Grocerant Point of Sale Systems: A Comprehensive Guide

Between local grocery trips and grabbing a quick bite at a restaurant, consumers today have plenty of options for where to get their meals.

But grocerants offer the best of both worlds — blending traditional grocery shopping with the convenience of restaurant dining.

This hybrid business model presents unique challenges compared to a generic retail store, so business owners need a grocerant point of sale (POS) system that can handle their specialized needs. 

In this blog, we’ll break down exactly what a grocerant is, the must-have features in a POS system built for this setup, and some of the most popular providers offering these solutions. 

What Is a Grocerant?

At its core, a grocerant combines the convenience of a grocery store with an integrated dining experience. 

And it’s not just pre-packaged dining options — grocerants typically include a restaurant area where you can order from a menu and enjoy a freshly prepared meal right on the premises.

Think of it in terms of convenience: you can grab your weekly groceries and, on the same trip, sit down for a quick bite, much like you would at a quick-service restaurant. 

Why a Grocerant Point of Sale System Matters

Operating a business that includes both grocery sales and restaurant service creates a set of unique operational demands.

Store owners have to balance grocery inventory alongside restaurant orders, handle different types of transactions, and potentially deal with order modification and in-house dining services.

Because of this, a standard POS system designed for a typical grocery store often falls short. These systems usually aren’t equipped to handle the ins and outs of restaurant operations, like managing order modifiers or separating kitchen tickets.

Specialized grocerant POS software, however, offers features that help you manage both retail and food service in one integrated platform, providing a better experience for your staff and customers.

4 Essential Features for a Grocerant POS System

A solid grocerant POS system should help you better understand every part of your business, with built-in features that make managing grocery inventory and food sales much easier.

Whichever POS system you choose, below are four must-have features you’ll need to run your business effectively.

1. Quick-Service Restaurant (QSR) Modifiers

When serving prepared food, customers’ orders often come with specific requests. QSR modifiers within a grocerant POS system let your staff customize orders on the fly, accommodating ingredient substitutions or omissions.

With this, you can ensure all orders are accurate and all hungry customers leave satisfied. 

Choosing a POS system that includes QSR modifiers helps your business: 

• Improve customer satisfaction by accurately reflecting all food modifications during checkout — no more back-and-forth reorders.
• Increase revenue by upselling premium modifications and managing associated costs effectively.
• Maintain an efficient kitchen and provide your staff with clear, detailed order tickets. 

Using a grocerant POS system with QSR capabilities means you can cater to all customers, regardless of allergies, dietary restrictions, or general food preferences, and properly manage modification costs.

Related Read: Opening a Grocerant: 7 Simple Steps

2. Mix and Match Pricing

Strategic pricing is a great way to encourage customers to also try your in-store dining.

A POS system with mix and match pricing lets you create special offers that combine grocery items with prepared foods, incentivizing shoppers to explore both sides of your business and increase their average spend per visit.

Mix and match pricing lets you:

• Drive more sales by incentivizing customers to purchase items from both your grocery and prepared food sections in a single order.
• Attract price-savvy shoppers with bundled offers, creating a sense of greater value and encouraging them to try your in-store dining options alongside their regular groceries.
• Clear perishable inventory in both departments by strategically combining items nearing their sell-by date into appealing combo deals.

Pricing flexibility can drive sales in both your grocery and prepared food sections while also providing valuable data on popular combinations for future promotions.

3. Online Grocery Integration

Major retailers and grocery chains have widely adopted online ordering and pickup options, recognizing the demand for convenience and catering to diverse shopping habits. 

For grocerants to remain competitive and reach a broader customer base, your POS system should integrate with e-commerce platforms. 

This lets busy customers place their grocery and food orders in advance, offering a quick pickup at the end of a workday, rather than spending valuable time hand-selecting items in-store.

Integrating your grocery operations with an e-commerce storefront helps you:

• Expand reach beyond your store’s physical location, attracting customers who prefer the convenience of online browsing and ordering from home or work.
• Increase average order value by displaying impulse buys and bundled offers online, encouraging customers to add more items to their digital cart.
• Gather data on online ordering trends and customer preferences, informing inventory management and targeted digital promotions for both groceries and prepared foods.

Online ordering and pickup have become the status quo for many shoppers, so choosing a grocerant POS system that lets your business meet these demands and remain competitive against larger retailers is paramount.

4. Customer Loyalty Programs

85% of shoppers say a loyalty program makes them more likely to come back, so if you haven’t implemented any customer loyalty initiatives at your grocerant, you’re missing out. 

Effective loyalty programs encourage shoppers to spend more to earn rewards, which they then redeem, leading to continued engagement with your store. 

