Close Out the Old Year, Ring in the New

Analyzing Your Business with POS Technology

The year is zooming to a close. Nobody knows better than a pizzeria operator how crazy the last two months of the year can be. Your point-of-sale system can be a valuable tool for managing the year-end chaos and prepping for 2008. Here are a few tips to make the new year your best one ever!

Say Thanks!
It's simple to query your customer database for the year's top spenders. Let them know you appreciate their business with a special 2-for-1 offer, free dessert, or $10 off their next order. However you say thank you, your customers will appreciate the personal touch.

Discover Your Bestsellers
You may think it's your barbecue wings that are flying out the door, when it's really your deep-dish special that keeps your customers coming back. Use your POS system to discover the year's top sellers. Phoenix™ Point-of-Sale, for example, has a built-in Item Sales Report that instantly details what's hotÉand what's not.

With this information, you can plan next year's menu. Offer variations on your best-selling pizzas. Or see if you can increase the price a bit without impacting sales. It's all up to you.

Dump the Duds
Conversely, consider which menu items are getting stale. Maybe your new pasta penne dish didn't take off like you'd hoped. Or perhaps it's time to spice up your vegetarian pizza with new toppings. Check your POS system for the slow sellers. Making menu adjustments based on correct data is a sound business decision.

Monitor Food Costs
Ouch! Your supplier raised the price of cheese again. That can have a major impact on your bottom line. A point-of-sale system with a complete inventory module such as Phoenix POS can track the increase in prices—and how those increases will boost the cost of your menu items. You can decide whether to increase your prices next year, or perhaps, find another cheese supplier.

Track Coupon Usage
Ah, coupons. Hate 'em or love 'em, they are a mainstay of pizza marketing. The end of the year is a great time to find out which coupons worked. Run a query on your coupon redemption rate. You'll learn if your Tuesday-night specials are a hit or if you should switch to Wednesday night. Is your 2-for-1 deal popular but is it cutting into your profit margin? A reliable POS system can help you make the right decisions.

Keep Up on Labor Laws
The new year means new laws. Are there new labor regulations that will affect how you do business? A good POS system can help you maintain compliance by tracking employee breaks and hours worked. Jonathan Bailey, a supervisor over seven Mountain Mike's Pizza locations in central California, relies on Phoenix POS's comprehensive timekeeping feature. "Our strict labor laws dictate that an employee has a paid 10-minute break after working a certain number of hours," says Jonathan. "With our old system, we'd have to track down the employees to make sure we weren't paying for extra-long breaks. But the Phoenix system automatically switches the employee to 'unpaid' status after 10 minutes. If an employee takes a 15-minute break, he doesn't get paid for those five minutes. It saves us time and money."

Take the time to crunch some numbers before you ring in the new year. After all, your POS system is more than computerized ordertaking. It's a tool that can make you profitable year in and year out. Call 866-678-6781 for a free online demo of the Phoenix POS System today.