Category Archives: POS systems

Quick-Serve Restaurant Stocks Beat the Rest of the Restaurant Industry in 2011

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POS Quick-ServeQuick-serve restaurant stocks beat the rest of the restaurant industry in 2011.

The quick-serve industry as a whole saw a rise in stock values as it our-performed the rest of the restaurant industry. The S&P 500’s restaurant sub-index consists of five restaurant stocks, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., McDonald’s Corp., Starbucks Corp., and Yum! Brands Inc., as well as one full-service restaurant company Darden Restaurants Inc. The sub-index rose 29.9 percent last year. The group’s only company to drop in price last year was the full-service restaurant company Darden.

McDonald’s and Yum are also among 9 stocks that make up the Bloomberg U.S. Quick-Service Restaurant Index – this index rose 13.5 percent. While Bloomberg’s 17-stock full-service restaurant index dipped 1 percent. These results reflect broad economic trends. While people are continuing to eat out and take vacations, they are being more sensible and trading down their choices.

The fast-casual businesses are increasing the amount of customers they are attracting as people trade down from casual dining. Quick-serve restaurants are having great sales and profits when they have a menu that appeals to both value and upscale diners. Many restaurateurs are looking to invest and expand more in the quick-serve restaurant industry. If you are looking for a point of sale system for your quick-serve restaurant, look no further, Pinnacle Hospitality Solutions offers business solutions to integrate your point of sales system, accounting, credit authorization, online ordering, and inventory in a single easy to use interface that makes daily operations a seamless service from start to finish. For more information, contact Pinnacle today.

How Video Tools Can Save You Money

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Digital Video RecordingYou cannot afford to leave your business unprotected. By incorporating Digital Video Recording (DVR) technology, you can monitor everything that is going on in and around your store. It is common sense that DVR technology can be a great tool when it comes to loss prevention and employee safety. However, video surveillance can help you increase your profits and point out ways to streamline operations.

Pinnacle’s ICE Monitor’s Digital Surveillance equipment is the perfect combination of DVR technology for your point-of-sale system. The combination of protection becomes the complete digital record of everything that is happening with your business. Here are specific ways DVR technology can help quick-serve restaurants increase profits and streamline operations.

Recording your businesses is a cost-effective way to perform operational reviews. Management can watch several different stores from one computer or mobile device, or at a remote computer (even their home), to suggest ways to organize the staff more efficiently and provide feedback to improve quality and customer service. Some brands have linked data from POS systems to the corresponding video of each transaction and in return motivated more employees to be honest. Pinnacle’s DVR server allows direct and secure access to multi-channel video from anywhere with internet access.

Surveillance video also allows you to avoid accidents in the workplace, wrongful worker’s compensation, and mitigate fraudulent liability claims. The video can be used as a teaching tool to accurately assess day-to-day activities to improve store safety. High-quality video recording can be the most effective way to show exactly what happened and what did not. Pinnacle offers cameras that have a present zoom and focus that provides sharp and clear video clips.

If you own a hospitality business in the Sunshine State and are looking for a South Florida POS, contact Pinnacle Hospitality Systems today. Whether you need a Fort Lauderdale POS system, or a quality point of sale system for any city in Florida or Alabama, Pinnacle has the knowledge and expertise to find the ideal solution for your business.

Want to Redo Your Menu? Just Blame the Federal Menu-Labeling Law

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MenuboardThis year the federal menu-labeling law will go into effect; requiring restaurants with 20 or more locations to provide calorie count and nutritional information on menus and menuboards. While some restaurant owners are in panic over the pending implications, others are seeing this as a good opportunity to reevaluate their menu strategy and menuboard design.

Many establishment owners and operators believe that putting calories on their menu will cause them to lose business as their high-calorie dishes turn customers away. Many who have begun to include the soon-to-be required nutritional information are not seeing an impact on sales. Providing information like – total calories, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, sugars, fiber and total protein – have impacted the mix of what is being sold. People might be intrigued to order different things, but they are not ordering less.

The electronic menuboards Pinnacle provides for their clients have the ability to post calorie counts and nutritional information for menu items. When making the necessary adjustments to your menu, Pinnacle recommends restructuring your menu look and strategy. Please read our suggestions below to optimize your menu to increase sales.

  • Increase readability and simplicity – the most important strategy for your menu is making sure consumers can find the item they want to order.
  • Include photos – at least one for each section to guide customers’ eyes toward their desired section.
  • Change the organization – the center of the menu is the hot spot, as eyes are naturally drawn there first – make sure to place the most popular items in the hot spot. Remember, vertical menuboards are easier to read that horizontal boards.
  • Color – choose colors that evoke hunger such as yellow and red. Also, alternate between light and dark backgrounds to break up your menu into easily to navigate sections.

Interested in redoing your menu? Pinnacle to can assist you in setting up your electronic menuboards. Pinnacle offers business solutions to integrate your point of sales system, accounting, credit authorization, online ordering, and inventory in a single easy to use interface that makes daily operations a seamless service from start to finish. For more information, contact Pinnacle today.

