Category: Uncategorized

Security & Job Classes

Security Levels! I know it’s not the most exciting topic but I am amazed by the number of stores that have open levels of security for their employees. Security is important so you can remain on top of who is doing what and when. After all, you lock your doors right?

SP-1 has 11 levels of security available. The first ten are labeled 0 through 9 with 9 being the highest. The 11th level is by leaving the security code blank.

Let’s tackle some of these. . .
The blank security code is the most interesting to start with. By entering an employee and leaving their security code blank, you are telling SP-1 that this employee will ONLY be allowed to clock in and out. They cannot access any other area of the program. This is great for having cleaning staff or anyone else that you track time with but is not actually working on the POS.

Levels 0 through 9 are used to assign what an employee can and can’t do. If a zero is assigned to an employee, that employee only has access to the order screen (Order Entry) in SP-1.
Levels 1 – 8 can be assigned to employees that may need access to any of the other areas of SP-1.

Our general suggestion is to assign employees as follows:
Owner – 9
Manager -5
Shift Supervisor – 3
Employee – 0
It is VERY important that only the owner has a 9 on their account.

This leaves you with some levels for growth and for multiple stores.

Once you have assigned the security level, you would place that code in the system security section on each of the items you want to control. Remember that if you enter a number, then anyone with that level or higher could access that item. So a 3 can do anything a 0-2 can and so on.

Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Employees, Uncategorized Tagged with: Employees, security

Coupons & Discounts

Coupons and Discounts – sounds easy, but do you know the difference and why having both makes SP-1 more powerful?

First let’s talk about the differences between the two:

Discounts: A discount in SP-1 is a dollar or percent off a ticket or item. The advantage is that it is a little more generic. For example, you could have a $1.00 off the ticket, 10% off a ticket or 15% discount off one line item on the ticket. All of these discounts are able to be set by the menu group, group size or specialty. The great thing with a discount is that it is very flexible and allows for multiple controls. Discounts can be security coded so they are only available when authorized.

Some sample discounts are: employee, fire department, senior citizen etc. You can also use these to track problems and mistakes. For example, setup a mismade order, dropped item, returned item, comped etc. This is a great way to track what is happening in the store.

Lastly, don’t forget that you can assign a discount to a customers delivery file or to their gift and reward card!

C0upons: Coupons operate a little differently. A coupon is more specific than the discounts. For instance, you can bundle items with coupons. If you offer a large pizza with two toppings, breadsticks and a 2 liter of soda for a specific price a coupon is the way to go. You can even set the price so each item is accounted for in the reporting. Another example is to have a coupon that sets the specific modifiers allowed. So, you might have a 16oz Latte with two extra flavor shots allowed. The coupon would only then work on that size etc.

Remember that all coupons and discounts can be day and time specific!

Contact us at:

Mike Spence
SelbySoft
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Marketing, Order Entry, Uncategorized Tagged with: coupons, discounts, marketing

Separate Checks & Splitting Tickets

With the holidays upon us, we see more people going out and ordering in large groups. Did you know that SP-1 has a great way to handle splitting a ticket or a check?

There are two ways to talk about splitting checks. . . With and without our table service ability.

Table Service

If you have table service in your locations and are assigning seats to the people ordering, then the splitting of checks is very, very easy! Once you have started the ticket, you can select the seat that the items are going to by selecting the Seat/Separate Check button. Select the next seat and order their items – keep doing this until you have every one’s order. Now that you have the order in and have sent it to the kitchen, we come to the end of the meal – the customer now asks for the check and wants it split!

With SP-1, you will simply open the Table and be presented with the Seat / Separate check screen. Now you will select the Move Seat button and select first the seat you want to move and then the check you want it applied to. It’s that easy and all the items on that seat get moved over. Remember, you can move multiple seats to the same check as well.

If you are not using the seating portion of the table service, then things change slightly. You would first take all the orders on Seat 1. Once the group wants to separate the check, then you can use the move units button to move items from the ticket to the proper seat and separate check.

Non-Table Service

If you are not using table service, then the whole seat issue goes out the window! Instead, you simply take the order like normal to begin with. Once you are ready to split the checks, you will select the Seat/Separate check button. This screen shows you the different checks available. You would then select the Move Units button and move the items to the appropriate check.

This can be a powerful way to take multiple orders from one group and then split the tickets. Each ticket will be paid individually and able to be cashed out with any of the normal methods.

Hopefully this clears up some of the ways that separate checks can be done. Please call us with any questions on this and one of our customer service reps can explain in more detail!

