By Maura Keller
 Restaurants use them. As do clothing retailers. Grocery stores would be at a loss without them. They’re point-of-sale systems and they are changing the way many coffee retailers do business.
Technology know-how
Here’s one thing we know: technology in the specialty coffee retail market is here to stay. This reality, coupled with the ever-changing nature of the coffee retail business, results in the need for electronic systems that can help owners and operators streamline their business processes and improve their bottomline.
POS systems can do that and a whole lot more. According to Lee Alexander, vice president of sales and marketing at Coffee Shop Manager, in a basic situation a single POS can provide easy and accurate ordering, comprehensive reporting and the ability to complete management functions.
When it comes to comprehensive reporting, a POS system such as Coffee Shop Manager can:
- Provide employee timekeeping to make payroll quick and accurate
- Use sales reports to see what sells, who up-sells cookies, etc.
- Sales by hour (and customers by hour). “You can use these reports to help assess opening and closing times in general as well as specific days like those before, on and after a holiday,” Alexander says.
- Review specific transaction types to ensure that employees are acting in accordance with your requirements (and not stealing as well). “You can see who is voiding transactions and when,” he explains.
- Inventory tracking
- Export data into QuickBooks. “Compare this to having a pile of daily Z reports (register tapes) that have to be accumulated, tracked, totaled, etc.,” Alexander says. “If it saves them 20 minutes per day, that adds up to over 100 hours of paperwork reduction per year.”
- Complete sales tax reporting by running a single report and completing the forms.
The customer card and customer database component is also paramount when it comes to POS systems.
“Coffee Shop Manager provides the ability to offer a customer card for your shop to your customers,” Alexander says. “The existence of a customer card will grow their businesses through increased loyalty of existing customers along with up-sell opportunities. It also allows you to reduce credit-card-processing fees by having people load their customer cards once versus running multiple debit/credit transactions and have to pay multiple swipe fees.”
The database feature also allows you to have standing orders for regulars, know customer histories, know birthdays and be able to print order tickets with names so everyone in a shop gets to know your customers by name.
“The feature set of Coffee Shop Manager has been built off the feedback of our customer base of almost 1,000 specialty coffee retailers,” Alexander says. “There are more features, reports and options than any one business can use. Therefore, we review our customer’s business model, items for sale, physical layout and areas of concern as part of any sale process to best identify both the specific needs of a customer and to identify ways for them to best optimize their use of Coffee Shop Manager.”
Ed Snyder, a sales manager for Selby Soft, says that there are many reasons to use a POS system to run your business. “Our system, SP-1, offers you fast, intuitive and flexible control with picture-oriented order taking, monitoring of customer loyalty and the ability to suggest new items to your clients,” he says. “From the owner’s standpoint, many powerful reporting tools are included to provide the information needed to assist in making the best decisions for the business. This reporting information is also a value from a time standpoint.”
Snyder explains that SP-1 is a complete, integrated POS solution. Some of the most popular features include internal loyalty and gift card programs, integrated credit cards, e-mail and mailing-label marketing, in-depth customer history and order tracking, retail sales reminders designed to increase the dollar amount per ticket, forced modifiers designed to cut mistakes that are commonly made and optional inventory control systems.
“In the last year, integrated QuickBooks and XML interface, OPOS driver support, enhanced reporting and barista monitors have been added,” Snyder says.
Judy Miller, POS sales manager at NEC Infrontia, Inc. says that a POS system is an integral business management tool for a coffeehouse retailer of any size. “The ideal system should be simple and powerful, offering features that make your customers experience worth returning—like speed at the check out and order accuracy,” Miller says. “The retailer should benefit from that accuracy by letting the POS monitor and manage the business for them by offering enhanced reporting capabilities, time and attendance that will assist in allocating resources and managing costs though inventory and data analysis.”
NEC offers the RSe5000, a touch-screen terminal that is reliable and easy to use, and the RSConnect Suite, a corporate management software package that will monitor and manage your business. “We also offer a kitchen video system that works in conjunction with the RSe5000,” Miller explains. What’s more, the RSe5000 is a self-contained POS system, which means the system does not require a server that can take up valuable retail space.
“With this product, you also have the option of sending your orders to the prep area via a kitchen video monitor or to a printer,” Miller says. For multi-store operations we offer RSConnect Suite, which allows the retailer the ability to manage their stores remotely through the Internet.”
Finding the perfect fit
Snyder and the team at Selby Soft configure the SP-1 system for each coffeehouse, based on their specific business needs. “We custom build based on the number of stations and optional items that you need for your business,” Snyder says. “Common installations in the coffee industry range from a single station with a cash drawer and receipt printer to multiple stations with barista monitors, employee assigned cash drawers and receipt printers.
Alexander also believes that understanding the scalability of a POS system is a major consideration for a coffee shop owner. This includes understanding:
- Ease of adding units (either in existing shops or new shops)
- Ability to have data work across all locations
- Ability to centrally manage multiple stores from a single location.
