Our POS system crashed during a $1200 brunch rush last Sunday - total chaos for 20 minutes

I run a small cafe in Midtown Detroit and last Sunday around 11am our Square terminal just froze up mid-swipe. We had like 15 tickets backed up and people were staring at me with that hungry impatient look. I had to pull out an old notebook and start writing orders by hand while my barista ran drinks off memory. The worst part was when a customer tried to Venmo me personally for their $35 tab and I had to explain I couldn't mix business and personal accounts like that lol. After the rush died down I spent an hour on hold with support and they said it was a network driver conflict on the router. Has anyone else here had a payment system go down during peak hours? What's your backup plan for when the tech just gives up?

3 comments

3 Comments

aaronsullivan3d agoRising Star

Taped a backup credit card imprinter and blank slips from my bank to the inside of the register drawer after the first time that happened to me. Takes about 5 seconds to switch over. Run the slips through the Square app later when the system's back. Also keep a laminated card with common menu items and prices taped to the POS station so you can write tickets fast without asking the kitchen for prices every time.

jakeb813d ago

Gotta gently push back on the laminated card idea though. Those menu items change so often, especially with seasonal stuff or supply shortages, that you'd be rewriting that card every other week. I've seen places try that and it ends up with smudged handwriting or outdated prices that cause arguments at the register. Might be easier to just keep a simple notebook with the most common 10-15 items and update it on the fly when something changes. That way you're not constantly reprinting or laminating, and you can just flip to the right page.

valc913d ago

Question how often your POS is actually going down for that to be worth the hassle. If it's a rare thing like once or twice a year you're basically just taping clutter into your register. Seems like a lot of prep for something that might not even happen again.

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