
- A till takes payment and issues the receipt. Check with your accountant which receipt rules apply.
- Each dish can have a recipe card with ingredient weights, and stock is tracked separately.
- 4restaurants.net covers table orders, the kitchen, stock and reports. It does not connect to a till or take payments.
What a restaurant POS is made of
The parts of a POS set-up in a restaurant with a kitchen
| Part | What it does | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Table order | Records the dishes at the table and sends the order to the kitchen | On the floor, on the device the team uses |
| Kitchen | Receives the orders sent from the tables | In the kitchen |
| Till | Takes payment and issues the receipt, under your own set-up | At the till, outside this platform |
| Ingredient stock | Shows the stock level of each ingredient | In the same application as the menu |
| Reports | Sales by day, by dish and by waiter | In the dashboard |
What the rules say
- Payments are taken through your own till or card set-up. Check with your accountant what receipt and record rules apply.
- No application replaces your tax records. Keep sales records Revenue can check.
- Allergen information must be available for non-prepacked food (EU Regulation 1169/2011, Article 44).
- Check with your accountant what receipts and invoices your business must issue, and how.
A practical example
Example, for illustration: table 12 orders two pasta dishes and a glass of wine. The kitchen receives the dishes with the order time.
At payment, the till takes the bill as you have set it up. The daily report shows sales by dish and waiter.
Common mistakes
- Expecting one system to do everything, payments included, without checking what it covers.
- Not noting each order with its table and time, so you cannot tell what left the kitchen.
- Leaving dishes without a recipe card, so you do not know which ingredients each sale uses.
- Not noting the reason for each cancellation, so a cancelled order is hard to explain later.
How 4restaurants.net helps
- The order taken at the table goes to the kitchen from the same application.
- It does not take payments or connect to a till, so keep your payment set-up separate.
- Stock levels sit in the same application as the orders, so you can check them in time.
- Reports by day, by dish and by waiter show the sales of the service.