If you’re among the many restaurants transitioning to delivery service, your POS can help you reap rewards from the data you collect from each order — but make sure you track your progress in a way that helps you respond to patterns as opposed to one-off customer complaints. For example, Modern Restaurant Management advises you to turn to your POS to assess your results as a whole: Do you have one delivery driver who is consistently late? A line worker who often misses including requested condiments in orders? Or do your soup containers leak, generating regular complaints from customers? Which items are your most profitable and which are rarely ordered at all? Reviewing your POS for patterns tied to your food, personnel, packaging and service can help you see where adjustments are needed.

Are you making the mistake of focusing more on attracting new customers than on retaining the ones you already have? Research from Performark found that the likelihood of selling to an existing customer is about 60 to 70 percent — far higher than the likelihood of selling to a new one (5 to 20 percent). The good news is that engaging your existing customers is also easier, particularly if you harness the power of your POS. Your system can help you in several key ways, according to Upserve: First, it can tap into the preferences of your guests and help you identify offers that are likely to entice them. If your barbecue wings appetizer is a best seller, your POS can tell you — and you can use it as part of a promotion to bring guests in the door during slow periods. Second, you can offer an automated rewards program that requires almost none of your staff’s time. Your guest can sign up via smartphone and their credit card becomes their loyalty card, automatically collecting rewards (and providing you with more data to improve and personalize that person’s experience) each time it is used. Third, it speeds up the overall experience. When you have a system that gets orders to the kitchen faster, helps your staff avoid standing in line when cashing out a check, and allows guests to pay and leave as soon as they are ready, the result is a faster, smoother flow of a business and a more satisfied guest. Finally, when your POS can seamlessly integrate and track your in-house and delivery orders, you can appeal to guests who already know what to expect from you and want to enjoy your food from home, as well as attract new customers looking to try a new option.