Specialty restaurants offer unique dining experiences, often focusing on a specific cuisine, theme, or concept. Some examples are salad bars, steakhouses, delis, and pay-by-weight restaurants, serving menus that are in line with the overall theme of the restaurant. For example, pay-by-weight restaurants allow customers to order food based on its weight, offering more control over portion sizes and potentially optimizing revenue for the restaurant through a fairer and sustainable pricing model.

Eats365 offers comprehensive features and solutions designed to enhance your restaurant operations. With a central POS for the main point of operations, a portable POS for tableside ordering, and a suite of other integrated modules, you can manage your entire operation seamlessly. Customize your setup by choosing various Eats365 Modules and features to best suit your restaurant’s specific needs.

In this article, you’ll learn how Eats365 Modules and features streamline your specialty restaurant workflow and benefit your restaurant operations.

Using Eats365 in a specialty restaurant workflow

With the guide below, learn how Eats365’s solutions can be useful in a specialty restaurant.

Menu management

Typical setup: 

Specialty restaurants feature curated menus that highlight a specific cuisine, ingredient, or culinary technique, often showcasing the chef's expertise and the restaurant's unique theme or concept.

A menu includes the restaurant’s whole food and beverage selection. When a menu isn’t organized properly, it can cause delays in ordering and discourage customers from exploring options, possibly decreasing overall sales.

What Eats365 can do: 

• Eats365 empowers you to create clear, organized, and presentable menus. You can easily create single and combo items, set varying pricing per item, organize menu items with categories, product types, and sub-product types, customize the menu layout, and add informative labels to items, to name a few.
• You can configure flexible pricing options for your menu items: fixed price, priced per order, or calculated based on the weight. 
• You can add modifiers to menu items that have customization options. This gives customers a way to customize their orders and allows staff to easily input the customer’s preferences.
• Using the Merchant Portal, you can import menu items and other related settings and apply updates to your menu in bulk, significantly reducing the time spent creating your menu.
• The POS allows you to create preset menu templates that you can easily switch between to suit different occasions, such as specific seasons or holidays. You can create several templates and adjust the menu content before applying a template to your POS. If your restaurant offers different menus based on the time of day, you can configure the POS to automatically display custom menus.
• For Enterprise businesses, standardized pricing can be applied to restaurants within the same location group. This allows for efficient, location-based pricing adjustments, ensuring consistency across restaurant menus.
• You can create discounts and promotions and configure them to apply automatically to an order based on conditions you set. You can also limit discount usage, as well as apply validity periods to ensure that discounts and promotions are being tracked.
• Customer-facing Eats365 Modules allow you to proactively display your menu and ongoing deals through promotional media. You can display text, images, or videos on modules such as the Pickup Display, PhotoMenu, and Customer Facing Display (CFD), allowing you to maximize your devices and achieve multiple goals with one solution.
• The Eats365 PhotoMenu and Eats365 Branded Online Store are modules where customers can place orders using their own devices. Both use the same menu as the POS, so all actions made on the POS that affect the menu, including item availability, are synced automatically to the modules.
• The POS allows you to track the cost and inventory of both menu items and their modifiers. You can also integrate supported third-party inventory and accounting services to further streamline administrative tasks.
• Special request quick keys simplify the process of noting preferences. Instead of typing out each request, staff can use one-tap buttons for common modifications, saving time and improving order accuracy.

Explore these sample scenarios to discover how Eats365 features and functions to present your menu:

Scenario 1: Creating a discount for a new promotion

Discounts and promotional deals are common offers in restaurants. They allow restaurants to offer their menu items at a more affordable price and strategically put them on promotion to drive sales or save on costs. On the other hand, it also lets customers get the best deal for their money. 

With the Merchant Portal or Eats365 POS, you can create different types of discounts and configure them to fit the conditions and requirements of the promotion. The discount can be set to apply automatically, require a discount code to use, or with limited usage, depending on how you want the discount to be used.

Scenario 2: Creating the initial menu

Creating a restaurant’s menu for the first time can require a lot of effort due to the volume, complexity, and repetition involved. Eats365 streamlines this process with tools to help you create your menu comfortably and efficiently, such as bulk import tools, menu templates, custom menus, and more.

Scenario 3: Switching menus automatically

To accommodate a large and diverse market, specialty restaurants need to periodically update the menu or offer new menu items. With Eats365, you can create custom menus that allow you to configure the POS to switch between menus automatically depending on the time and day.

