Building a Restaurant Point of Sales Software Application

Five years ago I began searching for an easy way to track my customers, my accounts receivable, and all the other aspects of my business. I wanted to be able to share this information and access it from anywhere on a wide variety of systems. The end result was the HotPotato Restaurant Point of Sale.

My search ended with me designing and developing my own modular Point of Sale. I spent a great deal of time considering the coding technology I would use. In the end I was swayed to develop my application in visual basic with an HTML front end. Using HTML to design the user interface gave me a very simple way to use the application on a wide variety of platforms. The server may need to be Windows based system, but client machines can be any platform. Pocket PC development became a snap and Linux becomes a viable operating system for any client machines.

At first I thought this development angle might pose problems. But after using the system I can say nothing but positives about it. A web server based application defeats all the problems associated with client installation, multi-location support and ability to access from anywhere.

HotPotato can be installed either locally or on a web server, this gives it the advantage of being on a closed network or accessed off-site. Multi-location support and reporting abilities were some of the features I added first.

Over the last five years I've seen HotPotato go through a wonderful evolution that has produced it's most current version. It is easy to install and so simple to deploy that I?m embarrassed to brag about it. Truths when I say the features developed into the application are cutting edge and developed with the latest software methodologies. A great amount of time went into considering the platform for its development. There was a lot of worry that the business community wasn?t ready for a distributed web server based application. However current trends from larger software companies confirm this is not only a viable option but also how future software applications will be developed.

Being able to easily deploy, support and update thousands of systems with one install and being able to back, manage and analyze their data is the kind of power people once dreamed of. Those powers and abilities are now here in viable applications.

Restaurants are one business that can truly take advantage of using hand held PCs for order placement. The cost savings and profit increase are too obvious to ignore. Developing a system that was easy to install, deploy and maintain I looked to lead of large companies and have been more than satisfied with the results. A true multi-platform application that speeds the order process and refines the work flow to allow for better staffing, a better customer experience and a high profit.

Managing inventory was simplified by associating menu items with one or multiple inventory items supplied by specific vendors. This creates a recipe for the menu item and an accurate accounting of the inventory. By setting minimum stock number and restocking levels a restaurant can maximize their revenue by creating accurate orders that reflect the sales patterns the software reveals.

Customer management tools, delivery management, waiting lists and a wide range of catering features were all developed to round off the software. Centralizing the most common tasks and providing information on time management and sales records gives the restaurant the ability to make strategic decisions regarding their business. No piece of software is perfect and they all require good user feedback to refine them. Developing several Point of Sale Software applications has taught me just how special each business is and just how much power their software can give them.