Why You Should Integrate Toast POS with WISK Inventory Software
A POS system enables you to process payments and monitor sales and revenue, which is extremely beneficial for most commercial businesses. Depending on your type of business, the setup process will be different, and not all POS systems are created equal - some have special attributes that make them ideal for the entire restaurant operations.
Some essential characteristics to look for in a POS system are order-taking, payment efficiency, and customer data protection. Of course, you'll also want a system that is speedy and secure when it comes to processing payments. Many POS systems come with reporting and analytic features as well to help business owners manage and monitor sales progressions.
Your point of sale pos integrations with your order and inventory management can help make sure that data is always accurate and in sync. In this manner, you can not only order without worrying about superfluous items or running out of supplies but also monitor your food and beverage price more intently.
So, how do you integrate your POS with your inventory software?
That depends on your point of sale system. For this article, we’re putting the spotlight on Toast, one of the most popular POS providers for restaurants.
If you’re a Toast user (or you’re considering the solution for your business) and want to integrate the software with WISK’s inventory management platform, this post will give you everything you need to know.
Let’s get started.
What is Toast?
Toast is a restaurant management system that combines point of sale, front of the house, back of the house, and guest-facing functions into one platform. Not only does this restaurant platform have many features, but they are also unique which makes it a great choice for businesses in the food industry.
Founded in 2013 in Boston, MA, Toast rapidly gained attention and positive online reviews from local restaurants and grew through word of mouth. Toast caters to various types of restaurants including fine dining, casual dining, fast-casual, bar and nightclub, cafes, bakeries, and multi-location enterprises.
What are the features of Toast POS and why are they beneficial for your business?
Toast offers both hardware and software apps, which makes it ideal for businesses that prefer to have everything in one place. It also has a variety of features that make it perfect for restaurants that need technology to help run their business smoothly.
Let’s take a closer look at some of Toast’s most notable features and options.
The Toast Software
Point of Sale
Toast offers a cloud-based POS system that enables restaurant staff to record, manage, and process transactions. The system lets wait staff take orders tableside from the customers, and alerts them when the order is ready. Toast's POS also allows you to take payments, whether it's processing credit cards, debit cards or cash at the table and it has built-in reporting and menu management capabilities.
Order & Pay
With the COVID-19 pandemic, the company launched a contactless ordering functionality that enables diners to place and pay at the table using their mobile device. Toast's Order & Pay feature helps restaurant business owners and customers minimize contact and stay safe during the pandemic.
Online Ordering
With Toast, companies can launch an online ordering portal that lets customers place and manage orders and then pay with credit cards across all their devices. Orders are sent directly to your kitchen, eliminating the need for double entry. You also get a notification for incoming orders ensuring that you never miss any online sales. Toast doesn't collect commissions from orders made through its order online system. Rather, the company charges a flat fee for restaurants that want to use Online Ordering.
Toast TakeOut
Restaurants that want to manage and implement services like order ahead and curbside pickup can use Toast's TakeOut app which allows guests to order food from their mobile devices. Like all of Toast's features, the system's TakeOut capabilities are tightly integrated with Toast's Kitchen Display System, so you can handle all orders quickly and easily.
Toast Delivery Services
Another feature launched during the pandemic, Toast created a feature that allows restaurants to tap into an on-demand delivery network so they can hire drivers to deliver orders.
Toast's Hardware
Kitchen Display System
Toast's Kitchen Display System (KDS) keeps your kitchen staff connected to your restaurant's front of the house, so you can take orders and whip up fabulous meals with ease. Built with restaurant-grade hardware, Toast's KDS devices are durable and can withstand higher temperatures. The devices come in multiple screen sizes and you can mount them in your kitchen to ensure maximum visibility.
Toast Flex
This POS device gives you everything you need to process sales at a busy restaurant. Toast Flex is flexible, allowing you to adjust the screen height, mount it to the wall, and flip the screen, making it ideal for nearly any type of restaurant environment. The device enables you to accept all payment types from your guests and comes with efficient workflows to keep your restaurant humming smoothly.
Toast Go® 2
Need more mobility in your restaurant? Toast Go® 2 is a handheld POS system that lets you take orders and process payments using a small mobile device. Great for takeout and curbside services, Toast's mobile point-of-sale system lets you do more with less.
Toast Flex for Guest
Flex for Guest is the company's customer-facing display. It allows customers to view orders and prices so they can verify everything and minimize inaccuracies. The interface also lets them pay through various contactless solutions, including Apple Pay and other digital wallets.
Why you integrate Toast POS with inventory software?
Toast platform makes it easy to streamline your restaurant by integrating with the most popular restaurant software. Keeping track of inventory is crucial for any retail or restaurant business, and a good POS system can help you do it effectively.