Scenario 4: Pricing items by weight

Some restaurants price items by weight, offering flexibility to offer seasonal dishes, daily specials, or accommodate fluctuations in ingredient availability. You can configure items to be priced through embedded barcodes, allowing staff to determine the price of an item by simply scanning the barcode and relying on the POS to compute the final price.

Reservation and queuing management

Typical setup: 

The experience at a specialty restaurant can vary depending on the situation. While most restaurants allow customers to queue, it’s good to note that some restaurants may not have a reservation process in place. Generally, customers may join the queue or arrive shortly before their reservation, expecting to be seated at the reserved time. If there’s a queue, the restaurant may have a system in place for handling waiting customers, such as giving out queue numbers or listing a customer’s name to be called when a table is ready for them.

The reservation or queuing process is the customer’s first step into the dining experience at your restaurant. If the process isn’t efficient, it may result in errors and long wait times, negatively impacting the customer’s overall dining experience.

What Eats365 can do: 

• The POS Reservation feature allows your customers to book a table at your restaurant in advance, reducing wait times and optimizing seating capacity accordingly. Integrating the reservation function directly into the POS streamlines the reservation and seating process into a single workflow. Staff can easily place and manage reservations directly on the POS with a few steps, while customers can book reservations through your restaurant’s website using their own device, eliminating the need to contact the restaurant to reserve a table.
• The POS Queuingfeature helps organize and automate the queuingprocess in a restaurant through different types of queuingoptions:
  • Regular queuing: You can issue queue numbers to customers and set ticket types to categorize groups based on their party size, helping waitstaff identify which table is suitable for the party. For example, assigning “Ticket A” to parties of 1-2 customers lets staff know that groups under the “Ticket A” queue can occupy a table with a smaller capacity.
  • VIP queuing: You can issue VIP queuing tickets for priority customers and VIP members to move their number to the top of the queue.
  • Online queuing: Customers can queue up in advance by using the online queuing function, reducing wait time.
• Eats365 Modules that can help organize the queuingprocess in your restaurant:
  • The Eats365 Queue Kiosk is an interactive display that allows customers to print their queue tickets themselves, removing the step of person-to-person interaction to place customers in the table queue. Additionally, a queue ticket includes a QR Code that customers, who prefer not to wait at the restaurant, can scan to track their position in the queue and not miss their turn.
  • The Eats365 Queue Display shows color-coded queue numbers on a digital screen. The Queue Display is controlled through the POS, so when a table becomes available and the waitstaff calls a queue ticket on the POS, the queue number is immediately presented on the Queue Display. A Queue Display is typically placed where it’s visible to waiting customers, such as the storefront, lobby, or waiting area of a restaurant.
  • Both modules also allow you to promote your restaurant’s menu items by displaying menu items in the module’s interface.

Explore these sample scenarios to discover how Eats365 Modules and features can enhance your restaurant’s table management workflow:

Scenario 1: Ensuring accurate reservations

Accurate reservation information is essential to having a smooth business day. When customers place a reservation at your restaurant, it means they want to secure a table without worrying about long queues or lack of available tables.

The Reservation feature automates how reservations are placed. Staff can book a reservation for customers and manage reservations directly on the POS. With online reservations, customers can book a reservation using their own device, helping you save on workforce costs while simultaneously targeting the accuracy of the information associated with reservation bookings. This also allows you to plan out the day’s seating capacity in advance.

Scenario 2: There’s a long queue and wait time to be seated

Restaurants can often become very busy, especially during peak hours with many customers going to the restaurant with a reservation or as walk-ins. These instances can often leave restaurant staff overwhelmed with having to handle queuing and seating management, which can potentially lead to double bookings, frustrated customers, and other possible scenarios that might arise. The Eats365 POS Queuing feature streamlines the entire process. It assigns queue numbers, automates table assignments, and includes several helpful features such as:

• Prioritizing tickets
• Scannable QR codes for customers to track their place in the queue
• Advance queuing through the restaurant’s website

Table management 

Typical setup: 

If the restaurant’s setup offers tableside ordering, once ready for seating, customers are greeted by a host who welcomes them and shows them to their table. After being seated, the waitstaff gives the customers complimentary starters and a menu to explore. Meanwhile, the waitstaff goes back to the POS and assigns the newly seated party to the corresponding table number, adds the complimentary items to the table's tab as free items, and then goes back to the table when the customers are ready to place their orders.