People on Facebook ‘Like’ Your Restaurant

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I think everyone is in agreement that word-of-mouth from a trusted friend is the best kind of marketing and endorsement. With almost 12 percent of the world’s population on Facebook and the average user having  150 friends (and that number is even higher in highly population cities like Miami and Orlando) it seems like a no-brainer to extend your marketing efforts to Facebook. But how do you build a following on Facebook? How do you turn your marketing efforts to focus on the social market on Facebook?

Start by building a following as customers come into your store. Have signage around the doors, bathrooms, registers, on table-toppers, and in other waiting areas directs your customers to your Facebook page. Consumers become your captive audience as you satisfy their need for distraction while they wait. Create a loyalty program on Facebook where users can build up bonus points for coupons and receive personalized birthday gifts. By installing a card-less loyalty solution, like Pinnacle’s SunDrop Mobile, merchants can build a large database and rapidly. Because SunDrop’s mobile loyalty solution is point of sale integrated, employees are guided through an automated capture process and every loyalty members ROI is captured and analyzed. SunDrop makes social connection “one click away” in their opt-in email registration process.

To market on Facebook, there a few steps and pieces of advice that can help every business participate in social marketing for free. First and foremost, your Facebook business page must provide value in order for individuals to ‘like’ your page. Remember when an individual ‘like’s something on Facebook, it is broadcasted to their friends and included in the newsfeed, posted on their personal wall, and forever plastered under interests in their about section. In order to win that proclamation of admiration, there must be a need your page nourishes. Most people will come to your Facebook page to view a menu, find contact information, and/or order online. Make sure this information and services are provided in clearly marked tabs. Also make sure any links to and from your website to your Facebook page are correct and pages load quickly.

When your Facebook fan count reaches 25, you are given the option to create a vanity URL. This is a personalized URL that should include your business name and location. This helps increase the traffic on your page by making it easier to find in search results. As your fan base continues to grow, make sure to continue to engage with fans on your wall and in comments. The more engaging your posts, the more people will see them. Make sure to check your free Facebook analytics to monitor the effectiveness of your posts. Last but not least, make sure to highlight how your company enjoys helping organizations and charities in your local community.

If you are interested in marketing online and on Facebook, check out Pinnacle’s point-of-sale social integration with their SunDrop Mobile platform. Gain the ability to have your offers and coupons broadcast on Facebook and watch is spread virally. SunDrop can be integrated directly into other software products and includes SMS text message, email and voice in addition to social media communication. Watch this YouTube video to learn all that Pinnacle’s SunDrop platform has to offer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ESdCLZFFJ_E#!

Pensacola Chefs Honor Florida’s 500-Year History at James Beard House

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Viva Florida 500In celebration of 500 years of Florida history, five of Florida’s finest chefs will prepare a historic dinner at New York’s acclaimed James Beard House on March 27th as part of Viva Florida 500. Viva Florida 500 commemorates the story of how many nationalities and diverse cultures thrived together in Florida and how their legacy continues to shape America. To learn more about Viva Florida, visit their website.

This delectable culinary event, hosted by Visit Pensacola and the Pensacola Celebrity Chefs, will bring together delicious cuisine created from the Florida’s Gulf Coast’s local fare, taking historical recipes that have been used in Florida for hundreds of years and modernizing them with the chefs’ own inventive touch. We at Pinnacle Hospitality Systems are very proud to have assisted several of the Celebrity Chefs and their restaurants. Please browse the list of Pensacola Celebrity Chefs and the mouth-watering dishes they have in store for you.

Pensacola Celebrity Chefs include:

  • Dan Dunn of H2O at the Hilton Pensacola Beach Gulf Front
  • Irv Miller of Jackson’s Steakhouse
  • Jim Shirley of the Fish House
  • Silivos of Skopelos/Nancy’s Haute Affairs
  • Frank Taylor of Global Grill

During the reception, the chefs will prepare:

  • Cracked conch and green tomato fritters with key lime mustard sauce
  • Turtle soup from local, farm-raised turtles with mirliton and bay shrimp relish
  • Pensacola Bay shrimp, rosemary and Worcestershire barbecue sauce and quick-fried artichoke bottoms
  • Tuna tacos featuring rare Gulf tuna with salsa verde, montego cheese and pickled jalapenos
  • Caramelized calico scallop skewers and crispy slab bacon with sweet peppers and spicy piccalilli jus
  • A 2007 Spanish Marques de Gelida Cava wine will be served

The tasting menu will feature:

  • Fresh Gulf red snapper with stewed collard greens and a roasted corn and red pepper beurre blanc
  • Pecan and country ham-crusted softshell crab stuffed with housemade seafood boudin blanc
  • Grilled cobia, sautéed mustard greens and field peas with preserved Florida lemons with spoonbread and smoked ham-hock sauce
  • Gulf grouper sautéed over Cantonment stone ground grit cake topped with Cedar Key clams and house-made chorizo in a chicken broth with tomatoes, jalapeno and black-eyed peas
  • Carpetbag steak with fried Apalachicola oysters inside seared slices of Snake River Farms flat iron steak atop baby greens with Maytag blue cheese cream and caramelized Vidalia onion and green chile pepper relish

