Resto: 101
Restaurant: 101
Welcome to Resto: 101. This course
provides a foundational
understanding of the Hospitality
Industry and all that is entailed in
the launching and operation of a
restaurant, right up to the decision
to install Lightspeed as their POS.
C HAPTER 1: I NTRO
proper (powerful!) tools in place, business owners are able to offer the best possible experience for customers. Because, in the
end, it’s the customers who dictate the overall success of a business. But how?
Word of mouth. Reviews. Food blogs. Ah! How do Restaurant owners ensure these are positively impacting their business?
You’ve eaten at countless restaurants. You may have even worked
in the hospitality industry before. Either way, you know what you
like, and you know the quality of service you expect to receive.
You know what keeps you coming back, time and time again to
your favourite spots.
Together, we are going to explore some of the important aspects
of the restaurant industry that happen behind the scenes, all of
which, on some level, can make or break a restaurant experience.
What to expect
Back in 2005, Lightspeed began in the Retail POS space. The commitment was made to help small and medium businesses operate
more intelligently and smoothly. After making a large impact on
the Retail Industry, we responded to a need in the hospitality industry to offer a similarly robust product that would help restauranteurs increase the efficiency and productivity of their businesses. The eventual impact of our POS for both the Retail and
Restaurant industries was made abundantly clear - that with the
So, you may have experience in the industry and think you have a
good understanding of the typical workflows. This course will give
you insight into who our Lightspeed customers are - the top verticals that we qualify to use our product. We will look at what
makes them tick, what problems they might face and what special considerations we might have to make when designing our
software.
You could have a vague idea of how a server communicates a customer order to the kitchen and how the kitchen lets the servers ii
know when that order is complete. You might not fully understand the steps an owner takes as they create special menu items,
how the floorplan and table management is set up or how they offer special promotions on select menu items. These aspects,
amongst many others, are of the utmost importance to our end
users. We are talking about their business, their livelihoods and
last but not least, their passion.
A great POS makes restaurant staff smile....
Over the course of this iBook we are going to take you into the life
of a Restauranteur. From their origin story, to their first day on the
job, up to the moment that they make the decision to install a
POS system.
You should leave Resto: 101 with some context that will help you
in your future training as well as an understanding of why we do
what we do here at Lightspeed.
Let’s begin.
And when restaurant staff are happy and efficient, customers
benefit.
iii
The Grand Opening
The name of her cafe had been decided long before some other
C HAPTER 2
How it all began
Learn about Daria by watching her origin story below:
Now you can follow her throughout the rest of this
iBook :)
As you can see, it’s not all as straightforward as just opening a restaurant. While a lot of people start with a hobby or passion and
build from that, there is also the business aspect to consider. We
have to eventually move from conception and planning all the
way to the point when a restauranteur would start to think about
a POS system. Let’s read on.
important business decisions were made. Daria now had to work
on turning her dream into a reality. She reached out to some of
her fellow classmates from her Culinary College, who were now
bakers and chefs and asked them if they would help her to create
a menu suitable for her new establishment. She thought that having varied input from those in the field already, would help create
an offering that truly appealed to the masses.
Setting the scene
Daria, who had a love for baking but an equal passion for design,
had a clear image of what her cafe should look like. She wanted to
make sure that it didn’t just look good, it had to impress. Patrons
had to know that they were somewhere special. Daria decided to
team up with a group of interior designers to give her cafe a modern friendly feel that fit with the trendy items on her menu she
had just created. They made a window display using geometric origami style cupcakes hanging from the ceiling flanked by shiny mirrors in various diamond shapes on the two side walls. It was truly
eye-catching.
The Final Touch
All the modern light fixtures were in place, the food was arranged
in the displays and on the counter by the coffee machine was an
old brass plated cash register, similar to one you might find in a
Cafe in the Old West. As she locked the cafe doors at the end of
the day, Daria knew that when she re-opened them in the morning, they would be open for business for the first time ever.
H OW IT ALL BEGAN
Open Sesame
The day of the grand opening was upon her. Daria spent the early
hours of the morning sending out more invites and social media
posts about her cafe's big day. She had already made a business
page on Facebook and Instagram for Brewed Awakening and had
made an event to which she had invited all of her friends. She had
a very active twitter account and even posted her favourite menu
items on her Pinterest page. She had taken out some space in her
local newspaper to announce the cafe launch and one of her
friends happened to work in radio and was going to be mentioning her cafe throughout the day. She felt that she had covered all
of the bases.
Putting on a Show
Some of Daria’s foodie friends had also created a buzz in the community and had promised Daria that her cafe would be the talk of
local food blogs and chat rooms all day long. Daria was super excited when she heard back from an old college friend who was
now a DJ, who agreed to play some music towards the end of the
event - then the opening would turn into a true party! She prepared some sparkling wine served in flutes reflecting the colours
of the shop -pink and cream!