During peak times, it can be hectic in the restaurant, leading to delays, disorganization, and a possibly unsatisfactory experience to start off a guest’s dining experience. Customers usually end up having to wait for their turn, either because there’s no available table yet or because tables are still being cleared and prepared for the next customers. While for waitstaff, attending to multiple tables, navigating different areas of the restaurant, and managing tasks all at once can be confusing and stressful, and can lead to critical errors that you wouldn’t want to occur especially during peak times.

What Eats365 can do: 

• The Eats365 POS allows you to digitally recreate your restaurant’s table map setup onto the POS interface, providing waitstaff with a familiar look of the floor area for easier seating. Additionally, tables on the POS are color-coded to let you know a table's current status just by looking at its color.
• The Eats365 mPOS is a handheld POS that allows staff to perform tableside seating using a mobile device. Having a device that’s easy to carry around is helpful, especially during peak hours when multiple groups of customers arrive at the same time and there are multiple waitstaff working. The mPOS syncs all actions performed to other mPOS devices and POS terminals that are connected to the same network in real time. This ensures that all waitstaff have visibility on which tables are occupied and which aren’t, reducing double-booking errors.
• If your restaurant offers standard complimentary items for all dining customers, you can set item(s) to be added to a table automatically upon seating. With this function, waitstaff wouldn’t need to worry about adding the complimentary items manually. In turn, this also ensures that the inventory of free items is being tracked by the POS.
• The POS and mPOS are both equipped with table linking, sharing, and splitting functions to conveniently connect or share tables between multiple groups, helping you maximize the seating capacity in your restaurant.

Explore these sample scenarios to discover how Eats365 Modules and features can enhance your restaurant’s table management workflow:

Scenario 1: Large group requests to sit together

When a large group arrives and your restaurant lacks a single table to accommodate them, seating them at multiple tables can create confusion for the kitchen and waitstaff. Unaware staff and mistakes with table numbers can disrupt order flow. The Eats365 POS solves this with a table linking feature that allows you to connect multiple tables seamlessly to accommodate a large party. Orders placed for these linked tables will share the same table number and have the same order numbers even if the tables are physically separated. As an added feature, linking tables is also available on the Eats365 mPOS module, so waitstaff can perform this action in real-time.

Scenario 2: Waitstaff keeping up with a full house

A packed restaurant can overwhelm staff, which can lead to errors and a chaotic workflow. To combat disorganization, Eats365 offers a number of useful features to streamline operations, reduce workload, and boost efficiency:

• The Eats365 mPOS allows waitstaff to perform seating using a lightweight and portable POS. Not only does the mPOS remove the need for waitstaff to write down notes or rely on memorization, but it also provides them with mobility to perform their tasks faster and more efficiently.
• The POS table map interface is designed with utmost consideration for busy environments. The color-coded table statuses allow the waitstaff to understand what a table needs just by looking at its color.
• If your restaurant offers complimentary items to all dining customers, you can configure items to be added to a table automatically upon seating, relieving staff of a simple but crucial step in ensuring inventory tracking.

Order management 

Typical setup:

The ordering experience may vary depending on the specialty restaurant’s setup. Customers may queue to get their order taken wherein payment will also be settled in the same interaction, or they can be seated and accommodated by waitstaff for their orders. Once an order is taken, it’s relayed to the kitchen, either manually or via a ticket. When there are multiple departments involved in a process, errors can occur and vital details can be lost or misinterpreted along the way, potentially leading to stressful situations where a seemingly small mistake becomes the culprit for bigger challenges.

What Eats365 can do: 

