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By programming in iOS you are requiring companies to purchase expensive mac products to run your POS rather than inexpensive PC products. You need to go to as

By programming in iOS you are requiring companies to purchase expensive mac products to run your POS rather than inexpensive PC products. You need to go to as many restaurants in person as possible and be able to explain why your product is worth "trying" at the risk of a night of business. The key to understanding your customer is that they need to train all their servers and cooks on the new system and risk a huge single night loss of sales in the event of an error. This is big business and for large restaurants could be $20K in a single night. What is the big feature that your product has, that current systems don't have? *ALSO REALLY IMPORTANT: I would consider not offering it for free since the "cost" is not the product. The cost in your case is the potential loss a restaurant could take on a crashing system (and the cost and lost sales relating to server training). I would try charging MORE than current POS systems as your sticker price. Pricing is a signal and you need to signal high quality to sell this risk to businesses. A few quick things that are important to restaurants: 1) Margins (they are really low, anything to improve them is good). 2) Servers are unreliable and turnover is high (anything to help speed up training is a plus, but probably a minor one) 3) Risk (a single night of lost sales may bankrupt a restaurant. You are asking for big commitment.) 4) Costs (upfront costs are harder to swallow because cash flow is always important. Decide whether it is worth figuring out a way to subsidize the equipment and software and get paid back later maybe). Additional advice: Work in a restaurant as a server, then as a cook. Knowing the business is very important for selling to it.

YooLi 16y ago
"By programming in iOS you are requiring companies to purchase expensive mac products to run your POS rather than inexpensive PC products." Lame. There will be a market for iOS/OS X POS because there are people who prefer them to "PC" products. If a restaurant owner wants the $299 Dell rather than pay a bit more for a Mac/iOS device, they probably aren't a customer he'll want anyway.
- wdewind 16y ago
  Lame. Most restaurant owners already have a POS system, and it likely runs on Windows. You are asking them not only to overhaul their business processes, you are asking them to now go out and buy a $500 tablet per server. There are real cost barriers here, and since this app's UI is not absolutely stunning he's not going to capture that extreme of the market either.
  - refulgentis 16y ago
    I'm not. The app has multiuser functionality. Instead of paying $1000-$2000 per terminal, I'm asking them to pay $1500 ($1000 for the app; $500 for the iPad), and $500 for any subsequent iPad terminal. Compared to standard prices, it's a steal.
  - YooLi 16y ago
    Oh right, I forgot all restaurants have already been opened and no new ones need POS systems. And they all want the cheapest method to handle one of the most important factors of their business, the money handling.
refulgentis 16y ago
Re: expensive products. Micros charges about $3000 for a terminal, we're charging $1500 for the first one ($999 for our app + $500 iPad) and $500 (per iPad) apiece after. Not to mention the iPod is really just as good for servers taking orders. Big features? Price, wireless connectivity, commodity hardware. I can't lie and pretend we're as rock solid as Micros, and I'd like to charge a fair price. $999 is low in my opinion, but not that low. Thank you for your feedback!
- wtvanhest 16y ago
  1) Price is never, ever, ever, ever a feature. Price is determined by the features (it is the other side of the equation). 2) I haven't done market research, but are you telling me no other POS has wireless? 3) Who will provide iPods? How many will be lost or broken, this seems to add additional expense. 4) As a potential pivot, could you enable your system to run in restaurants with no servers, just food runners and have patrons order the food themselves? There is competition here as well, but it is less entrenched and probably easier to displace.
  - refulgentis 16y ago
    1) Fair, but to a restaurant owner who is staring at Micros package X that is $15K for a basic two terminal + a few printers set up, we look pretty darn good. 2) Not reasonably priced. I know Micros does, but their handhelds are propietary hardware that costs in multiples of iPod touches. Their terminals are, again, in multiples of iPads. 3) Up to the restaurant. They don't get broken, them 'walking off' is an issue, but a management issue. If you have 3 at 5 PM, you better have 3 at 10 PM or your staff has to answer. 4) Certainly, but I'm not a big fan of that because it compounds issue #3 dramatically and I'm not sure any restaurant would want to do that. Also, it would require a dramatic 'prettying up' of the UI to make it more lively.

YooLi 16y ago

"By programming in iOS you are requiring companies to purchase expensive mac products to run your POS rather than inexpensive PC products." Lame. There will be a market for iOS/OS X POS because there are people who prefer them to "PC" products. If a restaurant owner wants the $299 Dell rather than pay a bit more for a Mac/iOS device, they probably aren't a customer he'll want anyway.

wdewind 16y ago
Lame. Most restaurant owners already have a POS system, and it likely runs on Windows. You are asking them not only to overhaul their business processes, you are asking them to now go out and buy a $500 tablet per server. There are real cost barriers here, and since this app's UI is not absolutely stunning he's not going to capture that extreme of the market either.
- refulgentis 16y ago
  I'm not. The app has multiuser functionality. Instead of paying $1000-$2000 per terminal, I'm asking them to pay $1500 ($1000 for the app; $500 for the iPad), and $500 for any subsequent iPad terminal. Compared to standard prices, it's a steal.
- YooLi 16y ago
  Oh right, I forgot all restaurants have already been opened and no new ones need POS systems. And they all want the cheapest method to handle one of the most important factors of their business, the money handling.

refulgentis 16y ago

Re: expensive products. Micros charges about $3000 for a terminal, we're charging $1500 for the first one ($999 for our app + $500 iPad) and $500 (per iPad) apiece after. Not to mention the iPod is really just as good for servers taking orders. Big features? Price, wireless connectivity, commodity hardware. I can't lie and pretend we're as rock solid as Micros, and I'd like to charge a fair price. $999 is low in my opinion, but not that low. Thank you for your feedback!

wtvanhest 16y ago
1) Price is never, ever, ever, ever a feature. Price is determined by the features (it is the other side of the equation). 2) I haven't done market research, but are you telling me no other POS has wireless? 3) Who will provide iPods? How many will be lost or broken, this seems to add additional expense. 4) As a potential pivot, could you enable your system to run in restaurants with no servers, just food runners and have patrons order the food themselves? There is competition here as well, but it is less entrenched and probably easier to displace.
- refulgentis 16y ago
  1) Fair, but to a restaurant owner who is staring at Micros package X that is $15K for a basic two terminal + a few printers set up, we look pretty darn good. 2) Not reasonably priced. I know Micros does, but their handhelds are propietary hardware that costs in multiples of iPod touches. Their terminals are, again, in multiples of iPads. 3) Up to the restaurant. They don't get broken, them 'walking off' is an issue, but a management issue. If you have 3 at 5 PM, you better have 3 at 10 PM or your staff has to answer. 4) Certainly, but I'm not a big fan of that because it compounds issue #3 dramatically and I'm not sure any restaurant would want to do that. Also, it would require a dramatic 'prettying up' of the UI to make it more lively.