Basic version           $765   (ideal for small single terminal cafe - see Overview)

• no courses
• no revenue centres
• no custom tender types
• no barcode scanning
• no fast item lookup
  

Today's restaurant POS requirements

Restaurateurs must create a great guest experience. Modern POS systems can help facilitate this by automating the workflow by communicating orders to the kitchen so the staff can prepare the right food at the right time.

A touch screen system should go beyond this and enable guests to split their checks or payments or ask for special requests.

And of course, a restaurant POS system is a business tool that helps managers get accurate information to make critical decisions and run their business.

Finally they need to do all three of these efficiently and reliably.

Dinerware has taken the needs of today’s restaurateur to heart. As a result, Dinerware has been very well received in the market. Its ease of use and reliability lead to a fantastic return on investment.
Dinerware customer’s staff members don’t have to spend time on the phone with technical support to walk through different tasks like adding a menu item, or creating happy hour discounts.

While most POS systems on the market today have evolved from traditional cash registers as a method of tabulating numbers, Dinerware has always been conceived as a communications tool to help you and your staff run a great restaurant and provide a great guest experience.

Most systems available today are built on old technology, but Dinerware is built on the latest technology which gives our customers a real advantage in terms of reliability, ease of use and future expansion.
Dinerware is a cost effective system because it gives the customer the ability to manage their own business with its ease of use. We have designed Dinerware to make complex management tasks simple and easy to perform at any terminal, at any time without a trip to the back office. In fact, many Dinerware customers don’t need a back office system.

Dinerware was developed in Seattle, Washington and was available first in Seattle’s vibrant restaurant community, which quickly grew into markets across the United States and is today available in several countries around the world.

At Dinerware, our mission is to provide tools that allow you to give your guests a fantastic experience, but are easy for everyone to use, so restaurateurs can focus on running their restaurant.

Dinerware 3.2 Feature Overview

This is a basic list of new features and functionality available in the public release of Dinerware version 3.2 and higher.

Choice and Item Quantity

Additional functionality to handle menu items with multiple choices, such as combo meals, enter open food and open discounts, and expanded kitchen print capabilities for quick-serve environments.

Open Discounts (Amount, Percentage)

Open discounts are discounts that do not have a predetermined amount and are instead set by the user at the time that the discount is applied. Open discounts can be set in two ways: as a dollar amount to be discounted from the ticket total or as a percentage of the ticket total. Restaurants that have to frequently apply discounts that are calculated on a per-ticket basis now have a simple and easy means of spot-checking a ticket total and applying the appropriate discount to that ticket.

Updates, additions and improvements

• Numerically-driven choice quantity selection allows for minimum and maximum thresholds to be set which results in a significantly-diminished number of touches to set choices on items. This expansion to the screen includes a more powerful, efficient choice selection screen
• Users can specify a default quantity for menu items which, in combination with the minimum and maximum choice quantity above, allows users to quickly place orders for menu items that are composed of both choice and quantities (example: a quantity of buffalo wings with multiple sauce choices)

Screen Category Features

Item Lookup is the ability to filter a dense list of items within a screen category using a search string. This feature allows users to avoid having to page-over when there are a significant number of items within any screen category. Restaurants with extensive wine lists, for example, will find that this feature dramatically simplifies the order entry process. This is phase one of a light retail feature set that that allows items to be located via barcodes. Please refer to the documents ‘Item Lookup Setup Guide’ and ‘Barcode Scanning Setup Guide.’

Updates, additions and improvements

• Select Screen Categories may be viewed as a list
• Lists can be searched using an on-screen keyboard
• Menu items can be assigned bin numbers and searched for by bin number
• Menu items may now be quickly and easily moved into Screen Categories if they are associated with a specific Revenue Class or Item Group

Barcode Scanning

Menu items can now be assigned a UPC or SKU in the form of a barcode. A USB-connected scanner can use the barcode to locate a Menu Item in a Screen Category and add that item to a ticket. This light retail stepping stone greatly reduces the amount of time it takes to identify a Menu Item when there are a significant number of items in a single Screen Category.

Bar Tabs (Credit Card Payments)

The key question can now be addressed that so many bar, lounge or nightclub operators ask: “Can I preauthorize the credit card and leave the tab open?” Please refer to the document ‘How to Setup Bar Tabs.’

Updates, additions and improvements

• Customer credit cards can be pre-authorized for an adjustable amount, allowing them to “open a tab” yet retain their card

Loyalty

Loyalty: A program designed by a restaurateur to track purchases by guests through point accruals and point redemptions via offers, usually offered as discounts on future purchases.

Dinerware versions 3.1+ contains a native (single site) and hosted (multisite) loyalty provider designed to setup and track point accumulation and redemption. For a conceptual overview about Loyalty and Membership, please refer to the document ‘Loyalty and Membership Introduction and Overview.’

Updates, additions and improvements

• Customers in the customer database can be enrolled in a loyalty program and points can be assigned to purchase rules on menu items, item groups, or revenue classes
• Redemption of points is controlled through discount rules

Open Food

Servers and managers can now price out menu items and discounts in real time without the use of the price/weight screen. This is useful across many types of restaurants.