• Eats365 streamlines your workflow with specialized modules, helping you incorporate devices that serve specific purposes into how order-taking is performed and how orders are sent to the kitchen.
  • The Eats365 POS is the restaurant’s central hub for taking and managing orders. Confirmed orders are sent to the kitchen printer automatically and optionally, to the Eats365 Kitchen Display System. This eliminates error-prone manual steps, ensuring accuracy and speeding up service.
  • The Eats365 mPOS is a portable POS that allows waitstaff to take tableside orders that go directly to the kitchen, similar to the functions of the main POS. This speeds up the ordering process, as well as reduces customer wait time and staff efforts.
  • The Eats365 PhotoMenu is a visual menu that can be set to handheld mode or fixed to a table. Dine-in customers can use the PhotoMenu to place orders themselves. All orders placed on the PhotoMenu go to the POS for verification, unless you’ve configured new orders to be accepted automatically, ensuring that every order placed is properly tracked. Additionally, the Service Call function lets customers call the attention of waitstaff with a tap of a button, ensuring no customer is unintentionally overlooked.
  • The Eats365 Dynamic Digital Menu lets you present your menu on a display that you can easily configure, update, and manage. 
  • The Eats365 Customer Facing Display (CFD) is a screen that shows order details directly to the customer. With the CFD, customers can ensure that their orders are accurate. Additionally, the CFD can be configured to display various forms of media, which can be utilized to show promotions.
  • The Eats365 Branded Online Store is a unique website for your restaurant where customers can place pickup and delivery orders. You can easily manage the website and its settings through the Merchant Portal.
  • The Eats365 Scan to Order (Bring Your Own Device) lets dine-in customers place orders from their own devices. Orders can first be verified or configured to be accepted automatically, depending on your preferred setup.
  • The Eats365 Marketplace is an online platform where multiple restaurants can showcase their menus and attract customers. Customers can easily browse restaurants by category or by searching directly, and order for pickup or delivery. The Eats365 Marketplace allows you to add your menu, sync orders with the POS, offer discounts, and more.
  • The Eats365 Pickup Display allows you to display order numbers on a screen for customers to see. The Pickup Display allows customers to focus on one central reference to know when their order is ready. This eliminates the need to assign staff to call out order numbers as orders are ready for serving.
• When setting up your POS, you can create kitchen stations to automate how orders are routed to the kitchen. By assigning each station to a specific area in the kitchen, orders are sent to the appropriate kitchen station for preparation.

Explore these sample scenarios to discover how you can use the Eats365 POS to place and manage orders: 

Scenario 1: Expanding ways to order

Having a simple point-of-sale system may be enough for basic operations, but leveraging diverse ordering methods can help your restaurant gain additional sales, minimize queues and wait time, and enhance the overall dining experience by providing customers with flexibility and convenience.

Eats365 offers user-friendly modules that expand your restaurant’s ordering channels:

• Eats365 Branded Online Store: A dedicated website for your restaurant where customers can place pickup and delivery orders. Additionally, the Scan to Order (BYOD) and Self Checkout features allow dine-in customers to order and pay using their own devices by scanning a QR Code.
• Eats365 Marketplace: A shared online ordering platform (with other merchants) that provides increased market exposure and allows customers to place pickup and delivery orders.
• Eats365 PhotoMenu: A visual menu device that can be affixed to a table or handed out to customers for order-taking. 

Scenario 2: Handling unexpected large groups

Restaurants usually use records, factual data, and other factors to forecast how many customers will be dining at the restaurant for the day. However, when an unexpected volume is added, such as a large group dining in as walk-ins, this might cause the restaurant to work double time to fit the large group into the workflow. Eats365 features help you prepare for busy days with features and devices that streamline operations, including: 

• Organized menus with modifiers: Ensure easy navigation and order customization for staff.
• Portable mPOS: Enable tableside ordering for speed and accuracy.
• Surcharge: Accommodate larger groups with appropriate pricing.
• KDS and Expedite Display: Provide clear kitchen visibility for seamless order
• PhotoMenu: Allow customers to place order themselves using a visual self-service menu.

Scenario 3: Updating prices across different restaurant groups

The pricing of menu items is determined by different factors, two of which are the restaurant’s type and location. Some restaurants have more than one branch in the same location or region to account for the target market in that area. For enterprise businesses, the Eats365 POS allows you to group restaurants depending on their location and configure menu items to have the same pricing across all restaurants in that group. This helps reduce frequent updating efforts and ensures consistency, especially when costs fluctuate.

Kitchen management

Typical setup: 

Once the customer has placed their order with the cashier or waitstaff, the order is sent to the kitchen for preparation (along with notes and special requests). The kitchen staff then prepares each dish, then sends them to the expeditor. The expeditor ensures that the order is complete, the plating is presentable, and the quality is up to par with the restaurant’s standards. If the order is for pickup or delivery, it’s placed in a designated area for pickup, organized by order number or customer name.

Accurate order transmission from waitstaff to kitchen staff is crucial and gets complicated during peak hours or with large orders. This can lead to errors, especially with special requests, customization, and allergens. Kitchen staff depend on this information for timely preparation, and mistakes cause delays, stress, and poor customer experience.

