Point of Sale System Management Checklist

Walk every FOH terminal, expo KDS screen, kitchen ticket printer, and handheld. Look for cracked screens, sticky card readers, jammed cutters on the receipt printer, and grease buildup on line-side units. Note any device that needs replacement before the next service.

Use a microfiber cloth with screen-safe cleaner — never spray directly onto the device. Pop the receipt printer cover and clear paper dust from the cutter. Wipe the EMV card reader contacts; sticky readers cause the chip-fallback-to-swipe failures that drive chargeback rates up.

Check Ethernet runs to each terminal and KDS, the router/firewall, and the back-office PC. Replace any frayed cables and re-seat loose RJ-45 connectors. Confirm the dedicated POS VLAN is up and the guest Wi-Fi is on a separate network — sharing networks is a PCI scope-creep problem.

File with Toast / Square / Clover / Lightspeed support and request RMA or on-site service. Capture the ticket number on the run so the next reviewer can follow up. Confirm loaner availability if the device is on a high-volume station.

Schedule the update for after close, never mid-service — terminals reboot and the menu sync can take 20+ minutes. Confirm the build version on every device after the rollout; partial updates leave stations on mixed versions, which causes ticket-firing inconsistencies on KDS.

If you accept cards directly, your merchant processor requires quarterly ASV scans for PCI DSS compliance. Most operators on Toast or Square inherit a P2PE-validated environment, but the back-office network and any integrated devices still need scanning. Attach the scan report to the run.

PCI DSS 8.3 requires password rotation on a defined cadence for all cardholder-data-environment accounts. Rotate back-office, manager, and any shared admin logins. Never share manager PINs on the floor — each manager gets a unique 4-digit PIN to keep void and comp audit trails clean.

Run a $0.01 test transaction for chip insert, contactless tap (Apple Pay / Google Pay), magstripe swipe, and manual key entry. Void each test. Also test gift card redemption and house-account charge if you use them. Note any tender that errors so the vendor ticket can reference specifics.

Pull the manager-activity report from the POS. Voids over 2% of net sales and comps over 1% are common theft and policy-drift indicators. Flag any server with outlier void rates for a one-on-one with the GM.

Pull cash-drop variance logs, server banks, and the void detail report for the period. Cross-reference voided checks against the kitchen ticket printer log — voids without a matching kitchen abort are the classic skim pattern. Loop in ownership before any personnel action.

Tie POS net sales to the merchant processor's deposit batches and to the bank statement. Identify any chargebacks, retrieval requests, or processor adjustments. Variances over $50 should be traced before close — most are short-deposit days that the closing manager skipped.

Cloud-hosted POS (Toast, Square) handle backups automatically; confirm the last successful sync timestamp in the admin console. On-prem systems (Aloha, older Micros) need the back-office PC backup verified — open the most recent file and confirm it's not zero-byte.

Pull the chef's current menu and cross-check every item, modifier, and upcharge against the POS. Walk-in shortages and seasonal swaps are the usual source of stale prices. Push the menu to online ordering (ChowNow, Toast Online Ordering) and to delivery integrations (DoorDash, UberEats, Grubhub) — these silos drift fastest.

Export the POS sales mix and feed it into MarginEdge, Restaurant365, or your spreadsheet. Compare theoretical food cost (recipe × units sold) against actual (inventory + invoices). Variance above 2% on prime cost usually traces to portion drift, mis-rung modifiers, or a missing recipe in the POS.

Pull the user list from the POS and cross-reference it with the 7shifts or Homebase roster. Deactivate anyone who hasn't worked in 30 days; terminated employees with active PINs are a PCI finding and a theft vector. Confirm permission tiers match role — servers should not have void-without-manager rights.

Each new hire gets a unique 4-digit PIN — never reused, never shared. Walk them through clocking in, ringing a 2-top, splitting a check, adding a modifier, processing a card, cashing out, and the allergen-ticket flag. The walkthrough is non-negotiable before they touch a live ticket.

Confirm which roles can comp, void, discount, and refund. Cap server-side comps at a single dollar threshold (e.g., $10) and require manager PIN above. Document every override role change in the manager log — auditors and the next GM will need it.

Sit through a Friday or Saturday peak and time fire-to-pickup on KDS, plus close-out-to-card-approval on the floor. Latency over 5 seconds on card approval usually means a Wi-Fi or processor issue. Note any station that lags so the next pass can target it.

Wipe customer-facing displays on every handheld and countertop reader. Verify the tip-suggestion percentages match current policy and that the no-tip option is still present — auto-gratuity on small parties without a no-tip path is a guest-complaint pattern that ends up on Yelp.

Enroll a test guest, earn points on a real check, redeem a reward, and refund the test. Sell a $5 test gift card and redeem it on a separate check. Loyalty integrations (Toast, Square Loyalty, Paytronix) silently break after major releases — testing end-to-end catches it before guests do.