Be Prepared
Daria had been meticulous about her preparations, right down to
the last detail. She had even visited the bank earlier that day
where she had gotten some small bills and coins for her in-cafe
float so that she could make change for sales on the floor, particu-
larly on merchandise she was selling with the cafe logo splashed
all over it.
The Moment of Truth
She arrived at the cafe at 8:00am in order to give everything a final check and clean. Some of the event volunteers had decided to
show up at 8 so that they could make sure that the space looked
great for the opening. Daria’s three best girlfriends had volunteered for the day to be both waitstaff and clean-up crew for the
event. They all arrived soon after dressed up in some of the cafe
merchandise Daria had provided for them and everyone looked
great. The sun was shining and she couldn’t hide her excitement
as she saw the first patrons begin to mill around outside at
9:20am, patiently waiting for the cafe to open. Daria got the
whole team together, went over the aim of the day, gave a rousing
speech of gratitude and encouragement and finally, they were
ready to open the doors to the public for the first time.
Time to review your take-aways from this chapter. Complete the quiz before moving on:
Question 1 of 2
Does Daria’s new Brewed Awakening cafe have a live Instagram account?
A. Yes
B. No
Check Answer
C HAPTER 3
Hiring new staff
Click on the image to learn
what Daria has to consider
when building her team.
Talk about team building!
A restaurant’s staff is critical to the business’ success. The staff
must:
• project the ‘image’ of the restaurant
• be knowledgable about the items on the menu
• create rapport with the patrons and build on the relationships
for return customers.
• be trusted to handle cash and process payments with credit
cards
As they progress through their careers and gain responsibility,
they will also be asked to manage other staff members and perhaps be trusted with the keys to the business. Staff members
are also the ones who use a Restaurant POS daily. What does
this mean? They need to be trained to use the software effectively and usually as quickly as possible. They immediately develop workflows that help them to do their job easier and better.
,
Growing Pains
After the successful opening, Brewed Awakening went on to be a
popular fixture of the local cafe scene for some time. However despite the success of her new project, Daria was beginning to run
into some problems. At the beginning she got by on her own for
the most part. She had a friend that would help out on weekends
with the front of cafe and waiting, while Daria could focus on the
baking, ordering of ingredients and establishing herself more on
social media. However now that it was busier and heading into
high tourist season she felt that she could no longer manage all
the details of the cafe while also worrying about her finances. She
needed help.
The Hiring Process
Selecting and training staff wasn’t something Daria was used to doing. She had no HR training and although some of her business
courses touched on it, she felt that it was going to be a very personal decision. After all, whoever would be working for her at
Brewed Awakening would be in charge of something that she had
worked hard to make successful.
Help Wanted. Help Needed.
It had to be someone she could trust and someone who was going
to be good with her loyal client base. A hard worker, but someone
she could talk to when the cafe was quiet. She thought of her network and all those who fit the role already had jobs so she was going to have to place an ad and hope for the best. The next day she
put a ‘Help Wanted’ sign in her window and waited to see if anyone would apply. It didn’t take long for Daria to start receiving resumes at the cafe. A lot of students came out on the weekend looking for a quiet place to study, and got intrigued by the idea of working part-time in a cool new cafe.
Application Station
Once she had collected about a dozen applications, Daria scoured
the prospects to see whether anyone had worked in a cafe before.
She thought that would be the best place to start. She found 3 people who had some relevant experience and decided to call each of
them in for an interview. She downloaded some basic interview
questions from the internet and got her friend, Lory, who was already working there to sit in the interviews so that they could
make the decision together. Two of the interviewees had actually
already bought a speciality coffee from the cafe and commented
on the quality of the beans and variety of roasts that were offered.
The offer
They decided to offer both girls a part time job, one girl for three
days a week when she didn’t have college and the other was hired
to work some evenings when the cafe opened later and also weekends. Daria also made the decision to make Lory the weekend
manager so she could run the cafe with the new girl giving Daria
the chance to take a day off every Sunday. When all the interviews
were over and the two girls had accepted their new jobs, Daria got
everyone together at the cafe to celebrate their new team over
wine and freshly baked cupcakes.
8
C HAPTER
Day to Day at the Cafe
As customers, we usually enter a restaurant after it has been
fully staffed and ready for business. For us it’s a chance to relax,
socialize and not have to actually cook for ourselves. We are
able to taste all kinds of menu items that are being made by people with talent! However, to those who serve us - from the hostess to the server all the way to the owner or manager, this place
is work. Their tasks will vary depending on their position within
the cafe’s hierarchy but each of them is part of the machine that
means that patrons can walk in, sit down, choose a menu item,
enjoy food and drinks while concentrating on the experience.
Ambiance is always important too, of course.
