blog

date

February 7, 2025

category

blog

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8 min

6 Must Have POS Software Features - Chinese Restaurants

Although POS systems might all seem similar at first glance, there are many software features to look out for if you are opening an Chinese restaurant or are already a Chinese restaurant owner.

A top-down view of Chinese dishes with "POS Software Features" text, representing key POS functionalities for Chinese restaurants.

Why Traditional POS Systems Fall Short

Traditional POS Systems often lack the flexibility needed to properly serve and accommodate the requirements of a Chinese restaurant.

Chinese restaurants have many specialized features that are distinct, and cannot be easily accommodated if there is little understanding about the Chinese culture and cuisine.

Aspects such as language, dining culture, eating habits, unique cooking stations, specialized ingredients, and employee management, often require tailored solutions to create a smooth and comprehensive restaurant management system.

If you are, or want to be, a Chinese restaurant owner, keep on reading to find our what are MUST HAVE FEATURES for your POS system.

Key Software Features for Chinese Restaurants

These key features are must haves for efficient operations.

1. Multi Language Support

2. Tailored POS systems for Chinese Cuisine

3. Built in Menu Customization

4. Bill Splitting for Shared Dining

5. Integrated Chinese Payment Methods

6. Advanced Inventory Management for Chinese Ingredients

A traditional Chinese restaurant with a pagoda-style roof and MenuSifu branding, emphasizing specialized restaurant POS solutions.

Growing Need for Specialized Solutions

Chinese restaurants are known for a fast paced environment, long and complex menus, as well as family style dining.

Despite all these differences to western restaurants, many Chinese restaurants still rely on the same systems that are often not equipped with the necessary software to handle these specific and unique needs, creating many overarching problems that harm the entire restaurant operation.

Often, these restaurants are not up to date to the current technologies, falling behind on robust tools that can significantly help their restaurant operations such as smart POS systems and technologies that can streamline operations, improve customer experience, and drive profitability.

A Well Designed Chinese Restaurant POS System Helps With:

1. Efficient Order Processing

2. Seamless Communication Between Front of House and Back of House

3. Comprehensive Payment Methods

4. Automatic Inventory Management

5. Integrated Smart Technologies for Overall Restaurant Management

6 Must Have Features

1. Multi Language Support

Breaking the language barrier is the first step to a seamless workflow and restaurant management.

Illustration of MenuSifu’s multilingual support with language options including English, Chinese, Korean, French, and Thai.

Front of House

Chinese restaurants often have restaurant staff who primarily speak Mandarin, Cantonese, or other Chinese dialects, so having a easy to understand POS system in their language can increase work efficiency, as well as significantly reduce errors in all tasks.

Customers:

These restaurants generally have a large Asian customer base, so having technologies such has an E-menu/digital menus or kiosk ordering systems that can easily switch languages with one click is beneficial and can greatly enhance the guest experience.

In addition to Chinese, having a large database full of various languages is always a perk for your foreign customers, giving them a more comfortable and intuitive interface in their own language.

Back of House:

Giving the kitchen staff clear and simple instructions is critical to reduce error and reducing customer wait times, so having multi language options for kitchen displays and kitchen order tickets is especially useful in a Chinese kitchen where chefs are often more fluent in Chinese. Being able to print orders in Chinese, often with various customizations such as spice level or ingredient changes will highly increase order accuracy and readability.

MenuSifu currently has the largest selection of language options for their POS system and technologies in the market.

MenuSifu also provides 24/7 professional customer service in a variety of languages, making the entire business management process simple for all restaurant business owners.

2. Tailored POS systems for Various Chinese Cuisine Types

With Chinese cuisine, there are so many cuisine types and eating styles that not any POS system can effectively manage, so having tailored services and products for your specific type of Chinese cuisine is especially helpful for more streamlined operations.

Screenshot 2025-02-07 at 2.37.05 PM.webp

Types of Chinese Food Establishments:

  • Hot Pot
  • BBQ
  • Chinese Fusion
  • Dim Sum
  • Buffet
  • Bar/Karaoke
  • Bubble Tea

 Illustration of hands using chopsticks to pick up dim sum from bamboo steamers, showcasing Chinese dining culture.

Each of these different types of restaurants have different needs and requirements for operations.

For example, hotpot restaurants are better equipped with e-menus and QR codes instead of staff taking orders on a handheld device which ensures higher order accuracy and improved customer satisfaction and comfortability.

