Oct 7, 2013, 2:59pm CDT Updated: Oct 7, 2013, 3:26pm CDT
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Nancy Kuehn | MSPBJ
Jason Dennis is co-owner of Sail POS, which sells an iPod touch-based restaurant point of sale system.
- Nick Halter
- Staff reporter- Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal
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The makers of an iPod touch-based mobile dining system know why their product is getting installed in eateries all over the Twin Cities: It was made by restaurateurs who know a thing or two about serving patrons.
Sean Furhmann, Jason Dennis and Nick Corran launched their product, Point of Sail, about 18 months ago. It’s now in nine Twin Cities restaurants, and they hope to get into more soon.
Waiters carry around iPod touch devices that allow them to wirelessly send orders from the dining room directly to the kitchen. Afterward they can swipe credit cards on the devices and easily split checks for larger parties.
Owners can watch inventory, payroll costs and revenue in real-time from a smart phone anywhere they get Internet service.
Fuhrmann owns the New Hope Cinema Grill. Dennis had been his general manager before leaving to work full time on the Sail POS product. Corran is their computer guy.
The Sail systems are now used at New Hope Cinema Grill and new next-door neighbor Outtakes Bar and Grill, two Willy McCoy’s locations, Station 280 in St. Paul, 2nd Street Depot in Hastings, Silver Star Saloon and Grill in Wabasha, Be’Wiched Deli in Minneapolis and Icehouse in Minneapolis.
Brian Liebeck opened Icehouse with chef Matt Bickford in June 2012. He previously worked in IT for Best Buy and wanted to use a mobile system at his new restaurant.
“We dealt with a lot of growing pains, but I just thought this was the wave of the future,” Liebeck said. “We are in a place now where they work really well for us.”
Dennis said New Hope Cinema Grill was looking for a mobile point of sale system to serve their patrons, but decided to do it in-house instead. Their system, he said, lets waiters take more orders and do it faster.
Nick Halter covers food producers, grocery companies, restaurants and breweries.
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