In Daria’s cafe she relies on a team of part-time workers and
her best friends who have offered their time as she gets herself established. She is devoted to building her business
and as a result, she almost lives at the cafe. For most restaurants, the positions held by staff can be narrowed down to
the 4 main roles that were discussed in the previous chapter (Cashier/host, Server, Manager and Owner). That being
said, each type of hospitality has it’s own set of roles. We
will explore all the hospitality types and what each vertical
requires from a POS.
9
10
Which top qualities are we looking for when we hire staff?
Daria followed some good advice from her father. He always
stressed the importance of hiring people from within ones own
network - hiring within close friend circles and family is a good
start, because the trust is already established. Friends of friends
is also extremely key, since good people usually know other
good people. Take a look at Daria’s father’s advice, below:
Advice please! Which trait do
you consider to be the #1 to
look for? Why?
11
Staff: The Profiles
THE CASHIER
Goal: Speed. Greet customers. Serve as many customers as possible.
Experience: Mostly new to POS, but may have experience with traditional on-premise POS
Needs from POS:
• Take Orders
• Prepare Orders
• Take Payment
THE CASHIER: A frequent user of the POS to take payment
from customers
THE SERVER
Goal: Customer Experience. Build solid rapport.
Take orders. Deliver food to table. Make tips
(NoAm)
Experience: Can be new using POS, or very experienced with traditional on-premise POS
Needs from POS:
&
•& Take Orders
&
•& Modify Orders
&
•& Add to Orders
&
•& Deliver food in a timely manner
The Server: Using an iPad based POS, the server can take orders
directly at the table.
Cashier, 19 years old
Server, 25 years old
Cafe POS
12
THE MANAGER
Goal: Staff Success. Customer Experience. Making Revenue.
Experience: Most have experience with traditional on premise POS
Needs from POS:
THE OWNER
Goal: Brand Perception. Making Profit. Managing
Management.
Experience: Rely on Manager to suggest POS and
provide important data.
Needs from POS:
&
&
&
&
&
&
&
&
&
•&
•&
•&
•&
•&
•&
•&
•&
Manage the floor
Elevated permissions to modify orders
Help Staff with orders
Close out Shifts
Tip outs (NoAm)
Close Restaurant nightly
Inventory Management
Check staff performance
The Manager. Spends the majority of his time within the
back-end of a POS system.
&
•&
•&
Checking restaurant performance (reporting)
Want as little interaction with the POS as possible
The Owner: Would like the POS to be invisible. Relies heavily on
others to be proficient with the system.
Owner, 36
Servers need his help
She needs info on....
Manager, 34
13
C HAPTER 4
Neighbour #1: Basta Pasta
Restos on the Block
TYPE: FAST CASUAL
Daria researched the neighbourhood before she signed her lease on
Pearl Street. She’s now the only cafe on the block, which means the
neighbourhood is probably pretty stoked to have her open up. Before
Brewed Awakening, the only other cafe was a 12 minute walk to a
much busier part of town where parking was impossible. Brewed
Awakening is perfectly situated between a casual Italian Eatery and a
Lebanese Falafel Shop, and across from a bank and nail salon. Down
the street is a pub and a fancy and sleek restaurant. It’s always important to know what other restaurants and businesses are around.
Daria recognizes that these businesses are her allies, and that in a
sense, they are all “in this together”. The success of the businesses
collectively will help keep the street alive and bumping! She decided
she was going to go and meet all the owners so that she could establish a nice network on Pearl Street.
We will take a look into the various industries types that exist in hospitality, and how the inner workings, obstacles and needs differ for
each.
This is an establishment that does not offer full table service but
promises higher quality food than other fast food restaurants (usually fewer frozen or processed ingredients). Maria Tomasino is the
main chef of Basta Pasta and she is committed to making Italian classics with only the freshest of ingredients. She opened up her shop 15
years ago and has had great success ever since. She has regulars who
come every day for lunch, and who rave about the cannelloni from
her hot table. Daria loved speaking with Maria, who talked her ear off
about the old country and her journey to North America.
Fast Casual Qualities:
• Limited-service or self-service format
• Average meal price between $8 and $15
• Made-to-order food with more complex flavors than fast food restaurants
• Upscale, unique or highly developed décor
• Most often will not have a drive thru
Common Obstacles: Waste management, turnover of staff, cost control, consistency across locations
Neighbour #2: Basha Lebanese
Falafel Stop
Neighbour #3: McKibbins Irish Pub
TYPE: Pub
TYPE: QSR (Quick Service Restaurant)
Pubs are establishments licensed to sell alcoholic drinks, which tradition-
This is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast food cuisine. The food
served in fast food restaurants is typically part of a "meat-sweet diet", offered from a limited menu, cooked in bulk in advance and kept hot, finished and packaged to order, and usually available for take away, though
seating may be provided. They are typically part of a restaurant
chain or franchise operation that provisions standardized ingredients
and/or partially prepared foods and supplies to each restaurant through
controlled supply channels.
