[Ann] Best SambaPOS Features

Hello. As some of you know I’m working on a new project called SambaDNA. I’ll give more details about this project soon. While trying to implement a good infrastructure for the new project I decreased my forum activity a lot. Finally I completed most of the important stuff and I’m finally back. During August I fully worked for SambaPOS. After releasing a new update for SambaPOS I’ll keep working for SambaDNA project but I’ll be around here.

However programming a good POS is never enough :slight_smile: I should be able to explain new people how great SambaPOS is. As a start I want to improve our website and prepare some marketing material for printing. We’ll prepare good looking material designed by professionals and if it gets interest we can also prepare customized versions of them for resellers.

So I need to hear some thoughts about best SambaPOS features we need to tell everyone. What do you think? What do you like most?

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Metrik is a great selling point tbh.

Multi terminal is a massive thing for me, and the fact that a lot of members have pre made a lot of addons/tutorials. Like seriously… anything is possible.

Very interested to hear about DNA and what it has to offer

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Love the fact that its fully customisable and can be in touch with the developers like yourself who are brains and heart of the product. Not to mention the great community support.

Till date in about 3 years of being a part of this community I haven’t heard someone say this can’t be done.

Would love to know more about SambaDNA.

Love the idea of being able to be armed with some marketing material.

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I disagree about Metrik it will be a powerful tool but 90% of it is not functional yet. The splash screen is all we get.

The ability to customize anything you need is by far the best selling point but it’s hard to explain it as an advantage. I love the interface and look of it. The value of what you get an can do.

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The support from community is awesome.

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As you say that is the main thing and it is hard to explain.
It ultimatly also isnt a great marketing point to end users on a reseller based selling model.
Which also raises the question of who is the marketing martial being aimed at?
End user seems odd since licences etc are sold by resellers. So is it to market to resellers? as their thoughts on main advantages obviously differ from end users.

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Built in inventory management that is leap years ahead of any other POS and it’s not an extra charge. Nobody is doing that.

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Powerful custom reporting capability with simple easy to understand syntax. Nobody else let’s you build your own reports.

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Thank you very much for these great comments. There are lot’s of good ideas. People I’m introducing SambaPOS frequently asking why SambaPOS is better than XPos. Yes we have amazing features like rules, actions, entity screens but I agree it is hard to explain why it makes SambaPOS better.

We should better feature inventory, we made great improvements.

It is hard to explain why people needs customization or custom reports. Some of them probably thinks “Doesn’t it already perfectly fits to my restaurant business?” We need to think about that.

I didn’t think if we should target specifically end users or resellers on our marketing. For now we can think it like introducing SambaPOS to some random new person.

I’ll be looking forward for your feedbacks.

The problem with the customisability in a reseller model is that showing advanced setups isn’t nesercerally a direct representation of what they will get. Core features wise inventory for sure, but allot of the stuff that will wow people is ‘3rd party’ /reseller setups.
That’s why I ask about the target market. Showing a tech savey reseller the power of the software doesn’t suite an end user.
Samba could almost be considered more of a tool to get to the end goal of advanced pos. To resellers it’s a tool. To an end user they just want to end product
I guess samba created configuration tools might be an answer to give a more consistent representation of abilities maybe.
I can see why your after ideas as it’s a hard one to market right.

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Obviously value is huge. I mean SambaPOS is so cheap compared to competition… but would you want to advertise that? No probably not because certainly SambaPOS would want to be competitive and earn more eventually. Its hard to avoid that fact though that what you get with SambaPOS is a HUGE value.

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Greetings Friends!

I present below an excerpt from one one my posts on a restaurant group, promoting SambaPOS:

  1. POS Customisation: Every restaurant have their own unique operations, and the POS should mimic their operations, and not vice versa. Always buy a POS, which can be customized according to your needs. Some customisations for example are:

  2. Print orders of a table according to courses – If you are a fine dine outlet, on the KOT (Kitchen Order Ticket) you might want to print the Starters first, and then the main course, then desserts etc. The POS should be able to do that.

  3. Distribute order printing to separate kitchens: For e.g., Your outlet has a separate bar counter, and 2 separate kitchens (one for food, one for pizzas). The POS should be able to print only the drink orders to the bar, the food orders to the kitchen, and pizza orders to the oven area.

  4. Kitchen Display System: The POS should have an inbuilt KDS which can be substituted for printed KOTs. A KDS shows your active tickets on a screen.

  5. Display menu items on POS Screen according to your own preference: Some POS systems are so outdated that, they list the menu items on the POS screen only in an alphabetical manner. The POS should allow you to move the order items around, as per your preference. For eg: In the Category Starters, you might want to list the popular menu items first, and then the slow moving one.

