Linux based point-of-sale made its latest inroad into the fast food industry today, with the announcement that Papa John's Pizza has selected Wincor Nixdorf's BEETLE /NetPOS point-of-sale (POS) terminals as its next generation hardware platform. The Linux-based POS systems will be installed in as many as 2,936 of Papa John's owned and franchised pizza restaurants worldwide.

The BEETLE /NetPOS system has a sealed, fanless cabinet designed to resist the problem of airborne dust and particulates such as flour and other cooking ingredients. The light gray color of the BEETLEs also influenced Papa John's decision, as it will minimize the appearance of the dust and flour on the systems, creating a more positive image from a customer perspective, the company said. Additionally, Papa John's said it selected Wincor Nixdorf due to their expertise with Linux and their ability to help migrate an existing text-based application to a GUI-based, touch-screen version designed to increase user efficiency and reduce training time.

“Running Linux on the sealed-chassis BEETLE systems should dramatically increase efficiency and lower the total cost of ownership over the life of the systems,” said John Black, VP of Information Services and E-Commerce for Papa John's International.

“Papa John's has earned a reputation for technology leadership, and was one of the first companies in the hospitality industry to embark on a Linux initiative,” noted Jeff Soisson, president of Wincor Nixdorf USA. “Papa John's is an innovative, forward-thinking company, and Wincor Nixdorf is pleased to be part of their Linux solution.”

The BEETLE is a thin client terminal with either a 12.1- or 15-inch active matrix TFT touchscreen, and an option of a built-in hard disk or Flash memory drive. Processor choices are Intel Pentium III or Celeron, or VIA/Cyrix Media GXm. Input/output interfaces include PC-type Ethernet, USB, serial, PS/2 keyboard/mouse, and centronics printer ports, plus retail-specific interfaces for connection to cash drawers, scanners, POS printers, touchscreens, and customer displays. In addition to Red Hat Linux, the BEETLE /NetPOS can alternatively be configured with various versions of Windows NT Embedded operating systems, the company said.

 
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