Catering for anything up to 5,000 people purchasing 11,500 items in an average week, Hinchingbrooke Hospital’s ‘Forester’ Café was looking for a more efficient solution than it’s existing cash register system.

In a busy hospital environment, The Forester has proved a popular venue for visitors and staff alike who can take advantage of -the restaurant’s full menu, ranging from a quick beverage or snack, to a full lunchtime or evening meal.

The popularity of the Forester at peak periods, in particular during visiting hours, meant that queues were building at the till with the risk of customers receiving a slower than acceptable service.

It was essential that any new PoS solution was able to link via a computer network to the hospital’s back office system, whilst being able to transfer sales information direct onto the Menumark back office control system to save time

Datasym UK, the existing suppliers of “Menumark” computerised catering control system, recommended Aufait Systems to consult, install and manage the project, due to their experience with Datasym.POS front-end point of sale software. Aufait Systems installed Datasym.PoS on TOSHIBA TEC’s ST-70 integrated touchscreen terminals. Its compact and spill-proof design make the ST-70 the perfect choice for such an environment.

Aufait Systems installed two TOSHIBA TEC ST-70 tills, one unit was located at the end of the serving counter, whilst a separate ‘Grab & Go’ till was placed in front of the counter especially for customers in a hurry, wanting to purchase a quick drink or snack, therefore avoiding the need to queue.

The tills were networked and linked via the hospital’s network to the Catering Departments back office system, allowing sales information to be transferred direct onto Menumark.

An automatic price changing facility was introduced, which enabled price changes to be implemented on the tills immediately. Alternatively, price changes could be set up in advance and programmed with a flag date, so that they could be automatically updated at a chosen future date.

For security, Fingerprint sign-on, one of the latest developments from Datasym.Pos, was added.

The addition of the second ‘Grab & Go’ TOSHIBA TEC ST-70 touchscreen till has greatly speeded up waiting times for customers, especially when popping in to buy a much needed quick refreshing drink.

Networking of the tills to the hospitals back office system has enabled new counter lines to be added immediately. In addition, the automatic price changes facility has eliminated the previous lengthy and time consuming process of manually inputting and downloading prices, allowing far greater operational efficiency.

In terms of security, the fingerprint sign-on ensures that every operator signs on for each transaction, giving total traceability for all transactions to each food services assistant.

Reporting is improved with regular reports on all sales transactions, such as where and when a transaction took place, providing essential departmental accountability. Furthermore, timed reports can be produced to allow detailed analysis, for example, the number of customers served between certain times to show trends, profit margins and peak periods.

The TOSHIBA TEC touchscreen menu options are intuitive and therefore easy for staff to operate, which is especially important at The Forester’s busiest times as well as reducing staff training needs. The small footprint of the ST-70 ensures the till can fit into any cramped counter space. The sealed and vent-free casing allow neither dirt or foreign objects to penetrate so the ST-70 stays clean inside, providing even greater reliability.

Brodrick Pooley, Catering Services Manager - Hinchingbrooke Health Care Trust commented, ‘we are extremely impressed with the solution provided by Aufait Systems and TOSHIBA TEC. The system has reduced waiting times for our customers as well as making daily sales analysis far quicker and easier. We can now obtain full reporting information, quickly and easily and the Fingerprint ID sign-on gives us total confidence in security. The quality, reliability and design of the hardware is ideal for our environment. In fact, we are so delighted with the system and service provided that we are now planning to install a further three units into our first floor Garden Restaurant’.