See what the right tools in the hands of servers can mean to table turns, revenues, and customer satisfaction.

It’s never been more important for restaurants to operate with maximum efficiency and build strong relationships with customers. Early 2020 dining room shutdowns set off a string of new challenges, from adapting to the shift to online ordering and curbside pickup and complying with health safety guidelines to contending with the labor shortage and finding ways to operate effectively when short-staffed. Mobile point of sale (mobile POS) technology gives restaurants the ability to meet – and overcome – those challenges while providing exceptional dining experiences.

A true mobile-first solution – not simply legacy point of sale displayed on a smaller screen – supports how restaurants need to operate today. Software designed specifically as restaurant mobile POS enables:

Traditional ordering processes that rely on pen and paper – or worse, memory – rush customers as they order. Moreover, if servers use terminal POS software on a mobile device, it will force them to search for menu items on small screens and move in and out of features to separate checks or modify orders.

Optimal mobile POS software allows servers to pay less attention to screens and more attention to customers. Restaurant mobile POS software with a menu structure that mirrors how diners typically order – first drinks, then appetizers and entrees with common modifiers and pairings – streamlines ordering. In addition, menu options at a server’s fingertips with drag and drop functionality means taking orders is quick and easy, and the mobile POS solution can get orders to the bar or food prep station immediately, even before the server walks away from the table.

Eye contact, discussion, and real connections become possible when the ordering process is a conversation rather than a task – and servers can lay the foundation for relationships with customers that encourage return business.

Purpose-built mobile POS not only enables conversational-style ordering. It also gives servers more to talk about. Servers can access information about return customers, such as food allergies or preferences (e.g., the hotter spicy foods are, the better), so servers can make personalized recommendations diners will appreciate.

Also, if loyal customers are celebrating birthdays or anniversaries or if a guest is a VIP customer, servers will have that information so they ensure those dining experiences are particularly special.

Leading restaurant mobile POS software will also provide restaurant staff with an easy way to add the new information they learn about guests so that future experiences can be even more memorable.

Well-designed mobile POS also puts sales tools into servers’ hands. Their objective can be more than taking accurate orders — it can also be maximizing revenues. Based on our research, the combination of conversational ordering, personalization and intentional upselling will help a restaurant’s bottom line: Tabit shows an 8-15% increase in spend per customer.

Additionally, a “quick reorder” feature enables a server to put an order in for another round of drinks with just a tap. This capability, along with getting the initial order to the bar instantly, can improve a restaurant’s average from 1.2 to 2 drinks per customer per visit.

Mobile POS also helps restaurants save time, reduce costs, and increase accuracy. Easy-to-use mobile POS helps reduce server errors by up to 80%, minimizing food waste and shrink, and cuts table turn time during peak by 12 to 15 minutes. Additionally, a true mobile POS enables one server to provide excellent service to more parties, decreasing the need for servers per shift by 20% – but still ensuring that all guests receive excellent service. The proof is in the tip increases they receive.

Your clients may have delayed the decision to transition from stationary POS terminals to mobile POS due to the other changes they’ve had to make to operations since early 2020.

But they don’t need to.

The right mobile-first solution will help restaurants rebuild relationships with customers, increase revenues and improve operational efficiency – all vital as they grow their businesses during the economic recovery. Don’t settle for any system that only provides surface mobility with less than 20% user adoption.

Contact Tabit to learn more about mobile POS designed for mobile-first restaurant operations touting over 90% mobility usage adoption rate.

Nadav Solomon is the president and cofounder of Tabit, a restaurant point of sale and table-side ordering system that streamlines restaurant operations, extends sales opportunities and increases a restaurant’s bottom line.

Passionate about food, Nadav studied Food Engineering at the Technion and is a Biotech entrepreneur. He previously worked as a Senior Strategic Consultant at Ernst & Young, and later founded one of the most innovative alternative protein biotech companies, NextFerm, which went public in 2021 (TASE: NXFR). Formerly a Lieutenant Commander in the Israeli Navy, where he was in charge of command and control systems, Nadav is experienced in running big operations and monitoring complex systems with multiple embedded workflows.