Sometimes it feels that a small restaurant has its financial back against the wall when it comes to your POS investment. Harnessing the power and functionality of mature and full-featured systems is an elusive goal to companies with limited funds to invest.

POS systems represent a significant investment for restaurants of all sizes, but maybe most especially for startups and small independent or franchised operations. Up until now, the choices have been:

• Do without a POS system.
• License a fully functional POS system you can’t afford.
• Wade into free POS (which as we write in our blog here is in reality anything but free)
• Settle for a “POS Lite” system, generally hosted in the Cloud (we talk about that here).

None of those deliver a fully functional, on-premise POS that can support revenue, promote growth and streamline operations for small restaurants.

But now, there is a best-fit solution for startup and small-ticket owners.

Maitre'D took a long look at the issue from a different point of view: yours. What we realized is that for some businesses, to start with “some kind” of POS that you can afford, is not necessarily ideal. Also, it’s not because you are small, that you have less to manage in your business. It’s the opposite: you have as much to manage, often with fewer resources. A more feature-rich and sophisticated POS system will allow you to be more efficient, by streamlining operations in the front of house, and eliminating a lot of manual work in the Back-Office. Most importantly, it will help you keep tabs on your most important cost centers to ensure better profits. A feature-rich POS system will provide you with more controls, and more information on your business, ultimately delivering more value and putting you in a better position to succeed, and grow.

Enter the POS subscription model. It’s not a new product: it’s the same Maitre'D POS in place around the world. It’s not a new technology platform: we still install it on your site, and offer the exact same service and support we offer the largest customers. But it is a new pricing model, one that’s designed to find an easy place in your monthly operational costs.

And by easy we mean: Starting at a low monthly fee per terminal.

It’s not a light version, limited to a small number of users, a small number of menu items, or only a few back office functions. It’s the exact same Maitre'D POS our largest customers use.

The POS subscription model isn’t perfect for everyone. Given a long enough period of time, it absolutely will cost more than the licensed version. But that’s the point. It’s not designed for everyone: it’s a pricing model that’s built to help a restaurant get started with POS. As the business grows, it will become time to convert to a full license—and that’s done with a single call to your Maitre'D representative.

So if you’re just starting up your business and you want to start with the best POS you can get, or if you’re a small-ticket restaurant or franchise that needs big POS functionality, contact us to learn how our perfect solution is perfect for you.