What Eats365 can do: 

• The Eats365 POS allows you to send orders directly to the kitchen by printing a kitchen ticket. Kitchen staff use the tickets as basis for a preparation, relaying order information more accurately.
• The POS kitchen station function sends items to the appropriate preparation area automatically. This way, each station has a designated printer that only receives relevant orders, streamlining kitchen workflow and reducing errors.
• The Eats365 Kitchen Display System (KDS) equips the kitchen area with an interactive color-coded screen. This is especially valuable during peak hours as it allows kitchen staff to easily see and manage incoming orders. The KDS offers additional benefits such as order prioritization, order status updates, easy access to order history, an intuitive order list, and more.
• The Eats365 Expedite Display streamlines order dispatch by providing kitchen staff with an easy-to-read interface. The interface uses color coding to indicate the time elapsed since an order was received and itemizes orders to make sure everything is complete before the order is marked ready for pickup.
• The Eats365 Pickup Display allows you to display order numbers on a screen for customers to see. The Pickup Display allows customers to focus on one central reference to know when their order is ready. This eliminates the need to assign staff to call out order numbers as orders are ready for serving.
• You can connect pagers to the POS to automate the order dispatching process and allow customers to wait for their orders comfortably from their table. Once an order is ready to be picked up, the POS remotely activates the pager to let the customer know to collect their order from the designated pickup station.
• Depending on the dining types available at your restaurant, you can configure your Eats365 setup to support dine-in, takeout, pickup, online ordering, and even catering.

Explore these sample scenarios to discover how Eats365 Modules and features can help you manage the order-to-kitchen workflow in your restaurant:

Scenario 1: Mismatched or inaccurate order information due to large order volumes

Unexpected large orders, especially during busy hours, can overwhelm staff and lead to disruptive errors. This emphasizes that a specialty restaurant should always be prepared to handle unexpected volume to prevent mishaps that may affect numerous workflows.

The Eats365 POS, Customer Facing Display, Kitchen Display System, and Expedite Display offer easy-to-use design, intuitive controls, and color-coded interface to help staff notice crucial order information and prevent disastrous misses.

Scenario 2: Preventing delays in order preparation

Bulk orders, unexpected large groups, and staffing problems are some common causes of delays in restaurants. To mitigate this, you can utilize Eats365 devices and features such as ensuring your menu is well-organized for staff to use, setting up kitchen stations to automate order routing within the kitchen, and equipping kitchen staff with informative and controllable displays, such as the Kitchen Display System and Expedite Display.

Scenario 3: Missed details that lead to incomplete orders

Kitchen staff depend on accurate order information. Usually, this is in the form of a kitchen ticket or order details that appear on the kitchen display. During peak times, it’s possible that some details might be overlooked. Eats365 offers solutions that help your staff ensure accurate order-taking:

• The Eats365 Expedite Display adds an extra layer of quality control in the kitchen before any order goes out. This allows expeditors to see a detailed view of each order, including special requests and inclusions, ensuring nothing is missed before dispatching.
• The Eats365 POS allows you to add modifiers to items beforehand, allowing staff to build an order that’s specific to the customer’s preferences. Additionally, adding special request quick keys can speed up the order-taking process by providing one-tap buttons for special requests.
• Add informative labels on menu items and highlight specific attributes with menu tags. This feature can be useful if you want to inform customers if certain menu items contain special ingredients that may be important for specific dietary needs.

Membership

Typical setup: 

Membership programs at specialty restaurants typically offer rewards and incentives to loyal customers, encouraging repeat visits and brand engagement. Customers can earn points or rewards for every purchase they make. These rewards may include free food items, discounts, special offers, or exclusive promotions, providing added value and fostering customer loyalty.

What Eats365 can do: 

• The Eats365 POS allows you to utilize Eat365 membership or integrate your restaurant’s existing membership system, create membership plans, use membership cards, create member profiles, and more.
• The POS Membership feature allows you to create member profiles and add customers to orders, track the order history of a customer, and use membership data to improve the business.
• Customers can use their points when ordering through your restaurant’s website. This allows customers to easily manage and spend their earned points from their own devices.

Explore these sample scenarios to discover how you can use membership features on the Eats365 POS to build your restaurant’s loyalty program:

Scenario 1: Setting up a loyalty program

A loyalty program is essential to make customers feel appreciated for their patronage. It can be configured in various ways, mainly with rules in place for earning and spending points. With the Eats365 Membership feature, you can establish your loyalty program by creating membership plans, setting points rules, issuing membership cards, and more.

Scenario 2: Guest wants to use their points to pay

Eats365 lets you easily customize your membership program to allow point redemption. You determine how members earn points, their redemption value, and any relevant restrictions. This flexibility ensures both customer satisfaction and alignment with your restaurant’s loyalty program goals.