It’s a win-win — your customers feel appreciated, and your business benefits from repeat sales.

A POS system equipped with customer loyalty features makes managing a loyalty program easy, from tracking points to managing rewards.

Starting a loyalty program at your store can help:

• Increase customer retention by rewarding repeat purchases, turning occasional shoppers into loyal advocates for your grocerant.
• Provide insightful data on customer spending habits and preferences for more personalized marketing efforts.
• Encourage higher spending per visit as customers strive to reach certain reward tiers or accumulate enough points for redemption.

Loyalty programs aren’t one size fits all, so consider what type of program structure — whether point-based, tiered, or subscription — will motivate your customers and encourage repeat business.

Related Read: Grocery Marketing: 5 Ways A Customer Loyalty Analysis Should Influence Your Strategy

Choosing the Right Grocerant POS Provider

While several POS providers cater to the restaurant and retail industries separately, finding one that truly integrates both can make all the difference. 

Here are some popular options currently on the market.

Markt POS

Specifically developed for the grocerant model, Markt POS provides a unified system to manage both grocery and prepared food operations with features designed for this hybrid approach.

Notable features include:

• Unified platform: Combines grocery inventory, restaurant order management, and payment processing in one cohesive system built for grocerants.
• Integrated loyalty: Features a built-in customer loyalty program to encourage repeat business across both grocery and dining.
• Grocerant-specific design: Offers tools like advanced QSR modifiers, printed shelf labels, reliable hardware, and flexible mix and match pricing for grocerant’s needs.

For grocerants seeking a solution built from the ground up for their unique challenges, Markt POS offers a comprehensive and integrated approach.

IT Retail

Created by grocers for grocers, IT Retail offers a point of sale solution with a deep understanding of the grocery industry, including features relevant to the grocerant model.

Notable features include:

• Grocery-focused foundation: Provides strong inventory management built for grocery needs and integrates with popular e-commerce platforms like Mercato and Instacart.
• Integrated QSR features: Includes customizable hotkeys, menu items for quick service, and order modification capabilities suitable for in-store dining.
• Efficient checkout: Offers self-checkout options and scale integrations for a quicker transaction process for both grocery and prepared food sales.

IT Retail presents a solid option for grocerants seeking a POS system rooted in grocery expertise with adaptable features for their in-store dining operations.

Toast

While primarily focused on restaurants, Toast offers robust features that can cater to the prepared food aspect of a grocerant with strong customization and online capabilities.

Notable features include:

• Restaurant-centric strength: Excels in order management, kitchen display systems (KDS), and detailed menu customization suitable for prepared foods.
• Extensive integrations: Offers a wide range of integrations for online ordering, delivery, and other restaurant-specific needs
• Scalability for food service: Designed to handle the demands of busy food service operations within the grocerant setting.

Grocerants with a significant focus on their prepared food services may find Toast’s restaurant-specific features a strong asset to their daily operations.

Square

A popular choice for small businesses, Square offers an adaptable POS platform with a growing collection of apps that may fit grocerant’s needs.

Notable features include:

• Flexible ecosystem: Offers various online ordering, marketing, and customer management apps that can extend its functionality.
• User-friendly interface: Known for its intuitive design and ease of use for both transactions and basic management.
• Mobile capabilities: Provides strong mobile POS options for taking orders and payments in various settings within the store.

Square can be a good starting point for smaller grocerants looking for an adaptable and user-friendly system, though full integration might require additional app configurations.

Lightspeed

Lightspeed provides separate, yet integratable, platforms for retail and restaurant, including strong feature sets for both sides of a grocerant business.

Notable features include:

• Advanced inventory management: Offers advanced inventory management, multi-channel sales capabilities, and detailed reporting for the grocery side.
• Restaurant POS: Provides menu building, adjustable floor plans, and staff management tools for the dining area.
• Integration capabilities: Includes integration options for age verification, customer loyalty programs, and Google local inventory ads.

For grocerants planning to expand their grocery or dining options, Lightspeed’s POS platform can provide the adaptability needed for long-term growth.

Understanding the Grocery Store Restaurant Concept

Grocery store restaurants, or grocerants, have become increasingly popular for several reasons.

By definition, a grocery store restaurant is a hybrid concept that merges your store with a restaurant or quick-service food outlet. They provide a seamless shopping and dining experience, letting customers grab groceries and enjoy a meal all in one trip.

Adding a restaurant to your grocery store will:

• Increase foot traffic
• Provide additional convenience to customers
• Capitalize on the increasing popularity of eating out
• Generate higher sales
• Increase customer loyalty
• Help you stand out from the competition

Think about it this way: If a customer is already in your store shopping for ingredients but realizes they won’t have time to cook this particular recipe tonight, they can always grab something from your grocery store restaurant to heat up and serve at home. Problem solved!