Contact us at:
SelbySoft

Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: separate checks, servers, split checks

Non-Taxable Sales

This morning I had an email asking about non-taxable sales and I thought it would make a good blog topic!

Basically there are two things we talk about with non-taxable sales. . . The first is Tax Exempt situations. These are the situations where you are selling to a non-taxable organization, group or person. For instance, church, school, people from Alaska or Oregon. With this, you can actually create a customer entry for each person by adding a customer in Order Entry and then making sure the Taxable switch is not selected. This will allow you to track each non-taxable order made by that individual.

Now, if this is a very rare event for you, then you might want to create one customer and call it Tax Exempt. This gives you the ability to immediately handle the order in the future without going through the trouble of entering a customer.

These transactions will show up on the Business Summary under Tax Exempt Sales.

The second scenario is when you have specific items that are non-taxable. SP-1 handles up to 5 different tax rates and then also a sixth when the tax is set to 0. So, on your Menu Groups, you have the ability to set each menu item to a specific tax (or 0 tax in this case) and to do this by the order type! For example, you might have an item that you have to charge tax on when it is prepared in house but not for to-go orders.

These taxes also show on the Business Summary under the Tax Rates as None.

I hope this helps.
Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Order Entry, Reporting, Uncategorized Tagged with: reporting, sales, taxes

Inactive Items

Are you offering seasonal or holiday items? Every year we get the questions of what to do after the season or holidy has passed!

SP-1 has a built in switch to help with this. You may have noticed a the switch in Master Files called Inactive. When this is selected, the item no longer shows up on the menu but is still in the system.

The really neat thing is that this switch affects all the items below the level you are on. So if you turn off an ingredient it does not show up anymore. If you turn off a Menu Group, then the group size, specialties and ingredients for that Menu Group are hidden as well.

This can be a great switch for making menu changes and even for designing a new menu group before implementing it for your staff. Simply turn it on and test it and then turn it off if you need to make more changes to the menu.

Contact us at:
SelbySoft

Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Order Entry, Uncategorized Tagged with: menu, Pricing

Dashboard Functionality

As you can see, this is a great way to see a quick snapshot of things! Total sales, tickets, voids etc are all shown on this quickly!

Selecting the hourly detail button provides the screen below:

As you can see, this allows for comparisons from today vrs last week, last month and last year by the hour!

Now, a little known feature on this is that you can use as well. If you highlight an hourly or section you will get the following:

As you can see, this provides you with the sales figures for that hour and the percentage that you are up or down over the last week, month and year.

Posted in Order Entry, Uncategorized Tagged with: dashboard, reporting

Little Known Retail Feature

For those of you that have the retail control system in SP-1, did you know that you can assign those items to buttons?

For instance. . . Let’s say that you sell gelato or ice cream by the ounce or pound or coffee. Well, it’s a little difficult to barcode that! So, instead of remembering a complicated sku number or code assign it to a button in order entry! This is a really easy and convenient way to pull up and sell retail items without a barcode.

The way this works is by assigning the retail item to the menu group. Since it shows up as a menu group, it is always on the main screen. It’s as great way to access a very commonly used retail item. To set this up, simply create the retail item and then create a menu group with the name *retail*upccode (replace upc code with the actual code). Then when you select this button it pulls up that item immediately.

While we are on this, don’t forget that we offer the ability to not only barcode items for use with a scanner but that we can actually print the customized barcodes for you through a dedicated barcode printer. This allows you to print the barcodes as you receive the retail into the store.

Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike@SelbySoft.com
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Order Entry, POS Features, Uncategorized Tagged with: retail

Accounts In SP-1

Do you ever bill customers for product? If so, did you know that SP-1 has an extensive billing system built into the software. Last week I was talking to a customer that did not know we did this! So. . . .

In SP-1 you can specify per customer if they are allowed to run an account tab. Once this is selected, you will have an account payment button and an account charge button appear.

If you are near a number of businesses, schools etc – this can be a great method of picking up more business. Setup the account so that when that business orders, you can just bill them!

Once someone orders and you are on the ticket complete screen, simply hit account button to
add the total to their account bill. SP-1 will track this for you. One suggestion: In the remarks, enter the ticket number / name of the person running the account. This makes it easier to answer the account billing questions.

Now the business owes you money. The next step in this is the run the billing report and billing cycle. In the reports, you will see all the options for this. SP-1 will even run a bill that can be printed and then folded and put in a windowed envelope. This makes life easier as far as sending the bills.