Payments

Typical setup: 

When customers are ready to settle their bill, they typically request it from a waitstaff. This involves retrieving the bill from the POS, processing the payment, and then returning to the table (possibly with change or a payment card reader).

During peak hours in a specialty restaurant setting, this process can get even slower. Multiple tables might request their bills at once, leading to delays and frustration. This can disrupt the dining experience and extend the guest’s wait time at the restaurant.

What Eats365 can do:

• Create various types of tenders such as cash, major credit cards, online payments, and more. For greater flexibility, you can also create custom tenders and integrate payment services specific to your region. This allows you to cater to a wider range of customer preferences, making your restaurant more accessible.
• With the POS, you can settle a bill using other means of payment, such as gift cards, cash vouchers, discount coupons, and member points, providing monetary value in non-cash form.
• You can configure the POS to add a surcharge automatically during peak times to account for the extra effort and physical strain restaurant staff endure to be able to accommodate all customers in a timely manner.
• The POS can include a QR code on the bill that allows guest to pay for their bill using their own device, reducing wait time and speeding up the payment process.
• The Split By function allows customers to pay for their meal separately. Each customer can use their preferred payment method to pay for their order.

Explore these sample scenarios to discover how Eats365 Modules and features can help streamline payment processing for your restaurant:

Scenario 1: Customers want to use their e-wallet for payment

With new payment methods becoming more used and widely accessible, POS systems can become outdated if only preset tenders are available. With the Eats365 POS, you can keep up with the growing payment landscape by creating custom tenders, integrating third-party services, and adopting new ways of paying such as through QR codes or e-wallets. Depending on your configured features, you can also allow customers to pay using their own devices, accelerating the checkout process.

Scenario 2: Group wants to pay for their orders separately

When a group of friends dines at a restaurant, they may plan to pay for their own meals separately to avoid having to split the bill after eating. Typically, the whole table’s bill is generated, expecting only one payment to be made for the whole bill. With the Eats365 POS Split By function, waitstaff can conveniently separate a bill by item or amount, depending on what the table requested. This allows customers to pay for their meal separately, and each by using their preferred payment method which might differ per guest.

Reporting and analytics

Typical setup:

There are many uses for data gathered through reporting and analytics. Most commonly, restaurants use this information to improve their menu, optimize restaurant workflow for current trends, keep up with the growing market, track and forecast the financial aspect of restaurant operations, and more.

What Eats365 can do:

• The Merchant Portal, allows you to generate various comprehensive operations-related reports such as Sales Summaries, Transaction Reports, Shift Reports, Inventory Reports, and Returns Reports, to name a few. These reports provide valuable insights to inform your decision-making.
• The Eats365 Kitchen Display System (KDS) tracks order wait time, giving you insight into staff productivity and order turnaround time.
• With the Revenue Center feature, you can divide your restaurant into different revenue-generating parts, allowing you to easily track the income of each area. 

Explore these sample scenarios to discover how Eats365 Modules and features can help you make informed decisions for your business:

Scenario 1: Deciding which menu items to change

Refreshing your menu keeps the dining experience exciting. However, knowing which items to change or retain is crucial. The Merchant Portal’s analytics tools provide valuable insights into customer preferences. You can use this data to determine which menu items are popular and make informed business decisions based on this data.

Scenario 2: The workflow efficiency needs improvement

New restaurants often optimize their workflow over time using data to pinpoint areas for improvement. The Eats365 POS provides this crucial information:

• KDS Insights: Track order preparation times, identifying bottlenecks.
• Reporting: Analyze staff performance through reports such as Staff Performance Report and Shift Report.

These insights reveal specific areas for improvement, allowing you to streamline processes, increase efficiency, and enhance the overall customer experience.

Recommended Eats365 Modules for a specialty restaurant setup

Eats365 POS

The Eats365 POS is Eat365’s core module and acts as the central point for all interconnected modules and devices. It’s a stationary device that allows restaurant staff to perform all types of actions, including taking orders, processing payments, handling reservations, configuring POS or menu-related settings, and more. 

To ensure accurate and up-to-date information on all tools, Eats365’s cloud-based functionality performs automatic synchronization across all modules.

Hardware compatibility

To use the Eats365 POS, you’ll only need an iPad for the hardware. You can also pair other devices that serve different purposes, such as printers, cash drawers, barcode scanners, pagers, and other compatible hardware.

For more information on hardware compatibility, refer to List of compatible devices. 

