Access Hospitality has published a practical guide to preparing EPoS systems for Christmas, noting that hotel food and beverage revenue grew 3.8% last year, making festive dining and bar service a key revenue driver.
1. Check hardware and software
Inspect every terminal, printer, card reader and cable, and replace anything showing wear: a printer that jams twice a week in October will jam far more in December. Confirm the EPoS connects kitchen display screens, bar tabs, table management and back-office reporting. For hotels, it should link every revenue area, including restaurant, bar, spa and events space. Test integrations with purchase-to-pay, pay-at-table and online ordering before the season, and install updates during quiet periods rather than the week before Christmas.
2. Set up festive menus and promotions
Build festive items, set menus and bundles into the system early, including modifiers, allergen flags and pricing tiers for different service periods. Configure party packages as fixed menus so kitchen orders fire correctly. Hotels with several outlets should set up each separately, since a lounge afternoon tea and an events-space party menu are different products. Linking stock management, such as Procure Wizard Evo, to EPoS data means sell-outs are visible in real time and supplier orders reflect actual consumption.
3. Train and empower staff
Run proper training while it is still quiet, covering bill splitting, discounts, voids, refunds and kitchen displays. Configure upsell prompts such as wine pairings, desserts and festive cocktails. Hotel teams should be trained to post charges directly to guest rooms, removing manual entry between restaurant and front desk. Where EPoS integrates with Rotaready Evo, transaction data can be used to match rotas to the busiest service windows.
4. Prepare payments
The season brings every payment method at once, so payment processing should be checked in advance.
Takeaway
The guide's ten steps share one principle: test and configure before the rush, not during it.
Originally published by Access Hospitality: Access Hospitality's Checklist for Preparing EPoS for Christmas