Updates, additions and improvements

• Any menu item may be configured to have the price entered at time of order entry
• Open discounts have been implemented; users may enter a total amount of discount or percentage of discount at the time that discount is applied to a ticket

PINless Security Privileges

Managers can set employee specific security privileges without security validation via the entry of a manager PIN. Managers can set specific functions be available to employees in one touch login mode, without security validation. For example, a server would not need manager assistance to provide a discount if the server had the proper security validation. Please refer to the document ‘How to Setup PINless Security Privileges’ for setup instructions.

Sections (Table Maps)

Sometimes sections are referred to as the Table Map, Table Management or Table Picker, the Sections options within Dinerware enables the operator to mimic the restaurant floor map within the Dinerware software.

Phase one of the table management feature set that uses an enhanced graphical interface to load a table map image from an engineer drawing or even a photo of the restaurant floor. This feature will certainly satisfy some table map needs but stops short of indicating table status. Please refer to the operator document ‘Sections Guide’ for setup instructions.

Updates, additions and improvements

• Enhanced section editor and picker allows for table placement anywhere on the section map and the use of a background image for each section
• These new features are optional so the user may choose the historical section and table experience or use the enhanced functionality
• Automatic Gratuities and Service Charges may be triggered by section

Reporting

Extensive changes and additions have been made to reporting capabilities that allow for expanded reports, report customization, and several options for exporting data related to daily management activity and archives.

Updates, additions and improvements

• New category — ‘Export Category’ enables payroll reports to be exported in formats acceptable by Paychex and PrimePay payroll systems
• The RFO is now a standardized report and can be edited in the Report Workbench
• (For advanced users) The Report Workbench has been retooled and is more robust and significantly easier to use
• A Flex Report is a new type of report that allows the user to adjust columns, summaries and report contents from within the Workstation; Flex Reports provide a high degree of ad hoc customization
• Flex Reports are slimmed-down reports that can be customized using Excel-like editing tools
• Flex Reports use a grid-based report engine that allows live sorting and grouping of columns
• Report customization is easy and can be done without the need for SQL or complicated design tools
• Pre-Built, Standard Flex Reports include Choices, Customer Payments, Discounts, Item Sales with Section and Revenue Center, Item Sales, Loyalty Audit, Loyalty Membership, Plain Menu, Product Mix, Security Log Report, Timesheets, and Voids
• Relative Date Ranges allow time frames to be specified such as “Last Week” or “Last Quarter” for date parameters which makes both automated report production and bookkeeping easier
• Reports can be made available in any supported output format via the dwadmin tool. The dwadmin tool can be used to schedule automated Microsoft Windows tasks such as the generation and exports of reports. Please refer to the document ’DWAdmin Tool and Security.’
• A new report (Weekly Commitment or RFO Weekly) displays RFO information broken-down by days of the week
• A new report (Cash Drawer) is available in the daily section and displays all cash drawer transactions and events (by drawer). As with other daily reports, the Cash Drawer report is formatted to print on the receipt printer
• Expansions to the reporting engine allow multiple data sets for any given report
• Report Favorites allow a user to combine a report along with parameters and save as a Favorite so a “short list” of important reports can be easily accessible; favorite reports can be filtered by job

Receipt / Guest Check Printing

A new screen, or Graphic User Interface (GUI), allows greater capability and control for restaurant managers. Changes made to receipt design are accurately represented on screen, so users can preview changes to receipts in real time without printing. Specific menu items can be set to print at a local receipt printer for establishments that prefer servers to walk those tickets to a bar or wine steward.

Updates, additions and improvements

• Users can now preview receipts or guest checks and see real-time changes in the preview as different options are enabled/disabled
• The receipt preview screen contains a basic search feature that will become a mainstay in all managerial functions in future versions of Dinerware. With partial or full-word searches, a user can filter and display only those functions that meet the search criteria
• Print to Receipt or Virtual Printer are advanced functions that allow a kitchen print to be routed to the receipt printer that is attached to the Workstation on which the order was entered
• Advanced, programmer-level users — Receipts and guest checks can be specified using XAML instead of the simple User Interface for powerful, extensive control over guest check contents. For programmer-level instructions, please refer to the document ‘How to Customize Receipts’ to learn more

Kitchen Printing

Added functionality enables greater flexibility in Quick-Serve Restaurants (QSR) such as delis, coffee shops, and sushi businesses.

Updates, additions and improvements

• Header and footer table/ticket information can be suppressed independently
• Menu items can be printed independently and kitchen printers can be set to cut between each item
• In addition, a notation can be added to an individual menu item, identifying the total number of identical menu items and the location of that item in the sequence (i.e. “n of n”)

Choice Rollup, Item Rollup

Advanced Print Options

Choice Rollup is the ability to roll up quantities of both menu items and menu choices on kitchen prints. This means that identical items are aggregated to a single line item on the kitchen print, with a value at the beginning of that line depicting how many of that item the table ordered. This feature greatly improves the speed and ease with which kitchen staff can receive, organize, and begin cooking incoming orders. Printer options in Dinerware are set on a per printer basis, meaning that the options for multiple kitchen printers and/or and expedite printer can be set distinct of one another.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

General Functionality

There are a number of other newly-added functions throughout the product. Many of which are driven from results of market analysis or customer-related requests.

