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How to Increase Check Sizes Using Your Restaurant POS System

How to Increase Check Sizes Using Your Restaurant POS System

The most successful fast casual restaurant owners understand that the point of sale system they use needs to include features specifically for the way they operate. They know their business challenges and how to leverage the unique functions of a fast casual restaurant POS to grow the average check size per customer. Average check size is a crucial metric that some fast casual restaurant owners may not realize can be improved using their point of sale system.

Here are four features you need to have available in your fast casual restaurant point of sale software to help bump up the average check size: 

1. Integrated Online Ordering that Works From Any Device

Online ordering creates an additional revenue stream for fast casual restaurants. That in itself can increase total profits, but did you know that the average check size for orders placed online from any device are higher than orders placed while dining in? According to Statista, 34% of consumers spent at least $50 per order when ordering online, compared to $16-$30 per person when dining in. 

Why the increase in average check size when ordering online for carryout or delivery? A few reasons: 

No pressure

Customers don’t want to feel like they’re holding up everyone in line in order to browse the menu or place large orders. Placing orders remotely eliminates the social pressure and allows them more time to browse the menu and find additional things they’d like. 

Strategic selling

Restaurants can leverage automated prompts online to recommend complementary sides, desserts, and more. Coupling these prompts with mouth-watering photos of add-ons or toppings can entice people to add these to their orders at the last minute. 

Ease of payment

Because orders placed online are paid for with a credit card, there tends to be an uptick in the total sale. People are willing to spend as much as 83% more when using a credit card instead of cash. Offering customers the option to create an account makes it easy for them to save their payment information for future orders. 

Exclusive promotions

To boost check size even more, restaurants can send exclusive online and mobile promotions to saved customer accounts. For example, if they spend a minimum of x dollars, they can get a free dessert—which encourages higher spending.  

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2. Tablet POS 

With a tablet POS, fast casual restaurants can indirectly increase average check size by leveraging the benefits of both mobility and efficiency. Use tablets to mobilize your front-of-house staff so they can take orders from customers waiting in line to increase the speed of service. Entering orders in front of the customer can also help reduce errors, improving the customer experience and encouraging guests to spend more. 

While your fast casual restaurant may not use pay-at-the-table functions the same way a traditional restaurant might, a tablet POS can still be used to increase average check size at the tables. Customers that have already ordered and are enjoying their meals at the table may be discouraged from ordering another glass of wine or a second side of jalapeno poppers if there is a long line. However, if there is a tablet or iPad POS at the table, they can place orders for additional items easily and skip the line altogether. 

You might also be interested in downloading our eBook about tablet POS systems. 

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3. Upselling and Cross-Selling

Upselling is when you encourage customers to spend more on items they already want. Usually, this means trading in a less-expensive item for a more-expensive one, such as asking if a customer wants to upgrade their meal from a medium to a large. 

Cross-selling is recommending add-ons that complement their existing choice, like asking if they want a drink or dessert that goes well with the main item, or offering to make it a combo. 

Using data from your fast casual restaurant POS, you can delve into trends to gain insight into what customers are looking for, and offer it through the automated upselling and cross-selling prompts you can set up in your restaurant POS system. 

True, staff can (and should) be trained to upsell and cross-sell themselves, but in a busy fast casual environment, they may not always get the chance. Additionally, prompts can be placed on customer-facing displays to ensure they are always shown, contributing to higher overall average check sizes. 

4. Integration with On-Demand Delivery Services 

20% of consumers say they spend more on off-premise orders than when dining in a restaurant, according to research conducted by Restaurant Business Online. Capitalize on this by integrating on-demand delivery services into your fast casual restaurant POS, and make it easy for people to get your food, even when they don’t want to leave the comfort of their homes. 

If you already have in-house delivery services, you can expand your delivery operations with on-demand delivery services like DoorDash. Not only can this increase total sales, but it can increase average ticket size per order in the same way online and mobile ordering do. Customers are always willing to pay more for convenience, and the only thing more convenient than fast casual food is fast casual food delivered right to the door.

You may be interested in reading more about this in our blog: Delivery Services for Fast Casual Restaurants: Why It’s Crucial for Your Bottom Line

Take Advantage of Innovative Restaurant POS Software

You can bet that the restaurant down the block is already trying to figure out how to win out against you. Don’t let them. Armed with powerful fast casual restaurant POS technology deliberately engineered for restaurants like yours, you can be sure you’re using all of these check boosting techniques to: 

  • Increase the average amount spent per order 
  • Increase customer engagement
  • Beat even the toughest competitors

The fast casual restaurant experts at HungerRush understand what it takes for restaurants to get ahead, which is why we offer only the best, most innovative fast casual point of sale systems built to help you overcome your biggest challenges. For more information on HungerRush’s leading technology, and how we can help you increase profits, New call-to-action with us today. 

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