“One of the major benefits of Coffee Shop Manager is the ability to use our headquarters module to link the shop’s customer card across all locations (customer card balance, membership type, free drinks, points, etc.,” Alexander says. “In a non-POS world and even with many POS systems, customer information cannot be moved across stores.”
In some cases, only the customer balances can be used across locations, but that requires the use of third party processing, which typically means they are paying swipe fees on customer cards. Additionally, the headquarters module allows for central reporting and the ability to “push” changes out to the stores from a central location.
“We strongly advise a retailer to ask POS vendors about these abilities,” Alexander says. “For all of the growth that can come from the existence of a good customer card program, they must have the ability to have their card work down the street at their second store when it opens (in a cost effective manner). The efficiency of headquarters reporting can save time or management/administrative labor.”
As with any technology, continual advancements are made within POS systems to meet the changing needs of coffee shop operators. Coffee Shop Manager, for example, now offers a camera system integration component in addition to their normal system features.
“We believe that camera systems can be an important business tool for a specialty coffee shop,” Alexander says. “Our camera system integration allows a business owner to display Coffee Shop Manager order information on the video display, An owner could be sitting at home watching the activities of his shop over a secure Internet connection to his camera system.”
The integration allows an owner to look at specific transaction types, after the fact. An owner may want to view the “tape” surrounding voided transactions for assurance that the transaction was valid and not employee theft.
Training
Today’s business owners realize training is the key to getting the most out of their technology investment. “Generally, once the system is configured and the menu is programmed, training can take place,” Miller says. “Training for programming changes, such as prices and adding menu items, should be separate for the managing staff. All employees should then be trained on daily operations. Training is generally provided by the servicing agent on the account.”
Coffee Shop Manager also provides a full training session as part of each system sale. “These are approximately two-hour sessions where we are working through the customer’s actual menu that we have preconfigured based on their specific input,” Alexander says. “We train on transaction processing, prepaid cards, credit card processing, inventory maintenance, employee maintenance, reporting, and so on. Since we are working on a customer’s actual system, we are able to review some options on how best to optimize Coffee Shop Manager’s features for their location, set those features and move on.”
Benefits and features aside, the price of POS systems is often the deciding factor for many small to medium-size coffee retailers. Ranging in price from $3,500 to $6,000, POS systems vary, according to the hardware needs of a business and any additional bells and whistles that are added.
“One specific consideration in the “Do I get a POS” part of the evaluation is to compare the features, functionality and cost of gift card systems versus full POS systems,” Alexander says. “Our experience shows that gift card systems can cost 75 percent of what a POS costs with extremely limited functionality (even within the area of customer cards). Even worse, since many have transaction costs or swipe fees, there is no leverage achieved as retailers grow their business. With systems like Coffee Shop Manager, the base costs are covered once and growth does not come at an additional cost.”
What the future holds
The complexity of software and the speed at which it changes is perhaps the biggest concern facing coffee shop owners and operators who are evaluating the need for a POS system. Rather than making hasty, ill-considered technology decisions, a well-researched, thoughtful exploration will pinpoint a POS program that is right for you or your company.
“Changing technology—most certainly something that we have all experienced,” Snyder says. “Most of us that have researched and purchased a home system can attest to technology moving at an incredible rate. POS technology from the hardware standpoint is no different, it will continually change, and sometimes at an alarming rate. The good news, hardware wise, is that our business system will provide you service for years into the future.”
On the software side, Selby Soft provides six to eight enhancements to SP-1 each year. “We send them out typically twice a year,” Snyder says. “If a business owner has everything they ever hoped for and the system is running their business exactly as they want it to, there is no need to change a thing.”
Miller agrees that technology will always be a work in progress. “There are many features that go unused today in POS systems and often it is just a matter of making a simple programming change to make a feature active,” she says. “New ideas and features are always emerging so it is very important that the retailer know their system is easily upgradeable when necessary.”
Alexander adds, “a responsible POS vendor is developing his product for the future but not forcing recent hardware into obsolescence. Fortunately, the power of today’s PC gives a more than ample platform on which to run a POS software program. Aside from the PC, other aspects of the technology (touch screens, cash drawers, receipt printers, customer displays, etc.) are built on stable technology. Coffee shop owners should feel comfortable, at least with Coffee Shop Manager, that the hardware purchased today will serve them for several years.”
Alexander always recommends that customers stay current on their annual updates and support agreements, as they will continue to receive the software updates as they are issued. “If you are covered by such an arrangement with Coffee Shop Manager, you will receive all changes made to the program,” Alexander says.
Essentially, POS systems are about helping you run your business more efficiently. “If you ran a marathon in dress shoes, could you finish the race?” Snyder says. “Of course, but will you be at the front of the pack? No. With the proper equipment, you stand a far greater chance of doing much better in the race. Equip your business to be at the front of the pack. If you don’t, someone else will.” |
