As with most industries today, food service is inundated with a plethora of food service software, from POS Systems to Labor Scheduling and even Pocket PC applications. Decisions must be made as to what is needed for your operation. You will need to evaluate the impact of any food service software that you want to add to your business.
A smart evaluation is a simple return on investment. If you have a small burger outlet doing less than 1 million per year in sales, you have quite a choice of software that will enhance your bottom line without crippling it at the time you purchase it. Inventory software, for example, can be as low as a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars plus a few thousand more for training. Now if you are a hospital, you may need a hugely expensive package, but for most casual dining, a package around $1,000 would be more than adequate. If the package saved you 1% in your operation would that be a good investment?
Many people will write their own applications using Excel spreadsheets. While this can be an effective solution for simple tasks, to do complex calculations with multiple spreadsheets can become overwhelming, to say the least. Software companies have spent thousands of dollars in development to make food service software packages easy to use and understand. Yes, the initial cost is higher, but the time it takes you to consistently monitor, change, and update your spreadsheets is much better spent dealing with your customers.
There are so many choices for food service software these days that it is difficult to detail them all here. From Pocket PC's for taking orders and inventory, to internet reporting on your sales across the country, scanning purchase orders, and automatically calculating nutritional analysis of your recipes, it's all available. You just have to determine your return on the investment. Figure out the purchase and technical support costs and then ply against the amount that using food service software could save you.
