Table turning is a bit of a Catch-22 – some patrons may enjoy the art of dining and will want to stay longer. And you’ll want to keep them happy, but you also want more patrons to arrive. Either way, you’ll need to turn the table at some point. But you have to do it in a way that will still enhance the customer experience and make patrons want to return. Follow our subtle tricks to turn more tables effectively.

Establish your guests’ timeline

The best way to find out how long guests will take is to simply ask: “What’s the occasion?” It’s important to establish if they’re in a hurry or not. Gabe Garza, a business partner for a string of Chicago restaurants, says that the best way to make patrons leave in a timely manner is to serve their food as quickly as possible.

A great trick is to have your waiters suggest the fastest dishes, especially during rush hour. But a point-of-sale (PoS) system is your greatest ally here. Intuitive PoS systems powered by Pilot speed up order entries because waiters won’t have to fumble around trying to navigate across multiple screen displays – they can quickly take orders and get them moving in the kitchen. Once the information is entered into the system, it is automatically sent to the kitchen to be prepared.

A clearer view of sales orders

When it gets busy, the last thing you want is to go out and fetch supplies because you’ve run out. Our PoS software is great at inventory control because it creates a central database of all suppliers, monitors the flow of stock through your outlet and identifies the profitability of items so you can make smarter buying decisions. The software tracks popular menu items and those that aren’t moving so you can manage your inventory accordingly.

Gain deeper insights into the performance of your business with PilotLive, a centralised online data repository. We offer a set of reports powered by PilotLive like Live Sales that will provide an insight into open and closed tables to identify peak times. Maybe a certain day in the week is more busy – if this is the case, you can manage shifts more effectively to deal with increased foot traffic.

Speed up the payment process

Asking for the bill may signal the end of the meal, but it can often be a lengthy process without the use of technology. Waiters have to prepare the bill, find a card machine and run the payment process. It may seem simple enough, but think about this process in a restaurant full of patrons. Waiting for a bill is not something your patrons should have to experience even in busy periods. Provide payment services at the table for customer convenience with our mobile PoS systems. Pilot PoS software is partnered with the Zapper, an award-winning mobile payment app that seamlessly integrates with Pilot PoS, allowing customers to simply scan, pay and go.

Optimise your menu

It seems logical to place many meal items on your menu to give your patrons an array of choices, but this has the opposite effect. When customers are deciding what to order, having a plethora of choices may stress them out and they might take longer to decide what they want. Offer a smaller menu that includes your most popular items. Remember that you can use the intelligence that’s on your PoS system. Now are you ready to get those tables turning? Download our brochure to find out how you can make this intuitive software work for you.