Wines presented throughout the courses:

  • 2009 Napa Valley Ferrari Carrano Reserve Chardonnay
  • 2010 Napa Valley Cliff Lede Sauvignon Blanc
  • 2009 E. Guigal Cotes de Rhone Rose
  • 2009 Santa Rita Hills Stanford Pinot Noir
  • 2007 Napa Valley Whitehall Lane Cabernet Sauvignon

Dessert:

  • Warm white chocolate bread pudding with candied pecans and a fig bourbon sauce
  • Served with a 1927 Spanish Alvear Pedro Ximenez

Tickets will be on sale in February:

 

Pinnacle is proud to have assisted some of these top-rated restaurants and Pensacola Celebrity Chefs in providing unparalleled customer service. If you are searching for a POS system in Pensacola
and want to learn more about POSitouch, contact Pinnacle today by calling 1-800-771-7100.

Restaurants Mark Strongest Net Positive Sales Since 2007

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Increase in SalesThis just out from the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index (RPI): Restaurants mark strongest net positive sales since 2007.

The RPI is a monthly composite index that tracks the health of and outlook for the U.S. restaurant industry. It consists of two components, the Current Situation Index and the Expectations Index. The RPI measures the health of the restaurant industry in relation to a state level of 100. If the index is above 100, key industry indicators are in a period of expansion. If the index values lower than 100, this signifies a period of contraction in key industry indicators.

The Current Situation Index measures current trends in four industry indicators (same-store sales, traffic, labor and capital expenditures).  These indicators have signified industry expansion with its second time in the last three months that the Current Situation Index ratings are above 100.

The Expectations Index measures restaurant operators’ six-month outlook for four industry indicators (same-store sales, employees, capital expenditures, and business conditions). For the third consecutive month the Expectations Index stood above 100 which mean operators expect a positive outlook for business conditions in the coming months.

A look at some of the promising reports:

  • Capital spending on a rise: 46% of operators said they made a capital expenditure for equipment, expansion, or remodeling during the last three months (highest in five months).
  • Strongest net positive sales since August 2007: 54% of operators reported a sales gain.
  • Stronger customer traffic: 41% of restaurant operators reported high customer traffic levels between November 2010 and November 2011
  • Same-store sales gain: 50% of restaurant operators reported positive growth for the sixth consecutive month in November.
  • Operators optimistic about sales growth in the coming months: 41% of restaurant operators expect to have higher sales in six months (compared to the same period in 2010).

For a more detailed data and analysis, visit Restaurant TrendMapper, the National Restaurant Association’s subscription-based service that provides detailed analysis of restaurant industry trends; or to view the full report online by visiting the Association’s website.

If your restaurant is seeing an increase in business and expect this trend to continue like the rest of the restaurant industry, you may need to advance your technology. To make daily operations a seamless service from start to finish, check out Pinnacle Hospitality Systems. Pinnacle offers business solutions to integrate your point of sales system, accounting, credit authorization, online ordering, and inventory in a single easy to use interface with POSitouch. For more information, contact Pinnacle today.

Pinnacle Hospitality Systems Assists with Another Broken Egg Eggspansion

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Photo of Broken Egg Café Owner Ron E. Green

Leaving his lucrative position as a NASA engineer for the Department of Defense, Ron E.Green had zero restaurant experience when he opened The Broken Egg Café in Mandeville, Louisiana. Green’s goal was to service what he felt was an underserved and under explored segment in the restaurant market by offering breakfast, brunch and lunch of exceptional quality.

These charming cafés are decorated in French country flair and serve up delectable meals with upscale taste and affordable prices. Taking old-style country fair and adding a new-age spin, diners get to experience dishes like seared ahi tuna benedict with avocado hollandaise, bananas foster french toast, crabcake crostinis and blackberry grits. Wanting to be known for their great service, Green left no stone unturned as he looked for chefs, crash-courses and new technology to raise the bar of excellence.

As Green’s eggspansion spreads across the United States, each of the following 18 units know as Another Broken Egg Café, he looked to shorten his guests’ wait time and ways to expedite food faster to increase the amount of meals served each day. Fortunately, Pinnacle’s POS system for restaurants helped make communication between servers and the kitchen faster and more efficient.  Utilizing the POSitouch system and other expediting processes in the kitchen, Broken Egg Cafés went from around 250 meals a day to 500 to 600 meals a day in all of their restaurants. Pinnacle’s POS software system allowed servers to quickly and easily separate checks, send orders to the kitchen, authorize credit cards, keep track of inventory and much more. All of us at Pinnacle Hospitality Systems wish Another Broken Egg luck with their continued eggspansion! If you are interested in Pinnacle and POSitouch, please visit our website for more information.