Offline readiness

The POS has a built-in automatic Offline Mode feature that allows you to continue taking orders, process cash payments, and send print requests during a network outage. Once the internet connection is restored, the POS syncs all information captured during Offline Mode to the cloud automatically, preventing discrepancies in your records.

Merchant Portal

An Eats365 account comes with access to the Merchant Portal, a desktop-friendly website accessible by both staff and administrators (based on their assigned permissions). The Merchant Portal is primarily used for reporting and configuration, allowing you to generate specific reports, set up features, customize settings, apply bulk changes, and more.

Useful POS features for your specialty restaurant 

The guide below shows the POS features and functions that you can use to optimize your specialty restaurant’s workflow.

Eats365 PhotoMenu

The Eats365 PhotoMenu is a visually-focused menu designed to be used by customers themselves. You can set the PhotoMenu to be fixed to a table or be given to customers during order-taking, allowing customers to place their orders on their own. The PhotoMenu promotes self-ordering, which helps eliminate a number of steps from the order-taking process and lessen the probability of errors in orders.

Features and functions:

• Customers place their own orders, eliminating having to relay order information from person to person
• Add media of current offers to entice customers and promote your restaurant’s menu
• Help customers decide what to order by proactively showcasing images of dishes
• Add exciting descriptions of each menu item
• Show the same menu items as displayed on the POS
• Hide menu items that are out of stock
• Automatically switch to a different menu at different times of the day
• Offer your menu in different languages
• Add tags to items to note specific item characteristics
• Allow applying discounts to orders on your restaurant’s website
• Ensure that orders placed on the PhotoMenu are checked and confirmed by staff before being sent to the kitchen
• Customers can digitally call staff with the tap of a button
• Synced with the POS

Eats365 Customer Facing Display

The Eats365 Customer Facing Display (CFD) is a simple screen placed in front of customers that shows their ordered items. The CFD is designed to allow customers to check the accuracy of their orders themselves, ensuring accurate order-taking. Additionally, you can also utilize the CFD to show promotional media or advertise select menu items.

Features and functions:

• Readily display a customer’s itemized order to check accuracy before proceeding to payment
• Promote your restaurant’s dishes by adding hard-to-miss visuals
• Synced with the POS

Eats365 Pay Station

The Eats365 Pay Station is a self-service payment processing device that lets customers pay for their online and PhotoMenu orders. You can connect payment terminals to a Pay Station to process non-cash payments.

Features and functions:

• Designated area for payment processing of online and PhotoMenu orders
• Connect payment terminals and integrated payments
• Add media of current offers to entice customers and promote your restaurant’s menu
• Promote self-service solutions in your restaurant
• Synced with the POS

Eats365 Dynamic Digital Menu

The Eats365 Dynamic Digital Menu displays your menu on screens such as TVs or monitors, eliminating the need to reprint or update physical menus for new offers. You can customize the Digital Menu's color scheme and interface settings, and effortlessly add or update menu items through the Merchant Portal or POS.

Features and functions:

• Update the menu using the Merchant Portal or POS
• Showcase your menu items on a visual and paperless menu
• Use on any monitor that can connect to the internet
• Classify menu items using categories
• Add individual single items and combo items
• Add modifiers to menu items
• Add tags to items to note specific item characteristics
• Help customers decide what to order by proactively showcasing images of dishes
• Present your menu in your chosen language
• Apply menu changes and keep versions of menus using menu templates
• Switch to a different menu automatically at different times of the day
• Apply pricing changes across all restaurants grouped in the same location
• Track item and modifier inventory
• Import and update items and menu settings in bulk

Eats365 Pickup Display

The Eats365 Pickup Display presents order numbers that are ready for pickup on an electronic screen, providing clear and immediate communication to customers. It’s typically installed above the restaurant’s designated pickup station so customers can see when their orders are ready to be collected.

Features and functions:

• Clear and easily readable interface
• Show order numbers as they’re marked complete on the Expedite Display
• Remove completed order numbers in real time
• Set different numbers for delivery drivers and pickup customers
• Add images of the dishes your restaurant offers to simultaneously entice customers and promote your restaurant’s menu
• Promote automation in your restaurant
• Synced with the POS and Expedite Display

Eats365 Branded Online Store

The Eats365 Branded Online Store provides your restaurant with a unique and configurable website that allows customers to place delivery and pickup orders from their own devices. Depending on your configured preferences, when a customer places an order, the order is accepted automatically or the staff has to manually accept the order. 

