A smart restaurant point of sale (POS) system simplifies and streamlines kitchen communications, which elevates service, turns tables more quickly, and increases your revenue. And, with an innovative POS like Exatouch^® that includes advanced capabilities such as coursing and simplified modifiers, your front-of-house staff can effectively impart key information to the back-of-house team, saving time, reducing waste, and lowering food costs. Discover the simple and ingenious ways Exatouch can improve communications among your staff and make your establishment more nimble and successful.

1. Improve Service & Boost Profits with Coursing

We’ve all seen it. An appetizer is presented to a table and just as the diners are about to pick up their forks to take the first bite, the entrées are delivered. Not only do the guests now have to choose which dish to eat first, while letting the other one get cold, the plates and glasses are crowding the table—diminishing the dining experience. The good news is this scenario can easily be solved.

With coursing, a server can tap their table on Exatouch’s screen and input the order as courses. Beverages are first, followed by appetizers, entrées, and finally, desserts. Someone at the table wants an appetizer as their entree? No problem! With coursing, menu items are grouped into the appropriate course so there’s no confusion in the kitchen. What’s more, coursing allows waitstaff to control the pace at which each course is sent to the kitchen, following the lead of their diners. When servers see that a table’s appetizers are almost finished, they can fire the entrée course to ensure smooth, well-paced service, optimizing the guest experience. No more jam-packed tables and cold food—just great reviews and repeat customers! And, by empowering your servers with Exatouch’s coursing feature, on a slow night, they can delay the courses allowing time for guests to relax and order more drinks. On a busy night, they can fire courses more quickly to speed table turns.

2. Modifiers Make Life Easier

Exatouch has simplified modifiers that flow intuitively—and you have complete control in determining which ones are required, optional, or cost extra. Need to make a change to certain modifiers or increase the prices? It’s easy to do with Exatouch. Most importantly, Exatouch’s required modifiers ensure servers put in all the information the kitchen staff needs to prepare an order exactly the way your guest wants it, whether it’s the temperature of a steak or the type of dressing on a salad. There’s even an area to add notes, so inputting details like the cost of an unusual modification is effortless. All of these tools omit the need for waiters to walk into the kitchen to clarify an order, decreasing waste and keeping waitstaff on the floor selling and attending to guests.

3. For Here or to Go?

When sending an order to the kitchen, Exatouch requires servers to mark orders as dine-in or take-out. This is key in saving time and reducing errors because the kitchen staff may need to modify portion sizes of a plated dish to fit certain containers or put specific components of a single dish into separate packaging to ensure food remains fresh and appetizing, even when travelling.

Additionally, Exatouch enables you to change pay rates for certain staff members on a shift. Servers may be concerned when assigned to takeout duty since they won’t receive the same amount of tips as they would waiting tables in the dining room. But, in the POS system, you can assign a staff member to a higher hourly wage for a single shift. And when they return to work serving tables the next day, they clock in at their regular rate.

4. Employee Training Made Simple

It’s no secret that frequent turnover is rampant in the restaurant industry. The need to train new employees regularly can take time away from managers and head servers who could otherwise be on the floor selling and ensuring guests are satisfied. Exatouch makes training staff simpler and speeds up the learning curve. As trainees learn which sides go with certain dishes, these details are already configured in the POS system, making it easier for them to input accurate and complete orders for the kitchen. This creates less friction among the back-of-house staff, keeps customers happier, and decreases food waste.