Daria fell in love with the shawarma platter which came with fries and a
delicious garlic sauce. She will definitely be coming back for lunch breaks,
unless she plans on kissing anyone later that day. That garlic sauce was
no joke!
QSR Qualities:
• No service other than counter service
• May or may not have seating
• Occasionally will have drive thru and delivery options
• May have lower scale decor
• Limited menu options
• Value menus usually available
ally include beer (such as ale) and cider but can offer so much more. It is
a relaxed, social drinking establishment and a prominent part of British,
Irish, Canadian, South African and Australian cultures. In many places, especially in villages, a pub is the focal point of the community. They typically have live music and sometimes even offer trivia nights. Daria loves
trivia! She met the owner, Neil Crighton who let her join a team and
comped a cider for her. What a guy. She will definitely convince her friends
and brothers to make up a team for next week.
Pub Qualities:
• The menu includes filling meals, and often even appetizers, salads,
soups and desserts.
• Mostly a large selection of different kinds of beer, some wines, and cider.
• Owners or managers are called Publican or landlord. Some pubs owned
by the brewery. In a Bar, they are called Bar Managers.
• Serve and casual atmosphere for spending long periods of time with
soothing, unobtrusive music.
• Age limit is generally between 18 and 21, but since pubs also offer dining, minors are often permitted if accompanied by an adult.
Common Obstacles: turnover of staff
(steep learning curve for staff), waste management, communication between staff, heavy kitchen load, sanitation standards
Common Obstacles: turnover of staff,
theft/fraud, difficult clientele, tab management, event management, liquor and cost
control, sanitation standards
16
Neighbour #4: Butter Midtown
Restaurant Meal Quality: QSR vs. Fast Casual
TYPE: Fine Dining
Fine dining restaurants are full service restaurants with specific dedicated meal courses. Décor of such restaurants features higher-quality
materials and often simple and minimalist, with establishments having
certain rules of dining which visitors are generally expected to follow,
often including a dress code. The staff that are hired are typically well
educated and refined, with social skills suited to larger groups and establishing rapport.
Daria hasn’t dined at Butter yet, but plans to have her upcoming 35th
B-day celebration there. She met Anna, the manager who said they usually give the b-day girl a complimentary famous raspberry tart with sparklers and a glass of bubbly! Now that’s service.
Fine Dining Qualities:
• Dedicated meal courses
• High quality food and drinks (sometimes Sommeliers on site)
• Well thought out menu offerings, often with wine pairing suggestions
• Dress code is a possibility (often assumed)
• Well educated staff
• Formal decor (you won’t/shouldn’t find plastic!)
Common Obstacles: Consistent experience/customer service, menu
creation and offerings, turnover of staff and smart staffing.
When eating away from
home, consumers seem
to know what to expect
from restaurants, with
food & beverage quality
a universal driver of
channel selection
59%
QSR
FAST CASUAL
71%
Percentage of consumers
“VERY SATISFIED” with
quality of meal/snack on
most recent visit to
restaurant
SEVEN KEY FACTORS DRIVING CONSUMERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF MEAL QUALITY
Reasons why “very satisfied” with meal quality:
57%
Meal/snack was delicious
64%
46%
Meal/snack tasted fresh
Satisfaction with quality is
primarily driven by the
taste of the food
53%
36%
Meal/snack looked
appetizing
47%
34%
Overall quality of
ingredients
41%
26%
Food cooked to order
41%
24%
Ability to customize
my order
41%
36%
Hot items were hot and
cold items were cold
41%
QSR
FAST CASUAL
Source: Food Service Experience 2016 report
©2017 The Hartman Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
hartman-group.com
MEET STEFAN.
*FAN-GIRLING TIME*
Stefan is not only an ex manager of a large hotel bar in Montreal,
but he is also a Lightspeed employee and superstar, selling our Restaurant product in North America. We stopped him one day on his
way to the bathroom to ask him a few questions about his past experience in hospitality.
Daria was so happy she took the initiative to learn about the other
neighbours on Pearl Street. She got to learn a lot about the owners on a
personal level, but also about their industries and the obstacles they
face on a daily basis. She was shocked that each industry faces different issues but some common ones as well. She took note that the 3 largest obstacles for anyone owning or running a restaurant were: waste
and cost control, turnover of staff, and communication between all employees. This was something to keep in mind as she got deeper into her
management at Brewed Awakening.
Before she met Maria, she had no idea that the term Fast Casual dining
existed, so she was happy to add that to her repertoire.
She now can work with these other businesses to create a street bursting with flavour and options for the locals and out-of-towners alike.
* Please go to the Glossary now, and take a look at all the terms related
to the hospitality world *
1. What led you to the hospitality industry?
I love showing people a good time (was on the social committee in H.S and threw a few raucous house parties). It seemed
like the hospitality industry was a good fit. I moved to Montreal
for University and a few of my older friends were already working at Buona Notte (it was extremely cool back then I swear).