  6. Menu Sub Categories: Your POS should allow you to create subcategories within a Menu Category. For eg, you might have listed more than 100 menu items in your Drinks category, and now want to sub-categorise them into: Water based, Milk Based, Alcohol Based

  7. Customised Table Names: Again, some POS are so out-dated, that they have only numerical table numbers allowed within the POS. For eg; if you have 3 tables inside, and 3 tables outside, you should be able to name your tables as IN01, IN02, IN03 and OUT01, OUT02, OUT03

  8. Customised Ticket Tags: The POS should allow you to enter and store related information of a ticket. For eg, when you open a new ticket (as in start billing for a new table), you might want to store the number of people on the table, and the steward serving them. The POS should allow you to store as many such Ticket Tags that you would like to store with a ticket.

  9. Allow Customer Credit: A lot of us supply food on credit either to companies, or to regular patrons. The POS should allow you to receive bulk payments from these customers, and maintain a credit account for each customer. For eg, you might have a regular customer who tells you “Take 2000 bucks and let me know when I have eaten it’s worth, I will give you more”. The POS should allow you to enter the amount of 2000, and keep deducting as this customer eats at your restaurant over the next few weeks. The POS should print an account balance statement for the customer on demand.

  10. Monitor Cash Expenses Transactions: A lot of outlets incur a number of small expenses which are paid by cash. The POS should allow you to link these cash expenses with your cash income, and generate a statement with the daily cash expenses.

  11. Customised Reports: The more I write about this topic, the less it would be. Reports which can be customizable are the backbone of a good POS. Most outlet owners do not operate the POS, but look at the reports. The POS should allow customization of the reports as per requirement. The POS should automatically generate all the reports at the end of day, without manual intervention, and also email these reports.

  12. No Recurring Charges: A POS provider should charge one time only and not every month. Why are we supposed to pay every month for a piece of software, the operations of which do not really change over time.

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@somilmittal thank you very much for this great feedback. This is also an great example of what I need to hear. We have tons of features and we don’t even mention them by thinking these are default for all POS systems. While reading them I thought we should mention some of these. I don’t think all of our competitors supports features like Customer Credits, Ticket Tags, Table Customization, Cash Expenses… But someone who is new to the POS systems might not be aware of he’ll need Ticket Tags. We should explain them with real world uses like @somilmittal did.

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For me like others it hard as the main benefit for me is samba can be customised to however you want, no one samba system will ever be the same

I can make samba look and work exactly how I want, create automation to do what I want where I want it, you can build a grisly bespoke system for your needs that know other pos software can do

There are virtually no restrictions on what you can do

The other main benefit is the forum, no other pos provider has a forum as active as samba, throwing ideas around, being directly involved in shaping the way forward with ideas, the samba team turning those ideas into reality

The constant support from other forum members and the pretty immediate responses from the samba team to test and fix errors we report and releasing new versions with new features and bug fixes rapidly

I, like many others here have looked at loads of other systems but nothing compares to samba on any level, samba simply does and provides what other pos solutions simply can’t

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I use tickets tags to create on the fly bar tabs, using tickets tags for customer name and tab limit. I created an entity screen to display just open bar tabs. These get settle the same day unlike using accounts

This way I don’t need to store loads of entity details, don’t have open accounts and they are quick and easy to setup, add to, change limit, change name and settle

I use a ticket tag to set the tab limit, once the ticket reaches that amount it stops orders being added. Manager can then either force the bill to be settled and then open another or just change the tab limit to a higher amount, all with PIN authorisation if limit is to be increased

This is the thing, samba can do one thing in many different ways and setups customised to the end users way of working or preference and new features can always be added

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Here is another post on SambaPOS promoting it for Dine-In Restaurants:

SambaPOS is perfect for your Dine-In Restaurant!

Some of the customisations possible on SambaPOS:

  1. Inventory: The management of purchases and inventory is vital to the success of any dine-in restaurant. SambaPOS has an inbuilt recipe and purchase management system, which can be used to track inventory, generate Food Cost Reports, Vendor-wise Purchase Reports, and much more.

  2. Print KOT in unlimited printers: If you have multiple kitchens producing different groups of items (eg; a bar counter for drinks, and a kitchen for food), the relevant items would be printed in that kitchen printer.

  3. Charge Service Charge on Zomato Gold: You might have signed up with Zomato Gold, and providing complimentary dishes to your diners. Do not forgo your service charge on these items, SambaPOS will calculate service charge even for gifted items.

  4. Table Numbering & Design: Keep your own table numbering sequence, and their unique names. (eg, you might have tables called GARDEN1 and GARDEN2). A graphical layout of your outlet can also be used.

