Quality Control and the POS System

An excellent report for tracking quality control is available on the best POS systems.  Micros has an end of period report designed to highlight major issues with an emphasis on employees and adherence to company policies.  The Employee Variance Advisory Report * (see example below) shows discounts, voids, errors, returns, cancellations and transaction anomalies for a shift, day, week, or month.

Careful scrutiny of the discounts, returns and cancellations provides insight into your guest satisfaction performance.  Restaurants with abnormally high returns are serving customers meals which fail to meet customer expectations.  Perhaps the steak was over cooked or the soup was ice cold.  I have been in kitchen offices for many years and the arguments over "fussy guests" always pique my interest. 

Some real issues I recall include:  cole slaw left under heat lamps on a BBQ platter, a steak returned due to a green interior (badly spoiled - not an aging problem), burnt pizza, burnt toast, raw fish, a burger still frozen in the middle, chicken leg with blood in the joint, mushy pasta and rice, salty soup and many wrong orders.  These problems show up in the POS audit report.

Returns indicate customer dissatisfaction with a possible loss of future business, potentially higher food and beverage costs, and potential food poisoning issues.  Voids, discounts, cancellations and check edits impact revenue and profit.

Track the information included on these POS audit reports over time.  Closely monitor the each incident including a description of the problem, the employee responsible, the manager on shift and the solution offered to the guest.  Develop a comprehensive response to customer complaints.  A company can turn problems into opportunities with a top notch customer complaint response program.   

*Thanks to Dave Smelson, Senior District Sales Manager at Micros, for sharing the latest Micros reports with our readers.