Restaurant software is often referred to as a restaurant’s Point Of Sales (POS). Point Of Sales, simply put, can be defined as a form of restaurant management systems software that records sales transactions. Before the POS system was developed, many people used cash registers, or even manuals, in running their retail businesses.
But the functions of the cash register itself are no longer sufficient. So that the POS was developed. Along with the development of the era, POS also began to be used in the restaurant business, so that the term “Restaurant Point Of Sales” emerged. In Indonesia itself, this software is also often called (maybe it sounds simpler) restaurant software. For more details regarding the history of the development of Point Of Sales, you can see it on wikipedia.
So, in essence, restaurant software is software that helps you record sales transactions automatically from the menus that you sell in your restaurant. Apart from these main functions, this software also has functions that can make restaurant operations faster, more organized, and reduce human-errors. Examples are menus that are printed automatically in the kitchen or at the bar , automatic stock cutting, automatic promo settings, split bills, joint tables, and other functions.
As for hardware, what is often used is integrated hardware with a touch screen monitor. This means that integrated hardware is hardware that is made so compact (small) but complete with a monitor, CPU, cash drawer, customer display, and Magnetic Card Reader. Many restaurants choose to use integrated hardware because this hardware is more space-efficient and looks more professional.
However, of course the restaurant POS systems can also be installed on a regular computer with a regular LCD monitor. The difference is, when it is used, it might be a bit more difficult, because the cashier or waitress has to use the keyboard and mouse to operate it.