Once the check comes in, look up the customer and select the account payment button. Apply the payment and you are done!

Hopefully this brief introduction to accounts helps you understand how to use this to capture some of more of your customers business. While these factories and schools like to place big orders, we also know that the accountant and bookkeepers at these places like easy billing systems!

Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Order Entry, POS Features, Reporting, Uncategorized Tagged with: accounts, customers, marketing, reporting

Gift Card Promotion and Marketing

A little different topic this time on the blog. Recently we have seen a big upswing in people that are asking about how to use SP-1 to help drive more business through the store. Part of this is through the strong gift card program and with the holidays around the corner it’s time to start thinking about this.

Are you using gift cards? If not, you are missing out on one of the best ways to increase sales and cash flow. Also, if you are using them, let’s make sure it’s not by just plopping them on the counter and expecting them to sell themselves!

First let’s define what we are talking about. . . A plastic card (with no swipe fees or monthly fees when used with SP-1) that can be used in different ways:

1) Traditional gift – I buy it and give it away.

2) Prepaid – I buy and continue to keep it charged for my own use.

3) Rewards – The same card can be used to keep a buy 10 get 1 free or other promotion.

4) Customer Discount card – When the card is used a discount is automatically applied.

This is ALL the same card. So first, this card is a great marketing opportunity for you – it’s a “billboard” in the customers pocket.

So what can be done with these to help you make more money? Let’s skip the usual arguments (although they are valid) about how people spend more with a gift card than cash and what percent of cards are lost. We know that the gift cards are a good idea – the question is how to move them.

Here are some ideas that we have had over the years to move gift cards and boost sales.

1) Instant gratification: “Hi, would you like that drink free?” or “Would you like to have that sandwich / pizza 1/2 off?”; “would you like some free breadsticks with that order?”. Once the customer answers yes – tell them they only need to buy a $25 gift card for that. The little chain store that cuts my hair has a deal that if I buy a $50 gift card I get a free haircut – I do it every couple months.

2) This one is a little obvious but I’ll mention it anyway: Buy a $25 gift card and pay only $20!

3) Friend cards: Give your employees or even customers small dollar amount gift cards to use as a promotion. They could be $1 -$3 each. Tell them this is to hand out to their Friends.

4) Discount or VIP Cards: Purchase a large enough gift card and receive a discount for the rest
of the year. This discount could be worked many ways – only on certain days, certain items, certain order types etc. If someone buys a $100 / $250 / $500 gift card is it worth a 10% / 20% discount?

5) Traditional rewards system: Buy 10 get 1 free.

6) Non-Traditional rewards: Every dollar you spend you get a point. Once you accumulate enough points, you get free or discounted product. I.E. at 50 points you get 25% off next order or a free appetizer / pastry.

So there you are – a half dozen ways to start off the marketing kick on gift and loyalty cards. There are more! If you have a great idea on this – let me know and I’ll spread the word.

Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence

800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Gift Cards, Reporting, Uncategorized Tagged with: gift cards, marketing, reporting

Audit Tracking

Theft – It’s a fact that it happens in your store. It happens in everyones store. Over the years I have seen a ton of methods that employees and managers will use to steal / give away product.

Recently in Washington State a fine dining restaurant found out that an employee was using a managers code to void cash transactions. This employee wound up stealing over $30,000 over three years through this method. Think about that – $30k. Now, even if it is only $1k that is still unacceptable!

So, this brings us to the question of audit tracking. Are you using your balance till, employee summary, business summay and audit reports? If not, you should be. These are the best ways to see the ‘red flags’ that we all know about and to catch what is happening.

Remember that we show re-opened tickets on the Balance Till – this shows which tickets have been re-opened and which code was used. A good start as to what is going on.

Employee Summary – Run this periodically over a timeframe. This will show voids by employee. If one employee has a larger percent of voids as opposed to another then there is something going on. Either that person needs re-training or they are doing something funny.

Business summary – each and every day, look at the total number of voids and edited voids. This will show you a total dollar amount that you will be responsible for.

Audit reports – This is the absolute best report to run. Remember that this report is not stored inside SP-1 so it is not accessible to the normal employee. This will show you every ticket that has been changed or voided along with who did it, when it was done etc.

Please take a look at these on a regular basis! This does not have to be a ‘negative’ topic – it’s just about protecting yourself!

Don’t hesitate to contact me or our support guys for more information!

Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Employees, Reporting, theft, Uncategorized Tagged with: employee, Pricing, reporting, Theft, tracking