Most restaurant point of sale systems offer hundreds of reports to help you run your restaurant. But who has time to review and understand them all? Here's a rundown of the top 5 reports we love - and why! These reports are available in the Thr!ve & FireFly POS systems, and your system probably has something similar.
1. Void Details
If you run a restaurant, you've just got to review your voids. Voided orders are the #1 method of theft in the restaurant business - and even with security and reporting, many employees get away with it when owners or managers just aren't paying attention. Check your void reports daily, and look for order time vs. the void time. If they are more than 15 minutes apart, it's a red flag.
2. Income Summary
The Income Summary is a great overview of your restaurant business; in our point-of-sale system it shows you a breakdown of the % of sales by order type, and the % of sales by hour. Just great information for understanding how your business is working.
3. Item Sales
Of course your product mix is super important, and the Item Sales report lets you see exactly what is selling. Drill down to see specific items, sizes and modifiers. Want to see what isn't selling? The "Menu Item Performance" report is great because it shows every item, including those with no sales. It also shows how customers have modified your items, for instance if they have added extra toppings onto a specialty pizza or what toppings they've put on their "build your own" combinations. Maybe you'll get some ideas for new specialities!
4. Order Type by Interval
With this report, you can select order types and set your time interval, such as by hour or by 15 minutes. This is a very handy report for scheduling. If you estimate that each driver can take 4 orders per hour, check this report to determine how many drivers you'll need each hour. (Of course, forecast deliveries per hour are also shown at the top of your daily schedule builder).
5. Labor Sales
Labor is the #1 controllable cost in your restaurant, and this report gives you a pulse on exactly how you are doing with labor. Successful managers are obsessively checking this report throughout the day. As the labor/sales % goes down throughout the lunch rush, keep an eye on it. The minute it goes up a tick, it's time to send someone home. This report is also available right on your manager home page both in text and graph format.
With these five reports in hand, you'll be able to keep your restaurant running smoothly. But we can't stop at 5! Our customers mentioned 3 more they love:
6. Item Forecast
This report lets you select an item or group of items, and choose how many days total you want to forecast for. The system will look at your average same day sales over the past several weeks and give you a total forecast for that item. Want to know how may large dough balls you'll need over the next 3 days? The Item Forecast report will give you a good idea.
7. Phone Calls
Sometimes the simplest reports can be the most useful! The Phone Call report is a simple log of all inbound calls, captured off the callerID system. It comes in handy if you misplace a customer phone number, want to double check the customer information, or even to verify that your employee really did call in to say they would be late.
8. Customer Advanced Search
Okay, so this one is not really a report, but restaurant owners can't do without the Advanced Search options. Find customers who have ordered more than 5 times total, but haven't ordered in the past 30 days - give them a call to find out what went wrong. Or find those customers who've ordered more than 5 times but never ordered a sandwich. You can apply a credit for a "free sandwich with pizza purchase" on their next order and maybe you'll gain some new lunch time visitors!
Your restaurant POS system is a gold mine of information about your business. Take a few minutes to explore the reports and you'll find out all sorts of interesting things!
Tab the button to learn more about Thr!ve POS...the only pizza & delivery point of sale system built from scratch by industry experts (that love pizza as much as you do!)
