POS System Saves Time, Money And Headaches

In the restaurant business, payroll can be an owner's largest expense. Getting away with using fewer employees can bring more profits, but it can also create havoc.

Brian Eng, owner of Silver Lake Restaurants, a Chinese restaurant chain outside of Chicago, hired fewer employees and kept his sanity by installing a Point of Sale (POS) system from VAR Linus International.

Silver Lake has been in business for eight years, and employs 30 full-time and part-time workers in four restaurants in Schaumburg and Bartlett, IL. Customers can dine in, carry out or have their food delivered. Linus, located in Bolingbrook, IL, has approximately 10 employees and has been in business for 10 years. "Eng had been looking for a computerized POS system for four years. Eventually, he heard about Linus through friends in the restaurant business in Chinatown who had purchased POS systems from the company.

Linus International had no competition for this particular installation. "Silver Lakes came to me," said Johnson Choi, Linus project manager. Eng was looking for a system where he could control everything in the restaurant from inventory to inputting orders. He wanted to save time and money by planning how to operate his business more efficiently.

Steering Away From Conventional Methods
Silver Lake had no system to start with, only the conventional method of writing out a dine-in or carry-out order, or directions for delivery services. The method was slow and could lead to error from something as simple as messy writing. "Employees were losing tickets and making miscalculations," Choi explained. "Eng felt his business had more potential, but he was unable to break the barrier with the conventional system. He hired extra employees because of the additional time and trouble he had to go through to make sure that everything was correct. So, he felt a computerized POS system would relieve a lot of these problems."

It did. Linus installed the first system in the main restaurant three years ago, costing $19,000, including hardware, custom software, training and the actual installation. Because of the successful installation, Eng gradually had similar systems installed in each of his three satellite restaurants. Each system cost between $12,000 and $13,000. Choi installed the Linus R-CON System and customized software. Credit-card reader and customer display were produced by Champion Systems. The cash drawer was supplied by APG. Star Micronics printers which, conveniently enough, can print orders and receipts in Chinese were also used.

All four restaurants are networked through a central computer. The system allows Silver Lake to take an order at the main restaurant and route it to the closest satellite restaurant for pickup or delivery. "Since this installation requires remote printing," says Choi, "we added a data transmitter receiving set that sends parallel signals for the printers." Orders go directly from the main restaurant to kitchen printers.

"Eng can go into his computer and tell what is happening in any of his restaurants. We use the Star Micronics SP300 and SP342 receipt printers and the TSP212 thermal receipt printer. All other components are put together on-site at our company. We also use a wide area network (WAN) bridge to link up all of the sites, and a 56K CSU/DSU digital modem to connect a dedicated line between locations.

"The system also contains an integrated accounting system," Choi explains. It can also produce monthly sales reports. The result is a custom-made system for Silver Lake Restaurants. "I almost bought a different POS system," Eng says. "It could be used in almost any restaurant. The problem was that I could only use about 35% of the functions and features. With the Linus system, I use about 80 to 85% of the system.

Order Placing Made Easy
"All of our phone calls are routed to the one main restaurant, so I don't have to hire a person to answer calls in each store. My employees only worry about packing, and delivering food and servicing the customer. They don't hear the phone ringing like crazy. If one restaurant is busier than another, I can switch my workforce to accommodate the business." Eng says 80% of his business comes from carryout, and only 20% from dining room customers, so it only makes sense to route calls to the closest restaurant for pickup or delivery. The call is answered at the main restaurant, and with the push of a computer button, the order is sent to the appropriate restaurant and printed there.

The main restaurant installation only took eight hours, and training was complete within two business days. Satellite restaurants were completely set up in four to six hours. "A lot of employees were afraid to use the new system," Eng explains. "But, once they learned, they depended on it. Now, if the power goes out, they don't know what to do without the system."

He plans to open six more restaurants in the Chicago area, all linked by Linus International. "It's easier for me to hire employees because the system is easy to use," Eng said. "I can train an employee how to use this POS system in two days. I have definitely saved money by using this system." Eng estimates he saves at least $1,000 a month in each of his four stores in labor and food cost.