Hooters Relies on Fixed Terminals for Checkout Success
Reliability and customer comfort are just two of the advantages casual dining chain Hooters of America receives from its POS environment, which is based on traditional fixed POS terminals. The Atlanta-based chain, which operates 190 corporate stores as well as 12 franchised locations where it supports POS operations, has been using POS hardware from Posiflex Business Machines since 2006.
“In 2006, we implemented the Posiflex TP8000 touchscreen terminal with our in-house-developed ITWERCS (Web-enabled Restaurant Control System) POS software platform,” said Wes Marco, director of information systems for Hooters. “We upgraded to the Posiflex 6300 terminal and are now refreshing all our hardware, including some TP8000 terminals as well as 6300 terminals, to Posiflex 7200 terminals.”
Durable and Secure
Demonstrating the durability of fixed POS hardware, Marco said some of the TP8000 terminals being upgraded have lasted as long as eight years, while Hooters typically plans on a five-year lifespan for hardware implementations. Among the advantages offered by the 7200 terminals are fingerprint readers integrated with the magstripe readers, which is allowing Hooters to switch from card-based employee identification to fingerprint-based employee identification.
“We started using fingerprint identification a couple of years ago, and it offers huge advantages in loss prevention,” explained Marco. “Even with a swipe card there is deniability, and other employees can get hold of a PIN number. With fingerprint identification, you have to be at the terminal and it has to be you. It closes all the loopholes.”
Fixed vs. Tablets
Marco said that the ideal POS system would combine the three major types of POS terminals — fixed, employee-facing tablets and customer-facing tablets. However, fixed terminals do offer several unique advantages.
“American culture doesn’t change quickly,” said Marco. “We tried paying at the table with tablets five years ago. It’s amazing how many people don’t want their credit card swiped in a wireless environment with a device brought to them. They’d rather hand their credit card to a server and have it run through a traditional terminal.”
In addition, Marco said fixed POS terminals are always more reliable, as they are hardwired into the store network and unlike tablets cannot be dropped or knocked off a table. However, reflecting the potential value that tablet-based POS terminals still offer, Hooters is currently piloting employee-facing Dell Venue 9-in. tablets with a Verifone sleeve, and plans to pilot customer-facing E la Carte tablets.
Hooters depends on that reliability for more than just checking out customers. The retailer uses data collected at the POS to inform back-end activities, such as ordering, forecasting, scheduling, labor management and CRM.
EMV — Where It Fits
Hooters’ new Posiflex 7200 terminals are not EMV-compliant. However, since Hooters uses a pay-at-table model, it would make little sense to use EMV-compliant technology at the fixed terminals, since customers would have to be taken to the terminals to process their payments. Marco said Hooters is investigating solutions to ensure EMV compliance in their processing.
On the whole, Marco said fixed POS terminals are one area of the enterprise where he can relax a little.
“Fixed POS terminals are the least of my worries of all the moving parts in the system,” he said.