2. What was the most challenging thing about managing a hotel bar?
The Wunderbar was the hottest place in the city at the time - it
also had the smallest capacity - getting all of my regulars into
the bar was always a challenge. Getting new regulars was the
second biggest challenge - Regulars would often get bored
playing with each other so i was constantly having to introduce
new people to the cast to keep things interesting. Coming up
with a new and existing menu every couple of months was challenging, but it was fun because it involved traveling to other
markets to see what was working outside of Montreal. Finally,
managing a team of 30 was always a challenge, but it was the
most rewarding part of the job - ensuring that the staff was fulfilled, not only professionally but also personally, was a goal
that I think I achieved.
18
3. What was your interaction with POS systems in the past?
I used Maitre'D at the Buona Notte Group and Micros at
Starwood ("W"). Maitre'd wasn't bad - Micros made me
want to scream on a regular basis. I spent a lot of time
digging round the backend trying to figure out how it
worked. I also spoke to it a lot (Please work. Why aren't
you working? Why do you hate me?. I wish i could get
back the hours spent on the phone with support or waiting for their technicians to show up. I knew what managers required out of a POS, I just didn’t have it.
4. Did you ever envision yourself selling one?
You might as well have asked me "how depressed
would you say you are on a scale of 1-10?" I'd say about
a 5 (down from a peak of 8 - I guess you could say that
things are looking up.)
I never envisioned myself selling a POS specifically, but
I also knew that I'd work in tech in some capacity. I've
always been motivated by helping people realize their
full potential and Lightspeed Hospitality is arguably the
most important tool that a restaurant can use to help
them achieve their goals.
5. What did you bring with you to Lightspeed, from the industry
experience?
It's like anything else, if you don't speak the language
you're going to have a tough time. I'd been in the business for 10 years and had a pretty good idea of what motivates restauranteurs. Knowing the industry helped us
to make a solid entry in our home market of Montreal I'm really proud of the work that we did there.
6. What's your fav drink?
"Old Fashioned" all the way.
What do Customers actually want?
“A customer is the most important visitor on our premises, he is not dependent on us.
We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not
an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We
are not doing him a favor by serving him. He
is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.”
- Ghandi
We have been very focused on the restauranteurs themselves,
and what it takes to go from the conception phase of an establishment all the way to the grand opening. We haven’t discussed the
customers - the consumers - much at all. Now is the time.
You can start by reading an article written in house by our marketing team. Next, take a peek at this modest list of Dos and Don’ts
for servers, written by someone who was opening up a Seafood
restaurant and wanted to set his employees out on the right path.
It’s definitely an enjoyable read with many of the list ringing true
to regular restaurant goers. It was met with a rebuttal,
a quite snarky, but humorous one. Enjoy!
19
STATS & FACTS
How to overcome this massive turnover obstacle?
89% of consumers have stopped going to a restaurant after
experiencing poor customer service.
With all of the signs pointing towards enthusiasm towards restaurants, profit and success, some might say that staff turnover is the
Achilles Heel of the industry. And “some” might be right. The loss
of an employee at your restaurant is more than just a change in
your staff. In fact, it’s all of these things: Cost, Shift Change Issues,
Training Strains, Customer Experience. Think about all of these aspects with dollars and cents in mind.
On average, the cost of hiring an hourly employee can be as much
as $3,500. For the Restaurant industry, that’s an investment that
walks out the door nearly 50% of the time. OUCH.
20
In Daria’s conversation with Neil, the owner of McKibbons
Irish Pub, he mentioned that they recently saw a 50% turnover
rate last year. In this case, he had 12 employees, and 6 left and
needed to be replaced. Ah! This high turnover creates a host of
problems, as we now know. He told Daria about how he recently
brought up the 3 main issues in his management meeting. He
wanted to address these issues with everyone and spoke candidly. He was determined to get their collective opinion on how
best to deal with the issue:
Well, first, we have to understand WHY employees are leaving McKibbons in the first place. Neil is so nice, why on earth
would they leave?
1. Recruiting, Hiring and Training Employees: the more
staff we have to hire, the more time it takes us to train them
and get them up to the level of the person who left.
2. Lost Time: we all have a lot on our plates right now, and staff
management is time consuming. (especially when we have to
hire and re-train) We have to schedule shifts, modify, alongside all of our other management responsibilities. How can we
re-gain our lost time?
3. Lost Experience: In the restaurant industry, experience is
often hard to find. With a high volume of new employees, less
experienced staff can lower the customer experience.
How should McKibbons tackle this obstacle?
21
Daria decided to ask herself some important questions, when
she heard about Neil’s problem. She didn’t want to face the
50% turnover rate that he did! She decided to look at her current successful hires as a measurement for probable success
moving forward with upcoming hiring.