  5. Customised Reports: See a report the way you like it, reports are completely customisable, according to your needs.

  6. Automatic Report Generation: No more generating sales reports manually after end of day or end of month. All reports are generated automatically, and stored in a local folder.

  7. Automatic Report Email: The generated reports can also be emailed automatically to designated addresses.

  8. Take orders on Android Tablet: Download an app on any Android device, link it to your server, and take orders on the tablet. The license for this is Rs. **** per device, one-time fee.

  9. Live Sales Data on Metrik App: Another app on iOS or Android called METRIK can be used to view live sales, and reports on your mobile.

Now, the best part is the cost. You pay only a one-time fee of Rs. **** for the license, and the customization. The license is yours forever. No recurring fees!

All you need is a PC to operate SambaPOS. Even Internet is not required for operations purposes. All your data is stored locally, and in your physical control.

Go for SambaPOS in your Dine-In outlet, and feel the difference!

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I will add a huge advantage is unlimited terminals. Most competitors charge monthly EACH terminal.

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I agree with @Jesse most clients we have acquired have said this is the first feature that jumps out at getting their attention. They love the fact its only a one time investment. The nature of being able to create a workflow that the restaurant demands allows the restaurant owner to change over from their existing system without having to go train their staff all over again.

We have been comparing Sambapos to a solution called IdealPos which is a great solution here in Australia but is expensive as hell.

On the other side the upper hand IdealPos has on SambaPOS is they have a head office module and most of their integrations are at a click of a button. For eg if you wanted to integrate your eftpos machine regardless of what bank or terminal you use. All it is setting up a few parameters in a form and your done in under a min.

They have nearly 200 integrations available.

P.S. I dont mean to promote another product just something to compare it with as its occupies a major chunk in the market here in Australia with a lot of leading franchises under their belt.

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Key points from my experience;

Looks better than many others which always helps, ICR touch is pretty prolific in UK from my experience and in my opinion looks like something that should be running on windows 98 and admin menu is very poor and clunky with main menu at least in versions ive seen having ludicrous settings 1, settings 2 etc - I expect to make it harder for end user to manage themselves.

Low cost vs competitors. Big selling point for many.

Hardware versatility allowing use for generic devices, hotel previous system used RFID readers but had hard time using cheaper usb ones when built in ones started to fail. Printers are easier to setup and again more options. Reports can easily be printed on a4 rather than only 80mm thermal roll.

Product and menu flexibility, portions keeping product list streamlined,no forced use of PLUs which rarely actually get used. Flexible menu structure allowing easy optimisation with category’s and sub menus, colours simply set, button headers independent of product ideal for large product ranges and complex product names.

Automation/Rules allowing custom flows, a hard one to explain to end users but we all know the benifits.

Vast loyalty options, we have a % based setup with different rates for loyalty, locals and staff all with separate % rates for both food and drinks. Simpler and more advance options possible. Points based systems also easily done. One thing which Im yet to see done is a good reliable multibuy setup, not combos but more retail style buy 3 and get cheapest free applied automatically.

Accounts - not an area im overly fluent in but obviously very flexable allowing for cross period accounts both debit and credit. Again customisation to high levels of complexity like Pauls wallet system.

Integrations is a major area and my PMS setup I think is a really good example of what can be achieved. At our main hotel that I originally developed it for the scripts have processed approximately £2.5 million in food and drink transactions in the last year and a half and can probably add another £500k from the two smaller properties ive installed the same setup in since.
This as mentioned above is also probably an area which would be key to marketing.
PMS integrations are key to accommodation providers.
Card machine integrations are big for many people and although I understand its a painful process for approval this I believe is something which is better done by Samba rather than resellers, given compliance issues etc and that providers would be less accepting of resellers.
Gloriafood is big for fast food restaurants and know there is a solution for this and although not an area im particularly familiar with sure there are others, see JustEat advertised here in UK allot.
I was keen to work on a woocomerse integration and may do one day when get some spare time but so much on with non epos stuff.

Reporting, obviously very powerful being able to build reports from scratch using a more user friendly code is great and as mentioned probably under appreciated.

Printer templates, so much flexibility here not just header/footer with limited number of lines, grouping and sorting for kitchen prints etc. Summaries like food/drink split and calculations for suggested tips and other things.

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:slight_smile: Wow. I solved a lot of business related issues to keep SambaPOS feature rich and not expensive. Having community support greatly helped. Together we solved a lot of issues that are impossible to solve for most startups.

However when you need to have lots of something x (integrations, prebuilt reports, config tasks, API methods, additional tools… ) you need a large team to be able deliver quality stuff and update them between versions for backward compatibility. For me few issues left in that area to also achieve it without having to be “expensive as hell”. We’ll do it.

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