Chick-fil-A POS System
As the largest chicken restaurant chain in the United States, it's clear that Chick-Fil-A needs a high-end POS system to keep up with their high-demand and expedient daily operations.
Today, we're going to explore the ins and outs of the Chick-fil-A POS system to find out what makes it so special.
Which POS System Does Chick-fil-A Use?
More than half of Chick-fil-A's 1,800 restaurants are equipped with Par's restaurant technology and PAR point-of-sale hardware.
Par POS systems are incredibly powerful, emphasizing a fully open architecture that is compatible with Windows and Linux.
Chick-fil-A has been using technology from Par for quite some time and recently renewed its partnership with ParTech Inc., which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Par Technology Corporation, after 20 years.
Par will now continue to provide Chick-fil-A restaurants with its leading point-of-sale hardware platform.
Not only is Par's hardware made with a fully open architecture in mind, but it is also made with an ergonomic design, setting the standard for POS systems in the realm of retail industries. Par's platform features make it an excellent choice for high-volume businesses, which is why this famous chicken restaurant has been using it for so long.
In a recent interview with Jon Bridges, Chick-fil-A's CIO, he noted that Par's technology and experience in supporting high-volume restaurant operations were the most important factors in their decision to renew the company's long partnership with the POS provider. Bridges also noted that Par's life-cycle support capabilities were also a major factor in determining their long relationship.
To find out which systems are used by other large chain stores, visit our Retail POS Examples page.
Who Is Par Technology?
Par Technology Corporation is one of the leading providers of business intelligence software, developing a high-end line of software and hardware products. The company is also the world's largest supplier of POS systems. As of today, the company has more than 45,000 POS systems in restaurants across 100 counties.
Support
After Chick-fil-A recently acquired its newly purchased equipment, it contracted with Par to receive life cycle support services throughout the life of its equipment. With about one-half of stores containing these POS systems, having reliable performance is necessary.
About Par POS Systems
While Par offers a number of point-of-sale systems for restaurant and retail organizations, one of the company's most popular models is the Brink POS.
This all-in-one restaurant point-of-sale solution is built for high-volume restaurants with the heaviest customer traffic conditions, though it can also support independent restaurant owners when scaled down.
The point-of-sale solution features a monthly SaaS subscription, a user-friendly design, an open Web APO, and an extensive integration partner ecosystem for additional third-party extensions.
Cloud Design
Par POS systems make use of cloud-based architecture, allowing restaurant owners and franchisees to gain access to increased security and have all of their data stored in a single place.
Cloud-based systems are pushing boundaries for restaurants in the modern industry. In many ways, these types of systems are necessary for future growth requirements.
Par's systems provide unlimited data storage as well.
Par Integrations
Par comes with a number of available integrations. In fact, the company presents one of the largest ecosystems in the industry, welcoming restaurant innovation while extending the boundaries of what is possible with a point-of-sale solution.
These integrations offer comprehensive management tools and options for easy and accessible data collection. As of today, the company offers 200+ integrations, 40+ custom API integrations, and 30+ restaurant technology categories.
Drive-Thru App
The mobile app became available in June of 2021 and became available throughout the country, allowing guests to order their meals online and pick them up from the drive-thru, limiting the number of people that were eating inside.
POS Tablet Integration
Chick-fil-A restaurant began integrating IPOS a few years back. These iPad-based POS systems were made to keep track of sales and process multiple orders at once, allowing for more flexibility during high-volume operations.
Included in the company's tablet integration is Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology, which allows guests to order food using tablets and smartphones. The company refers to this new smartphone and tablet system as "dine-in mobile ordering."
While sitting at their table, guests can order food. There is no need for guests to wait in line to order. All they have to do is tap their smartphones to the NFC tags that are on the table.
How Does Chick-fil-A Have Such a Fast Drive-Thru?
Recently, Chick-fil-A broke the record for serving more than 178 customers in a single hour, which, to be precise, is about three cars each minute. There is no surprise that the restaurant has invested plenty of time and money into studying how traffic flows in drive-thrus. In fact, the company went so far as to make mock-ups of drive-thrus at its Atlanta headquarters, driving real cars through them to see exactly how they operate.
This makes sense, as more than 60% of the business the restaurant gets is from its drive-thrus.
One thing that Chick-fil-A was able to incorporate with the technical expertise from Par systems was "face-to-face ordering." Employees at the restaurant are given handheld devices, allowing them to walk up to cars while they are waiting in the drive-thru to take orders before they get to the window.
The orders are then transmitted from the handheld wireless devices to the kitchen. Then, another employee will make the payment transaction once the customer reaches the window.
With these handheld devices, employees are also able to make detailed descriptions of customer vehicles to ensure they're given the right order when they make it to the window.
Final Thoughts
There is no doubt that Chick-fil-A is an innovative industry leader in the realm of fast-food operations. While Par might be the right choice for the fast-food chain's needs, as well as the right choice for other large restaurant organizations, it is not the best fit for smaller businesses.
If you're looking to incorporate a point-of-sale system in your business, we recommend looking into smaller options, such as Lightspeed, Square, or Toast.
Tyler Connaghan
Contributing Author