FAMILY MEALS FOR STAFF AT BREWED
AWAKENING !!!!
Daria was doing a lot of inward thinking recently. She knew
there were lots of similarities between the concept of a family
and the concept of a restaurant’s staff. Afterall, you spend more
time with the people you work with, than your own family.
She had a very close-knit family, full of love, friendship and
strong bonds. She was wondering what the difference was between her family and others. What made her family so close?
She figured there were many factors involved, but one that she
could isolate was that her family has always been big on BIG
ITALIAN FAMILY MEALS. There was a true sense of closeness that was established during her regular family meals.
This gave her an idea for her own staff, and an idea to help her
friends on Pearl Street.
22
“A Staff that eats together, stays together...”
23
Do a Fast Casual quiz!
Question 2 of 2
What is one obstacle that was listed as common across
all hospitality verticals on Pearl Street (and generally!)?
A.
Waste management
B.
Sanitation Standards
C.
Capital and start up costs
D.
Turnover of staff
Check Answer
24
C HAPTER 5
Putting the POS
in POSitive!
Once a business reaches a certain level of growth it needs to streamline it’s efficiency. So, while Daria has hired some staff to help her
have more time to focus on things like ingredient ordering and setting goals for the cafe, she still has to worry about monitoring the progress of Brewed Awakening financially and reporting those finances
to her accountant. She needs to survey the usage of key ingredients
and re-ordering levels to make sure her cabinets are never empty.
She needs to make sure that the staff that she has hired are actually
doing a good job, processing transactions quickly and building rapport so that clients come back daily. It’s still a lot of work if you are
just using just some spreadsheets and a calculator, which she is. This
is when a POS such as Lightspeed Restaurant comes into the picture.
A POS will help a restaurant automate many aspects of the business,
allowing the owners time to concentrate on what actually matters to
them - bringing in revenue for their business and building the image
of their restaurant.
When life gives Daria a banana, she makes banana bread.
Staying Late
At Brewed Awakening, Daria was having a tough time getting out from
underneath all of that paperwork. She really needed a way to track her
employees and sales accurately. She found that she was doing every-
P UTTING THE POS IN POS ITIVE
It’s easy for a POS provider such as ourselves to preach the virtues of a Point Of Sale solution. There are so many ways in
which restaurant owners that have growing businesses can
benefit from one. It typically can be summed up by looking at
the time they will save after installing a system like Lightspeed.
But don’t just take our word for it. Become learned.
Why would a restaurant need a POS? Click here.
https://aptito.com/blog/2015/12/16/why-everyone-is-makin
https://www.allbusiness.com/the-benefits-of-moving-to-a-poi
thing manually and in excel sheets and she was definitely no statistician.
(She failed stats class in high school!) She found herself walking around
the cafe in circles. She also didn’t know which of her baked goods or beverages were selling the best so she was just continuing to bake the same
menu items in the same quantities, daily. She admitted to her therapist
that she was finding herself making decisions based on what she felt
like, rather than what was going to make her cafe money. She loved her
banana bread.
Hitting the Books
Daria was speaking regularly with her therapist about the stresses of operating the cafe. She realized she needed to discuss process with her accountant because she was concerned about her management capabilities of the cafe’s finances. He pointed out that all of the money coming in
and out of the store was tracked using a single spreadsheet and a calculator. This included the daily hours of her employees, which she always
had difficulty with because sometimes the part time girls would get to go
home early if the store was quiet and one of the girls was taking a lot of
time off to study for her exams, which was not being noted anywhere.
She had to consider something more advanced for tracking employees
clocking in and out. This was not a long term solution for success. Not
only did she need to consider an accounting software to formalize the
process, but she needed to also track employees time in and out of the
cafe much closer.
26
P UTTING POS INTO POS ITIVE
Interesting Restaurant Fact
Dealing With Time
All of the administrative tasks were piling up and Daria felt that
she was more like a file clerk than a business owner at times. So,
after talking to a friend of hers, who had worked in a small Res-
Lightspeed polled Restaurant Owners asking the following question:
taurant for several years, she was convinced that she needed a
system where she was able to store and track all of the store information accurately without having to work past midnight
every night to do it. So, she decided to invest in a POS.
And it changed her business, and her life.
These are the top answers.
What is Restaurant Success, in a single phrase?
#1 Making Money
#2 Customer Experience
#3 Operational Ease
#4 Teamwork
#5 Visibility of inventory
#6 Security
Down to business with the POS
The POS was introduced to her by a Sales Rep at Lightspeed
and the onboarding team was able to sit with her for 2 hours
and walk her through all the important steps in setting up her
cafe. The menu creation was something she had already spent
months thinking about so the process was already mostly
done, it was just a matter of creating key categories, all the
products and then placing the products within the created
categories. Simple! She had already hired a food photographer that she met at a Foodie Party who had helped her take
pictures of all her menu items. She was set.