Related read: What Is a Grocerant? The Latest Food Retail Trend

Here are a few strategies for maximizing profits at your grocery store restaurant.

Tip 1: Create a Profitable Menu

Think about your restaurant's concept and design your menu offerings around that. Are you strictly serving lunch and dinner? Breakfast only? Will you offer all the same things a restaurant does (appetizers, salads, entrees, dessert)?

A well-designed menu is key to attracting and retaining customers. As you create your menu, consider incorporating items already available in your store to cut costs and reduce waste.

Using ingredients before they expire will help reduce shrinkage and keep costs low. Plus, using grocery store items also introduces your customers to new things they may not have considered buying before.

Last, promote local ingredients to support farmers in your area. Your customers will love supporting the local economy and appreciate fresh food.

Related read: How To Open a Grocerant: 3 Simple Steps

Tip 2: Implement Effective Marketing

People who frequent your grocery store will realize you’ve opened a restaurant, but marketing is essential to get more people in the door. Here are a few ways to spread the word about your grocery store restaurant:

• Print coupons on receipts: Offering coupons with discounts on future purchases at your restaurant will encourage return visits and remind customers that you’re there when they need a meal in a pinch.
  
  
• Social media promotions: Use platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter) to engage customers and showcase menu items. Schedule posts to run right before mealtimes to entice customers.
  
  
• Billboard advertising: Buying a billboard ad will increase the visibility of your grocery store and restaurant. This may be the message they need to stop in for people just passing by.
  
  
• Customer loyalty programs: Use existing loyalty programs to incentivize repeat business. For example, for every five sandwiches or bowls of soup a customer buys, they get the sixth free. Using a POS system will help you keep track of your most loyal customers so you can reward them with additional discounts or promotions.
  
  

Related read: 4 Grocery Store Marketing Tactics To Implement Now

Tip 3: Simplify Operations for Efficiency

Streamlined operations lead to better service and profitability, and who doesn’t want that? To do this, you need a firm handle on inventory management, reliable technology, and frequent staff training.

How can all of this be made easy? By investing in the right POS technology, you can run your grocery store and restaurant all in one place. You don’t have to worry about spreadsheets, timesheets, or paper schedules.

Markt POS was designed with grocery store and grocerant owners in mind, which means you get features specific to your industry, such as:

• Quick service restaurant features to customize orders
• Inventory management
• Customer loyalty
• Mix and match pricing
• Customizable touchscreen and button layout
• Marketing capabilities
• Advanced reporting

These features lead to an unmatched customer experience and flawless backend operations.

Tip 4: Upgrade the Customer Experience

Creating a welcoming atmosphere is crucial for attracting and retaining customers. When people choose to eat at restaurants, they consider all aspects of their meal, including the environment. Setting the scene is just as important as setting the menu.

Choose inviting decor like comfortable seating, relaxing artwork, and tables big enough for multiple people to enjoy food. Make sure it’s not too hot or too cold. Provide a barrier from the rest of the grocery store to make customers feel like they’re truly somewhere apart from what’s happening in the store.

Last, use your restaurant space for more than just dining: host cooking classes, wine tastings, or product launches to engage with the community.

Tip 5: Monitor Financial Performance and Adjust As Needed

After your grocery store restaurant has operated for a few months, tap into the reports in your POS system to check out the metrics.

Keep an eye on:

• Daily sales to find your most popular day(s) of the week
  
  
• Inventory turnover to understand whether you’re moving stock efficiently
  
  
• Food cost percentage to maintain a healthy balance between costs and sales
  
  
• Gross profit to understand how much revenue remains after you subtract the costs tied to cooking the food you sell
  
  
• Prime cost to calculate the total direct costs of production, including raw materials and labor
  
  
• Average check size to understand how your restaurant is performing and look for opportunities for improvement and increased revenue

Regular reviews of these metrics allow you to set benchmarks and will help you make continuous improvements if a benchmark isn’t met.

How To Select a Grocerant Point of Sale System

Running a successful grocerant means paying equal attention to your grocery and dining operations. A POS system explicitly built for this hybrid model is the best way to keep everything running in sync. 

When selecting your POS software, prioritize features directly supporting your daily tasks, such as e-commerce integration, QSR modifiers, mix and match pricing, and customer loyalty programs. Beyond the software itself, make sure the provider offers clear training resources and responsive customer support.

To see how a system designed with grocerants in mind can support your store’s growth, connect with the Markt POS team for a free demo today.