Features and functions:

• Customers can conveniently use their own devices to order
• Customers place their own orders, eliminating having to relay order information which can lead to incorrect orders
• Customize the website interface to fit your brand
• Offer your menu in different languages
• Add media of current offers to entice customers and promote your restaurant’s menu
• Help customers decide what to order by proactively showcasing images of dishes
• Add exciting descriptions of each menu item
• Allow applying discounts to orders directly on your restaurant’s website
• Shorter wait time or time spent at the restaurant
• Show the same menu items as displayed on the POS
• Hide menu items that are out of stock
• Switch to a different menu automatically at different times of the day
• Add tags to items to note specific item characteristics
• Synced with the POS

Scan to Order (Bring Your Own Device)

Scan to Order is a feature that allows dine-in customers to order from their own devices by scanning a QR code that directs to your restaurant’s website. Depending on your configured preferences, when a customer places an order using their own device, the order will be sent to POS and accepted automatically or the staff has to manually accept the order. 

Additionally, when paired with the Self Checkout feature, customers can also process the payment for the order with the same device, completing the whole ordering process in the same workflow.

Features and functions:

• Customers only need to access a website and conveniently use their own mobile device to order
• Customers place their own orders, eliminating having to relay order information from person to person
• Customize the website interface to fit your brand
• Offer your menu in different languages
• Add media of current offers to entice customers and promote your restaurant’s menu
• Help customers decide what to order by proactively showcasing images of dishes
• Add exciting descriptions of each menu item
• Allow applying discounts to orders on your restaurant’s website
• Show the same menu items as displayed on the POS
• Hide menu items that are out of stock
• Automatically switch to a different menu at different times of the day
• Add tags to items to note specific item characteristics
• Allow customers to consolidate orders placed on different devices into one bill
• Synced with the POS

Eats365 Marketplace

The Eats365 Marketplace is an online ordering platform that hosts various restaurants, allowing customers to browse through a restaurant catalog by category or by searching. Customers can place pickup and delivery orders directly on the Eats365 Marketplace.

Features and functions:

• Market restaurants on a shared platform to extend the reach and gain exposure
• Help customers decide what to order by proactively showcasing images of dishes
• Add exciting descriptions of each menu item
• More affordable alternative to a restaurant website
• Quick turnaround of sales remittance
• Customers can conveniently use their own devices to order
• Allow applying discounts to orders
• Use the same menu as the POS and easily manage menu items
• Synced with the POS

Eats365 Queue Kiosk

The Eats365 Queue Kiosk is a system that provides your restaurant with a self-service queue ticket printing station. It allows customers to generate their own queue ticket and get a printed copy of the ticket that includes their queue number and a QR Code, which they can scan with their mobile device to check their position in the queue using their own mobile device. The Queue Kiosk is designed to be easy to use for customers, allowing them to have a smooth start to their dining experience.

Features and functions:

• The Queue Kiosk can be paired with the Eats365 Queue Display to show the current queue on a larger display.
• To use the Queue Kiosk, you can choose from two types: 
• An all-in-one Android Kiosk with a built-in printer 
• A compact iPad and a separate, standalone printer
• Features and functions:
• Hardware and OS options
• Simple and straightforward interface
• Include party size when generating a ticket
• Print QR code for mobile visibility of queue
• Promote your restaurant’s dishes by adding hard-to-miss visuals
• Sends queue entries directly to the POS
• Promote automation in your restaurant
• Compatible with Eats365 Queue Display
• Synced with the POS

Eats365 Kitchen Display System

The Eats365 Kitchen Display System (KDS) is an interactive kitchen management display that allows kitchen staff to efficiently manage and keep track of all orders coming into the kitchen. The KDS allows staff to easily see incoming orders and mark them complete as they’re prepared.

Features and functions:

• Proactively display incoming orders to kitchen staff
• Intuitive and straightforward controls
• Sort the order list with just a few taps
• Eye-catching colors to remind kitchen staff of customer waiting time
• Automate and organize the distribution of orders across different kitchen stations
• Readily available order history for backtracking orders
• Capture and analyze data related to order preparation timeliness to improve staff and process efficiency
• Promote automation in your restaurant
• Synced with the POS

Eats365 Expedite Display

The Eats365 Expedite Display streamlines order dispatch from your kitchen. Its intuitive design emphasizes timely service, ensuring that orders are sent to tables in a timely manner.

Features and functions:

• Provide kitchen staff visibility into outgoing orders
• Orders are presented in an itemized format for full visibility
• Intuitive and straightforward controls
• Synced with the POS, KDS, and Pickup Display
• Promote automation in your restaurant