#7 Loss Prevention
Think to yourself: How can a POS help Restauranteurs reach
success? ....think....think harder...hope that didn’t hurt too
much.
Some initial things Daria will consider when start,
ing up with a POS:
• Menu: Images of my menu options. What are my categories? Products? What combos will I offer? Will I have a
fixed menu for brunch?
• Timed Events: There are some menu items I would like
to discount or create a fixed price for. Should I have this
be time limited or ongoing? Sunday Funday Specials?
• Payment Methods: Set up what payment methods you
will accept. Should I accept American Express?
Complete the quiz below before continuing on (I’m watching)
• Employee permissions: I should be careful which roles
receive access to various areas of the POS. It is always
better to be conservative with permissions versus having
Question 3 of 3
What did Daria identify as a major area of improvement in her cafe?
to retroactively fix a problem, right?
• Customers: I will definitely consider tracking customer
information so the system is able to provide me with
helpful information about their favourite items on my
A. Tipping
B. Waste Management
C. Employee clock-in/out
menu.
• Floorplan set up: I will create a floorplan in the POS that
best mimics my own cafe set up. That way, doing table
management is easy!
D. Server errors
Check Answer
28
Daria is so excited that you cared to read about her journey opening up Brewed Awakening. It’s been a whirlwind for her, as I am
sure it is for you, as you begin to formalize your learning of the
hospitality industry. Thanks for learning, alongside her. To solidify your understanding of all concepts covered, please take the
Resto 101 quiz in Litmos. If you ever find yourself on Pearl
Street, Daria invites you in for a free coffee on the house ;)
Adding images to menu items can help servers
really sell the products, and the inclusion of ingredients can help them remember the recipe!
Daria heard that the POS they bought is super user friendly. She
hopes the learning curve for her staff isn’t too steep. How long
should she expect this to take? She hopes they will be up and running within 10 days of opening. She heard that the company they
purchased it from (Lightspeed, duh!) offers complimentary onboarding. What a nice touch. Most of the competition charges for
onboarding.She will definitely take advantage of that offer and
maybe try to schedule a full team onboarding so everyone can
start on the same page.
29
All Day
The total amount. If table 12 orders two orders of salmon and table 19 orders four orders
of salmon, that’s “six salmon, all day.”
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Back of the house
The back end of the restaurant, the kitchen and storage areas, where the chefs, cooks,
prep people and dishwashers primarily work.
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Barback
An assistant for the bartender. A bar-back usually runs glasses through the dishwasher,
stocks the coolers and liquor bottles, and pours beer, wine and non-alcoholic drinks for the
wait staff. A bar-back can also double as a busser (below).
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Bev Nap
The little square paper napkin which a beverage rests on.
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Brasserie/Bistro
A brasserie has evolved from the original French idea of a type of restaurant serving moderately priced hearty meals—French-inspired "comfort foods"—in an unpretentious setting.
Bistros usually have more refined decor, fewer tables, finer foods and higher prices.
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Bussing
Term used for clearing off and resetting tables after guests have left. In busier restaurants
this is done by the busboy (also called a busser).
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Cafe
Cafés are informal restaurants offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches.
Coffee shops, while similar to cafés, are not restaurants due to the fact that they primarily
serve and derive the majority of their revenue from hot drinks. Many cafés are open for
breakfast and serve full hot breakfasts. In some areas, cafés offer outdoor seating. The
word comes from the french Café, which designates a coffee shop and/or bar in France.
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Campers
Customers that hang out at a table all night long and even turning off all the lights doesn’t
get rid of them at closing time.
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Casual Dining
A casual dining restaurant is a restaurant that serves moderately-priced food in a casual atmosphere. Except for buffet-style restaurants, casual dining restaurants typically provide
table service. Casual dining comprises a market segment between fast food establishments
and fine dining restaurants. Casual dining restaurants often have a full bar with separate
bar staff, a larger beer menu and a limited wine menu. They are frequently, but not necessarily, part of a wider chain. In Italy, such casual restaurants are often called "trattoria", and
are usually independently owned and operated.
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Commis
An apprentice. A cook who works under the Chef de Partie to learn the station and responsibilities.
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Comp
To give something away free. Usually done by owners or managers to get brownie points
from important customers. Also used to smooth over problems. i.e. “Table 12’s chicken was
raw!” “Comp the whole table desserts and coffee!”
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Cremate it
To almost burn something or be very overcooked; i.e “Table 5 wants his burger cremated”
(extra extra well done).
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Deuce
A table with only two seating spaces. For example, “Seat this deuce at Table 12ʺ (see Top).
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Double
Two shifts in a row; e.g. “I’m exhausted, I just pulled a double.”
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Drop
Start cooking the accompanied item; e.g. “The mussels are almost done, better drop the
calamari.”
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Dupe
The ticket/information that gets submitted to the kitchen so the cooks can cook orders of
food.
