Pub EPOS System

Round based serving at speed

Serving a round means ringing in several drinks for one customer in quick succession, then moving straight on to the next order. A bar till system needs a layout that lets staff tap through a round fast, without hunting through menus or scrolling past food items to find the next pint or spirit.

Epos Free is designed with a pastel, square edged interface that keeps buttons clear and easy to hit quickly, which matters when a bar is three deep and the queue is not getting any shorter.

Speed of service for drinks

Drinks orders are usually simple but high volume, so a bar POS system needs to prioritise speed over complexity for these items. Because Epos Free works on any device with a browser, bar staff are not tied to a single fixed terminal, and additional devices can be brought online quickly behind a busy bar without needing extra hardware purchases or lock in to one supplier.

Food and drink on one menu

Many pubs serve both a full food menu and a drinks list, and switching between two separate systems slows staff down and increases the chance of mistakes. Epos Free lets you build food and drink into a single menu, so a server taking a table order can ring in a main course and a round of drinks in the same order without leaving the screen.

Optional extras and modifiers work across both food and drink items, so a burger with no gherkin or a gin with a specific mixer can be added at the point of sale rather than explained verbally to the kitchen or bar.

Table numbers for food service

Pub food is usually eat in, and Epos Free supports an optional table number on any order, which matters when food is being run out to tables rather than collected at the bar. Since takeaway is the default service type in the system, staff simply switch to eat in and add the table number for sit down food orders, while bar sales at the counter carry on as takeaway style quick transactions.

Gift cards and card payments

Pubs and bars see a real mix of payment types across an evening, from contactless taps at the bar to gift cards bought as presents. Epos Free supports Cash, Card, Contactless, and Gift card payment methods, so staff are not left guessing how to process a payment type when it comes up.

Reporting for your busiest periods

Understanding how a Friday night, a match day, or a bank holiday weekend performed is important for staffing and stock ordering. Epos Free includes reporting on daily revenue and average order value, so you can compare one busy period against another and spot patterns over time.

The system also reports on your most popular products, which helps when deciding what to keep well stocked behind the bar, and tracks new versus returning customer trends, useful for understanding how much of your trade is regulars versus passing custom.

Voiding orders and correcting mistakes

A busy bar will occasionally ring in the wrong drink or an order that needs cancelling. Epos Free allows staff to void orders, so a mistake can be corrected properly rather than left to distort your end of night takings.

Staff handover between shifts

Pubs often run split shifts, with one team covering lunchtime food and another taking over for the evening bar rush. Because Epos Free works on any device with a browser and keeps order history and daily reporting in one place, a new shift can sign in and immediately see where the day stands, without a paper handover sheet.

You can also publish your menu to a shareable staff URL, so bar and floor staff can check current prices, extras, and food items from their own phone before a shift starts.

No hardware lock in behind the bar

Bar space is tight, and swapping or adding a till point should not mean buying another proprietary terminal. Epos Free has no hardware lock in, so any device with a browser, a tablet, laptop, or even a phone in a pinch, can become another point of sale when things get busy.

Pub EPOS system comparison

A practical setup plan for a pub till

Start by mapping the menu around the way staff actually speak about products. Put fast moving drinks in an obvious drinks category, then group food, sides and desserts so a server can find them without remembering an internal code. Use names that make sense to a new team member, because clarity at the point of sale is more useful than clever shorthand.

Next, add the extras that genuinely affect the order. A food item might need a side choice, while a spirit might need a mixer. Keep optional choices focused and test each one with a sample order. The purpose of a pub EPOS system is not to put every possible note on screen, it is to make the common order accurate while leaving staff a clear path for unusual requests.

Before a busy service, check prices, payment methods, the default takeaway setting, and the eat in flow with a table number. Complete a cash order, a card order, a contactless order and a gift card order in your test run. Then void a sample mistake and confirm that the order history is easy for the manager to review. A short rehearsal gives staff confidence without requiring an elaborate installation project.

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading

• Free EPOS system
• What is an EPOS system
• Restaurant EPOS system
• Cafe EPOS system
• Takeaway EPOS system
• EPOS system cost