Point Of Sale Systems emerged and found their place in food service industry operations shortly after the computer became smaller than a washing machine and not much bigger than a small suitcase. For decades, they have primarily been perceived to be nothing more

than an overprice high-tech cash register.

Beyond their ability to provide touch interface for order entry, restaurant point of sale systems have evolved into a central source of transaction data, inventory management, time and attendance, and have increased speed of order processing, reduced order errors, integrated credit card processing, and helped to decrease losses due to cashier error or employee theft by creating a greater degree of

accountability for each transaction.

Today, we can hardly imagine any successful food service business, be it a fast food, drive thru, or a fine dining operation relying on hand written tickets with people yelling out orders into a busy kitchen. The confusion of missing tickets and trying to comprehend

cryptic written instructions in what appears to be multiple written languages is in itself a restaurant operator's worst nightmare.

Even though everyone could agree that restaurant point of sale systems were a valuable asset, the problems associated with them earned their own place in the hall-of-SHAME, I mean FAME. High costs, frequent breakdowns, and time consuming administration tasks

that required an intimate knowledge of the system software.

In the past decade, do-it-yourself systems or the purchase of a used system abandoned by a failed restaurant have become the options many have turned to in hopes of reducing the initial costs. Self implemented systems rarely succeed, and either become abandoned or

will ultimately require the assistance of some third party perceived to have some computer expertise. Unfortunately, the friend of a friend whom is some kind of computer wiz kid doesn't know a thing about point of sale systems, but was afraid to admit it. The used system

purchased at half of the nearly criminal price originally spent by its prior owner, is not just a television set or radio that is fully functioning after it is plugged into the wall. They will also require expertise, and usually from the same company that charged $20,000.00 for four computers and some peripheral equipment that was only worth 25% of that price.

So what is the future of restaurant point of sale? A new breed of restaurant point of sale systems has emerged. These systems are priced at reasonable prices, provide the same software and operational functionality as the more expensive "Big Name" system companies, and

have even taken the opportunity to consider and implement management and administration capabilities that are not provided in the older and more expensive traditional point of sale systems.

A good example, are the systems provided by Restaurant System Services, Inc., http://rsspos1.com a company that has entered the restaurant point of sale industry with a vision of taking the systems offered in a direction that would redefine point of sale forever. The company slogan is "Not just another POS", emphasizing that the Restaurant System Services, Inc. systems should not be characterized by the less than endearing term given point of sale systems of the past. POS "Piece Of Sh-t" has been an almost universal name jokingly given past systems because of numerous problems and failures. Next, Restaurant System Services, Inc. defines its systems as a "Restaurant Administrative and Management System", providing traditional point of sale system functions, but adding other capabilities unique to its integrated system philosophy which this writer believes best defines and describes the future of point of sale.

The system philosophy, assumes that the traditional point of sale computer and software platforms must be expanded to include administration, management, monitoring, and control functions for both onsite and remote management and administration of one, or

multiple locations on a local network or via secure internet access. These new non traditional point of sale system options include remote monitoring and control of equipment including coolers, lights, door access controls, fluid level sensors, and integrated video and audio monitoring.

One example of just how these integrated options can be used is the combined application of door, video, and audio monitoring and controls. In this application, remote accessed video and bidirectional audio combined with remote controlled door access can be used to communicate with, monitor, and permit temporary access of the restaurant by a vendor for an early morning delivery or service.

In another example, Refrigerator or freezer temperatures can be monitored via the internet, sending an alarm by email or internet connection advising when temperatures rise above acceptable temperatures for safe food storage. Equipment that was left on in error can be turned off from an offsite office or from home. Other integrated options include GPS tracking of delivery drivers, electronic ID

Verification for liquor purchases, and even cell phone signal blocking systems designed to target areas used by employees for frequent text messaging or cell phone free dining rooms that are starting to be found in many fine dining operations.

But the new direction taken by Restaurant System Services, Inc. is not just based on integration of remote accessed monitoring and control of equipment. It is also based on its commitment to offer remote administration and management capabilities designed to make managing one or multiple restaurant locations a task that can be performed from offsite, and assisted by offsite system administrators. Low cost full administration service programs are available in which remote administration of systems is performed after a restaurant closes each day. Everything from menu and price changes to custom reports is provided its service subscribers.

Here is a quote from Javier Teran, Owner of Nanas Kitchen in Arizona and an Administrative Services subscriber. "I have some computer knowledge, but even if I were to take time trying to maintain and do the updates and changes on my system, it is time I would rather

spend with my family. With the Restaurant System Services Administration program, it is like these mythical creatures come in at night and do work for me. I leave a message with a list of things to be done, and when I come in the next day it is finished and part of my system".

For more information regarding Restaurant System Services, Inc. and its products and services, visit their company web page at http://RestaurantSystemServices.com or you can contact the them by telephone at (877)500-5758.