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Dying/Dead Plate
Food that is nearly or totally un-servable, either due to temperature, appearance, the waitstaff talking to look to pick up from the hot line or wrong ingredients; for example, “My
shrimps dying in the window, because I don’t have veg (accompanying vegetables) to go
with it!”
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Expeditor
Person (or screen) that make sure the orders are being cooked in a timely fashion, so that
all orders for a table are ready at the same time and make sure that once the food is
cooked, servers run food to the table while it's warm and ready.
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Family Style
Family style restaurants are a type of casual dining restaurants where food is often served
on platters and the diners serve themselves. It can also be used to describe family-friendly
diners or casual restaurants. The difference between casual dining and family style is that
there is no alcohol.
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Fast Casual
Fast casual restaurants are primarily chain restaurants. Fast casual restaurants usually do
not offer full table service, but many offer non-disposable plates and cutlery. The quality of
food and prices tend to be higher than those of a conventional fast food restaurant but
may be lower than casual dining. Typically customers would order from the cash and seat
themselves.
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Fine Dining
Fine dining restaurants are full service restaurants with specific dedicated meal courses. Décor of such restaurants features higher-quality materials, with establishments having certain rules of dining which visitors are generally expected to follow, often including a dress
code.
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Fire/Fire it
Order given by the head of the line to the other cooks to begin preparation of certain orders, such as “Fire those shepherds pies!”
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Food Cost
What a menu item costs to prepare. The cost of a chicken entrée with meat, sauce, vegetables and starch is your food cost. Most restaurants run between a 30-40% food cost, this
does not include the cost of overhead that needs to get added in before you start making a
profit.
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Front of House
The front end of the restaurant, the dining room and bar where the customers are served
and wait staff, bartenders, bussers and dining room managers primarily work.
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Garde-Manager
Pantry chef/station. The position responsible for cold food preparation, including salads,
cold appetizers and plating desserts.
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In the Weeds
A term that means it is really, really busy. For example, if the kitchen has several orders
across the board and are having a hard time keeping up, they are “in the weeds.”
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Jeopardy Crowd
Early bird diners. Need to be home early or looking for cheap meals that include everything
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No show
Employee who does not show up and does not call or a Reservation that does not show up
and does not call.
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On a Rail/ On the Fly
Something needed quickly, like yesterday.
me a well done tender…on the fly.”
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“I need table 2’s salads on a rail!”
Or, “Give
Overhead
The added in factors when you are costing out menu products to make sure you are making a profit. Overhead may include electricity costs, paper and chemical products, employee salaries and any additional costs that may be relevant in serving an item.
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Party
A group of people at a table.
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POS (Point of Sale)
A point of sale system is a computer system that helps businesses track sales. It also tracks
employee sales (who sold the most during a shift) and which dishes are sold most often. It
can provide valuable information in the form of reports that can help inform purchasing
decisions.
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Pub
Mainly in the UK and other countries influenced by British culture, a pub (short for public
house) is a bar that sometimes serves simple food fare. Traditionally, pubs were primarily
drinking establishments with food in a secondary position, whereas many modern pubs
rely on food as well, to the point where gastropubs are often essentially fine-dining establishments, known for their high-quality pub food and concomitantly high prices. A typical
pub has a large selection of beers and ales on tap.
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Push
“Sell” it.
Put it in the window or “We only have two orders of sole left, push it.”
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Rollup
Silverware rolled into a napkin, usually linen but can be paper.
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Saucier
Sauté Chef/station. The chef de partie responsible for all the sautéed items and their
sauces.
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Sections
Many restaurant dining rooms are divided into sections, and each section goes to a particular wait staff each shift.
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Server
The preferred term for waiter or waitress, for example, “Could you find my server, please, I
need a refill on my Pepsi.”
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Shelf life
The amount of time in storage that a product can maintain quality, freshness and edibility.
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Sidework
Work performed by front of the house staff
ing silverware).
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(e.g., refilling salt and pepper shakers, polish-
Stiffed
A customer has left the restaurant without tipping the server.
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Table Turn
Number of times a table has had the full revolution of service from being seated to getting
the check and then reset for the next group of customers.
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Turn and Burn
Turn a table quickly (usually because there is a long waiting list for tables). see Table Turn
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Turnover Rate
How fast tables empty and fill during a shift. A high turnover rate means more people have
eaten and gone, while a slow turnover rate means the same people have been at the table
for a long time, or the table is sitting empty.
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Upsell
To suggest a higher priced item. “I’d like a glass of merlot, please.”
at $6.00 a glass as opposed to the house vino at $4.00 a glass.
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suggesting Iron Horse
Well Drinks
“Well” drinks are made from the inexpensive house liquors on hand. i.e. If you ask for a unspecified gin and tonic you will get whatever gin they serve as opposed to a Tanqueray and
tonic.
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