On the other hand, buffet style restaurants require less table management, and a more robust inventory management feature to keep food levels up and provide  an enhanced customer experience.

MenuSifu has specially programmed software features for the most popular types of Chinese restaurants so that Chinese restaurant owners have an easy time handling their restaurant business.

With a customized Chinese restaurant POS system, essential features are covered, as well as more specialized and customizable menu features to create a more comprehensive and intuitive user interface for seamless operations.

3. Built in Menu Customization

Chinese cuisine is complex, diverse, and often made with a variety of ingredients to create a specific flavour type or traditional dish.

A good POS software system should allow for easy modifications on all menu items for customer preferences and allergies for the best customer reviews.

Since food is so personal, having the ability to customize your dishes and adjust flavours to your liking is crucial. At a customer service standpoint, being able to adjust to customer requests is essential for exceptional customer experiences.

Common Customization Requests:

  • Spice level
  • Optional MSG
  • Ingredient Modifications
  • Portion Size Selection
  • Cooking Style

Illustration of a traditional Chinese restaurant interior with red lanterns and cultural decorations, emphasizing Chinese dining experience and service.

MenuSifu's All-in-one restaurant POS system allows for simple modifications on both the customer and the employee side to simplify ordering, reduce miscommunication, and ensure excellent customer service and health.

4. Bill Splitting for Shared Dining

Family style dining is where the entire tables orders together to share among everyone.

It is the most common dining style for Chinese restaurants and customers as it promotes community, togetherness, and care, but typical POS systems often find the payment process a challenge as it doesn't support these types of payment methods necessary for communal dining.

Splitting bills don't need to be a challenge with a tailored Chinese restaurant POS system.

Essential Bill Splitting Features:

  • Split by Dish – Customers can pay for their specific dishes
  • Split Evenly – The total bill is divided equally among all guests.
  • Custom Split – The group decides how to divide the bill manually by amount.

Illustration of digital bill receipts with individual payment icons, representing smart bill-splitting features in a restaurant POS system.

MenuSifu's POS system provides secure payment processing and supports a variety of bill splitting features necessary for any Chinese restaurant, making the payment process simple and painless for both the guests and employees.

5. Integrated Chinese Payment Methods

At any restaurant, accepting various forms of payment is one of the most valuable features since it doesn't prevent any customer from dining in. Having digital payment options and contactless payment such as mobile payment options are also crucial to be ahead in today's technological age.

With more and more customers switching to digital forms of payment, having a POS system that can support digital payment modes such as online payment or contactless mobile payment, as well as popular forms of Chinese payment methods is essential for exceptional customer experiences.

Popular Chinese Payment Methods

  • WeChat Pay
  • Alipay
  • UnionPay

Icons for Alipay, WeChat Pay, and contactless payment, showcasing digital payment solutions for Chinese restaurants.

Digital payment modes also provide an additional level of security to prevent credit card fraud that is quite common in debit cards, as well as easy currency conversion with low rates for best pricing.

By having a cutting edge POS system that supports Chinese payment processing, business owners can increase restaurant sales and attract more customers in cities with a large Chinese community or Chinese tourists.

A vibrant street decorated with red lanterns and traditional Chinese architecture, symbolizing festival celebrations and restaurant culture.

MenuSifu's USEZPAY is a comprehensive payment processing company that supports most Chinese payment methods and digital payment methods, giving restaurant owners and customers ease of mind when making or receiving a payment.

6. Advanced Inventory Management for Chinese Ingredients

Chinese restaurants often use a wide range of specialty ingredients and condiments that are often imported and managing these items manually can lead to error, shortages, waste, or overstocking, so having a smart and efficient inventory management system can help automate this process with custom reporting and accurate insights.

Top Inventory Features:

  • Automatic Stock Alerts – Receive notifications when key ingredients are running low.
  • Supplier Integration – Custom set automatic order placement directly from Chinese wholesalers.
  • Batch Tracking – Customizable reports useful for perishable ingredients like live seafood or fresh tofu.
  • Real-Time Usage Monitoring – Individual ingredient tracking to prevent waste.

 Illustration of common Chinese ingredients like ginger, scallions, chili paste, and Napa cabbage, used in authentic Chinese cuisine.

MenuSifu provides a comprehensive inventory management system with advanced reporting tools integrated directly into the cloud based POS system that can give you data driven insights, real time reports, and status updates.

Illustration of people using data and analytics tools to optimize restaurant operations, with a QR code to learn more about MenuSifu's offerings.

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