Opening New Restaurant Need POS Advice 3

[BBQbabe]

Hi all. My husband and I are getting ready to open a small BBQ restaurant. We want a POS system.

We have both been in the restaurant business a long time. Our experience with POS has been ALOHA. We both really like ALOHA. All of our restaurant owner friends use ALOHA. But, ALOHA is expensive.

I have done some research with regard to other systems, but I am not familiar with anything else. My father in law also owns a BBQ restaurant, and he got a system from some company and they totally ripped him off. Meaning they came to his restaurant with a cheap touch screen computer, did a terrible job hooking it up, the printers never worked, he called them all the time and asked them to come repair it or fix the problem...they never did.

Due to the situation I described above I am a tad gun-shy to use any other system. Any help from you tech folks would be greatly appreciated!

As I said above it is a small spot. We would need 2 terminals, one cash box, back office and three printers.

 

[Vic333]

Hi,

http://www.compasspointofsale.com

Sorry to hear about your Father in Law getting ripped off.

Touch Screen

You can find any number of touch screens at various price levels. For your situation you may want to consider an
ELO touch screen with an attached computer "Box" ELO touch screens are very well know and top tier quality and resonably priced. ELO also offers all in ones - meaning - the computer and touch screen are all in one no additional "Box." about 2K for the all in ones, I don't recomment this for you if you are not utilizing a POS company to support it.

Computer
Dell or HP are fine. You'll want to run XP for the networking capabilities. 1 Gig RAM and not a HUGE hard drive. Internet access with IE blocked or password locked.
You want the internet for the networking and CC processing as well as remote support if you have any.

Software
Aldelo $895 for the first station $800 for the back office.
Buy you Merchant CC processing Machine don't lease, if you choose to use one.

If you want to run your CC's through Aldelo you need to purchase the EDC software which allows this. Elavan credit Card processing is the most costly at $1295 for the Aldelo EDC license because it runs through the TSYS server (I can't explain anything further about it 'cause that is all I know about it) all the other CC processors are $595 - I provide Fist Data.

All of your printers should be Epson no doubt excellent quality. Use the TM-T88V Thermal for the Register Area. With the TM-T88v you can even load your company logo on the receipt! (Can you say ego boost) and the TM-U220-b impact printer for the kitchen area.


Now I'm certain you don't live in Nevada so if you want you can contact me and I'm more than willing to give you any advice I can.

info@Compasspointofsale.com

All the best,
Vincent

 

[TLowder]

Vic333, Not sure why you wouldn't recomend all-in-one's. I could put together a seperate computer and touch screen for far less, but too many cords and other problems would arise. $2599 per All-In-One station 2.6 Ghz Dual Core / 2GB ram with thermal printer, MSR and POS Software; Plus custom support and programming. No extra CC processing fees, no third party CC software required - direct integration.
Hehe, will I get deleted again for a non Aloha response? I've been with this site for 8+ years, solving many technical/programming problems. But if an alternative to Aloha is mentioned in the POS forum....Sayonara.

Tom

 

[DTSMAN]

All the good ones are expensive.
If you want local on site support, check with the other restaurant owners in your town and see who they are using and which ones are happiest with their support and investment.
You may like Aloha, but if everyone else in your area doesn't like the dealer and says they will never buy from him again, then that may throw up a red flag.
Local sales reps should give you a live demo. Start calling POS/Cash Register companies in the yellow pages.

Bo

Remember,
If the women don't find you handsome,
they should at least find you handy.
(Red Green)

http://www.redgreen.com

 

[alohaakamai3]

Wish there were easy answers, but as usual, DTSMAN and I are on the same page. The DEALER is absolutely the most critical component in this equation. Your just going to have to do your homework and get some recommendations from people in your area.

Years ago, the POS system type itself was a bigger part of the equation. Some were more stable, had better features, etc. Nowadays, the "war of features" has cooled, and there is more of a standard in terms of what POS systems are supposed to come with. Also realiability of hardware and software has even out greatly too... that wasn't the case 5 or 10 years ago.

You may like Aloha (I like it, too), but most small chains or mom and pop places are not happy with the price tag, and in some cases, the service itself. Ask lots of questions and get references.... Positouch, Aloha, Restaurant Managers, Digital Dining... all good choices.

Odds are you'll adapt to whatever system you buy and learn to work with it... that makes the fit between the customer and the dealer the most important decision.