Spill-proof Citizen CT-S651 provides reliability for hospitality businesses

The hospitality industry is notoriously fast paced, and often a challenging and demanding environment for point of sale (POS) technology. However, there is simply no room for error or failure if customer satisfaction, and ultimately business performance, is to remain high.

As a result, the equipment used must provide an ultra-reliable and robust solution. That, according to a leading POS reseller, is exactly what Citizen Systems Europe's CT-S651 printer is delivering.

Having operated in the sector for more than 35 years, Electronic Business Machines understands what its clients in hospitality need from a POS printer. The firm's Managing Director, Patrick Connaughton, also knows what the biggest threat is to the functioning of any restaurant, pub or club printer. "We had previously had lots of issues with spillages in printers, it is a huge problem for hospitality businesses," he explains. "It's a very real threat to the technology they use and what's worse is that it means a printer would not be covered by a guarantee."

As a result, POS printers used in these sometimes unpredictable environments need to be designed to withstand heavy use and, perhaps more crucially, spills, while also being fast enough to keep up with a high turnover of customers at peak times. Typical top exit printers may be able to print at the right pace and quality, however, should a glass of wine suddenly fall from the bar on top of one, the unit is likely to become filled with the liquid and fail.

Furthermore, Patrick has noticed how more problems are arising thanks to a trend that sees POS systems mounted either on the bar front or just on a shelf underneath the bar, as opposed to the back bar placement that was popular traditionally. "The customers and the business need the printer working all of the time and the printer has got to be beside the POS system," he says. "All the beer taps are on the front bar so you're asking for trouble and damage does seem to happen quite often with top exit printers, even when businesses try to look after them."

In response, the Citizen CT-S651 has been designed to overcome this problem and with the specific needs of hospitality companies in mind. Citizen developed this pioneering spill-proof front-exit printer to provide restaurants, pubs and clubs with a durable solution that does not compromise on speed or quality. If a drink falls onto the printer, it splashes off the surface, eliminating the risk of damage and allowing printing to continue uninterrupted from the front exit.

This powerful yet compact model also prints at speeds of up to 200mm per second and delivers a high resolution output from a tough, long-life thermal print head to cope with the demands of even the busiest of businesses. It also features an integrated power supply to keep the area around the printer both safe and tidy, while ensuring the bar remains aesthetically pleasing. In addition, it takes just seconds for staff to replace the quick loading paper rolls.

"The front-exiting CT-S651 is so much better than a top exit printer," Patrick says. "Citizen's machine is a lot more secure, reliable and robust for the customer. Hospitality is not the most forgiving of businesses, but the front exit feature of this model takes most of the issues away. I'd always recommend this type of printer in the hospitality industry and the CT-S651 is right up there at the top. From our customers' point of view they're having a lot less breakdowns because of this printer and they're also much happier."

Equally, Patrick says offering the CT-S651 helps his company maintain its reputation as one of the leading providers of high quality POS systems by boosting client satisfaction. "The reliability factor really helps our business, as well as our customers'," he adds. "For example, if they have a printer that is protected from spillage because of the design, that suits them better, but it also suits us because we haven't got to send an engineer out to fix a damaged model. We often replace other makes of printers with the Citizen CT-S651."