How to increase sales during the winter season

The winter season is just as full of opportunities for upselling as the summer months. Ski resorts, as well as restaurants and bars in urban areas, need to think creatively during the winter to provide high-quality service to guests despite potential staff shortages.

Make it easy to open up new spaces 

A great tip is to make it easy to open up new spaces in the venue, such as temporarily closed areas when there's suddenly high demand or when the weather allows. This could involve opening up outdoor terraces (thanks to infrared heaters), a conference room for an event, or other parts of the restaurant that are suddenly needed. Instead of placing a pos system in a specific part of the venue, it's much smarter to work with a handheld pos so that the staff can easily get started. No charging stations or cords are needed. 

To Kung Carls Restaurants and bars, it was obvious to combine fixed pos with our mobile order and payment solution, which also increased turnover.

More flexible sales points in the venue 

Many ski resorts experience high demand during lunchtime, apres-ski, or late-night at the bar. And it's precisely during these peak times that a handheld pos solution is perfect because you can create flexible sales points. The staff can easily input an order, for example, for two beers and take payment directly while serving the guests themselves. Such an order isn't assigned to a specific table but is served by the waiter who took the payment. 

Read more about how Stars and Stripe uses an order and payment solution during staff shortages.

New roles in the restaurant enhance service

If you have a staff shortage or need to reduce your workforce, it may be a good idea to review the roles in the restaurant. One tip is to have a knowledgeable staff member on the floor who interacts with guests, gives them their time, takes orders, and handles payments. Then, combine that person with runners who deliver the food. This creates a smooth flow and enhances service. It also creates new career paths in the industry, which can be an incentive to attract staff to work for you.

Predefined tip percentages attract staff 

It's easy to give tips using an order and payment solution, and guests can choose from various tip options. It has been shown that predefined tip percentages of 5%, 7%, and 10% have increased tips for the serving staff. In a handheld pos, you can choose from predefined percentage tip options, include the tip in the total amount, or add a custom tip directly to the total. Guests tend to leave higher tips when they can select from predefined tip percentages than they otherwise would.

Receive new parties more quickly

To increase your turnover, you should be able to easily take orders and payments. This way, you can welcome new parties more quickly. An order and payment solution saves a lot of time, as the staff doesn't have to run back and forth to the card terminal and rarely needs to leave the floor. Waiters can easily take orders at the table with a handheld pos and can also take payment directly when the guest requests to pay. As a payment solution, it streamlines the payment process because you can immediately move on to the next table.