Toast POS integrations with leading inventory management software like Wisk help you monitor your restaurant's inventory counts in real time. Being aware of what you have in stock is key to the success of your company since having too much or too little can lead to wasted resources and lost revenue, respectively. Striking a perfect balance between these two extremes can help you control wastage and save money and ensure that your customers always have what they need.
What are the advantages of integrating WISK with Toast POS?
Now that you know all about Toast and its offerings, let’s look at how integrating it with an inventory management system like WISK could address your specific needs.
WISK Inventory Software makes life much easier for restaurants by Initializing the inventory management process through a cloud-based application. Not only does the Wisk inventory management feature make it easy to monitor your inventory and recipe costs in real time, but you can also get insightful details about your restaurant's stock. With this information at hand, ordering ingredients becomes a breeze and helps save time and money in the long run down the line.
Some other advantages of integrating Wisk with Toast are as follows:
Ease of inventory management system
No matter the size of your food business, Wisk can help improve inventory management by spending less time on menial tasks. The platform gives you access to tools like invoicing, COGS estimating recipe costing, and inventory tracking- all from the same page. What would typically take hours upon hours with Excel Spreadsheets now only takes a fraction of the time.
In addition, by integrating Toast POS with Wisk, you will be able to
- Decrease food & alcohol inventory time by 80%.
- Find out what areas are causing you to lose money.
- To cut down on waste and unsold inventory
- Track inventory, orders, and deliveries to keep tabs on your kitchen.
- Review past sales data to develop promotional offers.
- Gives you access to a recipe costing calculator to make sure your mixed drinks and cocktails are spot on every time.
Conduct theoretical stock counts and inventory analysis
When running a restaurant, there's the actual cost of creating meals and there's the theoretical cost — i.e., how much you should’ve spent if there was no food waste and your portions were 100% accurate.
While Toast POS makes it easy to track your actual food costs, surfacing your theoretical inventory data isn’t as simple.
This is where a solution like WISK comes in. WISK allows you to easily see your theoretical inventory quantities and costs, so you can compare them with your actual expenses. In doing so, you can spot variances, identify causes of food waste, and make the necessary adjustments.
Know your most profitable items and sales data
Wisk prevents you from falling behind on invoices by automatically matching them up with purchase orders. With Wisk, costs are calculated quickly and easily, so you're always in the know about your profit margins through the recipe management feature and by comparing purchase data from invoices to sales and revenue data from Toast to get an accurate picture of your stock counts.
WISK’s inventory system lets you keep a close eye on your food and beverage costs and margins, so you know exactly how much you’re spending. All that information can be incredibly useful when combined with POS data because you can quickly determine which menu items are profitable and which ones are costing you money.
You can also preset a limit for ingredients cost within WISK, and receive alerts whenever those limits are exceeded - guaranteeing that profits are always made.
Automated Reporting
The integration of Toast and WISK will mean that your profit and stock information is automatically updated. This gives you a clear understanding of which ingredients and menu items are doing well so that you can make necessary changes at all times. Wisk can generate in-depth analytics and reports with just a few clicks, including variance tracking, ingredient overstocks, and shortages, and more.
How does integrating WISK with Toast POS help restaurants
If you're interested in making your restaurant more efficient and profitable, consider integrating WISK with Toast POS. Some benefits of doing so are listed below.
Smarter decision-making. Toast POS and WISK give you full visibility into your sales and inventory. When you have the right data at your fingertips, you can make smarter data-driven decisions around your recipe items and pricing, allowing you to improve your offerings and profits.
Less waste. With reliable access to metrics like theoretical inventory, it’s easier to spot and control food waste. This means you can make better use of the ingredients for your recipe and ensure you’re spending money on the things that count.
Happier customers. With knowledge of your best-performing items, you can keep your shelves stocked with ingredients and products that your customers love. Better menu offerings lead to repeat visits, higher revenues, and a healthier restaurant business overall.
Seamless inventory process. By having sales analytics and inventory updated in real-time, you can avoid costly disruptions, keep track of your par levels easily, and reorder ingredients before they run out. Consequently, your kitchen operations will be running smoothly.
How to integrate WISK with Toast POS
Wisk and Toast POS integrations involve a few easy steps. First, notify Toast and WISK that you're granting permission to integrate your Toast account with WISK. From there, WISK and Toast will work together to craft an integration for your restaurant or bar — a process that takes a week or less.
Once the systems are connected, WISK will pull 2 years’ worth of sales data from your Toast account. You can then configure how your data and POS items appear on WISK, so you can conduct stock counts and analyze your inventory data.
Choosing to integrate Toast POS with WISK inventory software is a strategic move that promises to see your ROI reach new heights. Your investment in this integration will pay off as you experience increased profitability and efficiency.
View the step-by-step guide to integrating Toast POS with WISK.
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