Raking it in with foodservice

Store Equipment & Design, July, 2000 by Bonnie Zietlow

Foodservice can mean big business for supermarkets, but not without a carefully planned cashier counter that gives customers a fast way to pay and go.

The French call it "traiteur" we sometimes still call it home meal replacement. But whatever its name, prepared, ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat foods are big business--as long as customers enjoy what's offered and find the experience convenient.

The convenience aspect often requires a cashier counter right in the area where the foods are displayed or served, separate from the store's checkout stations. To design an independent cashier station for these special retail areas, you need to think "cafeteria" or "food court." While the requirements are similar to store checkout stations, there are a few differences.

ASSESSING YOUR CASHIER NEEDS

A number of considerations come into play when designing and equipping cashier counters for foodservice. Here are the critical points:

* Location and visibility. Store checkout counters are easy to find because the store's entrance and exit are usually combined. This makes good sense because it orients customers as soon as they enter. Cashier stations in retail foodservice areas or cafeterias are, ideally, not located at the entrance, but rather where people would normally exit the area. This causes customers to walk past all the food selections, allowing them to find something they might otherwise overlook.

In a "scramble-style" cafeteria, customers enter the area, select from a number of service and self-serve counters and move to cashier counters located at a natural exit point from the space. If the space doesn't permit straight-through movement, the next design option is to enter and leave along the same side of the space. In this case, you'll want to create as much separation as possible between the in and out flow of traffic.

The flow of customer traffic leaving the cashiers should come out into a seating area, an exit from the store or a space that connects them to either one. Sight lines to the cashier counter should be open, not obstructed by too-tall displays of food or towering beverage equipment. This helps customers find the cashier; and because the cashier has a clear sight line into the area, provides a psychological deterrent to pilfering.

* Number of cashiers. If yours is a retail foodservice operation that enjoys a high-volume lunch business, there's a simple formula for determining how many cashier stations may be used. Just compare the number of customers in the peak half-hour of a meal period with the number of transactions a cashier can handle. Without code scanners, an average cashier can handle four customer meals per minute, or 120 in 30 minutes. If 120 customers are expected during the busiest half-hour, then one cashier is required.

Because the calculation is for the peak volume period, the cashier will be able to handle the volume of any other period. Of course, this formula is generalized and may vary depending on the configuration of the cashier counter, how much weighing the cashier does, the efficiency of the cashier and the cashiering equipment selected.

* Cashiering equipment. Thanks to computer technology, point-of-sale cashiering equipment is available with some nifty features designed specifically for retail foodservice areas, cafeterias and fast-food outlets. Touch screens or keyboards can be programmed for specific products to simplify input, minimize errors and even report sales mix. The standard combination weighing scales/ UPC scanners are ideal because cashiers can weigh self-serve bulk products or scan packaged items. Non-supermarket cafeterias don't use code scanners yet, but this is an impressive system that has some exciting possibilities. Customers appreciate card readers that take major credit and ATM cards. Coin-changers are right for some high-volume applications; they can increase the cashier's transaction rate by as much as 15 percent. Be aware that they have to be refilled. To avoid interruptions, you'll need to have extra coins on hand at all times.

There are several basic configurations for cashier counters. All of them involve a tray slide or at least a space for customers to rest their purchases while in line. The tray-slide width should be sized to hold 85 percent of the width of the tray; a 14-inch-wide tray, then, will require a 12-inch tray slide. If trays are not used, allow a minimum of 8 inches for set-down space. The Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines allow a 36-inch-high counter if a 34-inch-high tray slide is provided. A 34-inch-high counter is also acceptable. Aisle space on either side should respect ADA guidelines, allowing 36 inches for wheelchair access.

Finally, the counter style depends on the amount of traffic, space available and efficiencies required. Here are the choices, and some things to consider about each:

* Double-sided single cashier. This island-style counter with two tray slides and space for one cashier is the most efficient. The reason for this is something called overlap-processing; once the cashier completes the transaction with the customer on the right who is now fumbling with his or her change, the cashier can move immediately to the customer waiting on the left. This efficiency allows a single cashier to handle up to 20 percent more customers than a cashier with a one-tray slide.