Back when rivers were still clean and houses were made of clay, people still sold goods and owned businesses. And like any good business, they knew they needed some sort of POS system. Even the early man knew how important it was to keep track of profits, inventory and customers even though their system was just a bunch of well carved stone or clay tablets.

Since then, we’ve had the fortune of living through the invention of paper and ink saving us the time in making faster records. For any successful establishment, it is important to learn from the data you have to improve on the goods and services you offer. With F&B, it’s all about a well-oiled system – a smooth communication between staff for ordering and preparing meals, tracking payment and pleasing customers. 

Ye old Cash Register

The first POS system could only keep track of the number of transactions made and reduced the chance of employee theft. More commonly called the cash register, the mechanical device was invented by James Ritty in 1878 and this is where the iconic sound ‘Ka-ching’ came from.

And thus started the evolution of Cash Registers – each uniquely designed having various functionalities. But it still wasn’t the most secure system and couldn’t do much else like keep detailed records. When it came to chain restaurants, all the cash had to be counted manually and nothing was connected.

In the end, it was just a musical tin box that did some math and stored your money. Establishments soon wanted their POS systems to do more. Enter: IBM’s Electronic Cash Registers (ECR).

Perks of a Computer

In 1973, IBM introduced the 3650 and 3660 Store Systems. These systems gave users a mainframe computer packaged as a store backend allowing them to control 128 IBM POS registers. IBM gave these establishments their first tastes of unified communication, client-server technology and simultaneous LAN Backup. Customers began receiving a full and detailed bill at the end of their purchase.

Inspired by these inventions, Gene Dosher used POS software and operated it on an Apple II. Staff used this tech to take customer orders at the frontend of the café and then immediately had the complete order printed out back in the kitchen. This software also tracked food costs and Real-time labor.

Explore the internet

Once the internet made its debut, it changed everything, including F&B operations. Fast transactions were all the rage, establishments could now complete Credit card transactions over the internet. A whole new POS Hardware was called for and in 1992, Martin Goodwin and Bob Henry created the first POS software on a Microsoft Windows platform.

This ‘all in one’ hardware came with colored widgets and touch screens. Unlike before, staff didn’t have to use a separate machine to use Credit cards. The system came with an attached credit card reader and showed all your cash and credit reports. From here on, technology didn’t just improve, it advanced.

Redefining POS System

By the early 2000’s, POS Systems morphed into a totally fortified system. Everything a restaurant or café needed was covered by its POS system. And it only continues to offer more with integrations and additions involving the latest tech trends and market demands.

Oracle Hospitality is currently the reigning POS system, offering you solutions like RES and Simphony for your F&B establishments be it stand alone, multi-chain or within hotel properties. Besides the usual features like Inventory management, Labor management, Kitchen Display System, Gift & Loyalty and Reporting and Analytics, Oracle is offering new integrations and solutions by the day.

Kiosks is one such solution, self-ordering and self-service is what most customers now prefer, especially because it lets them beat the crowd. Grab-and-Go options too are preferred by consumers who just don’t have the time to waste standing behind other customers while they make up their minds. Oracle Payment Interface is now one of the latest payment interface solution offered by Oracle.

To make the best of all these solutions, you can further adopt the latest technology within the F&B sector to empower your modern POS systems more than it already is. Moving your database to the Cloud and switching your hardware to mobile hardware will not only ease and simplify operations, but will also improve your image as a fun, modern and innovative Brand.

Room for More

We know we have everything we could ask for, until something new comes up and we start chasing that something new to have everything again. Technology works this way too, every system hits the market complete and whole but the future has many surprises for it in store.

A true sign of advancement is this chase, this sign of progress and seeking new answers. I, for one, cannot wait to see where POS technology will take us next.