• Jobs can be assigned to a new employee without first having to save that employee record
• The ability to “hold” menu items can be set as a privilege by job
• Barcodes or magnetic cards (Mag Cards) are affiliated with customer records in the customer database for quick recall
• Users can set the polling time for changes to the menu
• A new security privilege allows users to open all cash drawers or choose a cash drawer on a per transaction basis
• A First Data PIN Debit and Contactless provider has been added
• The threshold for credit card signature suppression is variable and can be adjusted in the User Interface

ADVANCED (Technical Installer or Deployment Specialist)

Loyalty - Chockstone

Heartland Payment Systems’ productline Chockstone now includes loyalty. Chockstone is a multi-site loyalty provider that allows merchants to accumulate points for customers based upon purchase rules and those points can then be redeemed though offers in the form of discounts on purchases. Heartland Gift Marketing Loyalty provides a web-based portal where merchants can login and manage the users enrolled in the program, their points, and offers. Chockstone loyalty product enablement requires a minimum of 250 locations.

Loyalty - First Data

First Data offers a suite of processing options that include Credit, Gift and Loyalty. As with other loyalty providers, First Data Loyalty can be run in conjunction with Native Loyalty and is connected to a web-based backend for point storage, membership management, and general account maintenance.

Credit Card Install - TSYS Acquiring Solutions

TSYS Aquiring Solutions (TSYS) is a fully integrated payment processing provider with embedded reporting and manual batching within Dinerware, so merchants no longer need to use a middleware product such as SlipStream to connect Dinerware to TSYS. This functionality lowers costs of boarding accounts with this payment provider. Merchants can settle payment card batches and run batch reports via a single touch without the need to exit their Dinerware system.

The TSYS network is used by ISOs (Independent service operators) and payment providers for processing. Formerly known as VITAL/VisaNet, TSYS is one of the largest credit card processing networks in the world. TSYS is available as a standard credit card module with Dinerware.

Gift Card Install - Heartland Gift Marketing

Heartland Payment Systems now offers Gift Cards and is a fully integrated gift provider. The product, Heartland Gift Marketing, is simple to setup and a single merchant account can support both Canadian and U.S. tenders, from locations that span both sides of the border.

Gift Card Install - bLoyal

bLoyal is a fully-integrated gift card provider from a company that specializes in loyalty programs, wine clubs, promotional tools, mail campaigns, and customer management. bLoyal gift has all of the functionality as existing gift card providers.

AUDIENCE - PROGRAMMER (Software developers)

Security Logging

Create event logs for all management activities within Dinerware. Understand who made changes to menu items, or which manager authorized a void. This set of security reporting also extends critical data to independent third party developers (such as security camera companies) which can provide Dinerware customers greater opportunities for theft prevention.

Updates, additions and improvements

• Logging tracks all specific user actions related to critical order entry and manager functions within the Workstation
• Security logs are stored in the database for a period of time determined by the user on a per-event basis
• Logs can be used for internal auditing or in combination with video surveillance
• New reports have been created (Security by Type by User and Security by User by Type) to query security logging and display that data on a per-user basis
• Also new in Security features
• The length of user PINs can be extended beyond four digits for increased security

Brain Functionality

A complete re-design of the Dinerware Brain interface now includes the ability to archive data. Manual execution of a purge/archive through the command prompt is no longer necessary.

Updates, additions and improvements

• Databases can be archived (purged and saved); reports can be run on information that has been removed from the database for the purpose of space management. Please refer to the document ‘Dinerware Purge Functions.’
• The Workstation software can be launched directly from the Brain application

Customer Facing Display Add-In

This extensibility feature offers advanced users the ability to customize Dinerware’s customer display output for a broad variety of Customer Facing Display hardware options. This feature is particularly useful for Quick-Serve and Counter-Service environments. Please refer to the document ‘Customer Facing Display Introduction.’

Updates, additions and improvements

• Real-time order entry can be sent to external devices that display information for the customer or the kitchen
• This feature is targeted for integrators and developers; there is no end user feature set that offers this capability in the Dinerware Workstation UI Dinerware owners should consult their Dinerware Authorized Dealers for details

Virtual Client Enhancements and Additions

A faster, more scalable Virtual Client has been created to increase the ability of ISVs and developers to extend integrated products.

Updates, additions and improvements

• The Virtual Client / SOAP interface is now a permanent part of the Brain. There is no longer any need to install IIS
• The Virtual Client operates at a greater rate of speed than its predecessor

The Virtual Client is constantly evolving and additional method calls have been created and will continue to be developed