Exceeding customer expectations is a key objective for businesses that strive to deliver exceptional customer service and create memorable experiences. When customers receive more than what they anticipated, it not only leaves a lasting impression but also builds customer loyalty and advocacy.

The key to producing good coffee is having fresh beans brewed recently. We’ve all had bad, stale coffee, burnt or reheated to taste awful. But we’ve also walked out of a coffee shop with a little cup of heaven, ready to start our day. You don’t want either your beans or your brewed coffee to sit around too long.

The problem isn’t just maintaining enough inventory, you need to maintain the right amount of inventory. Tracking both by hand wastes time and can be inaccurate. When you have a clear digital record of every order, you’ll know exactly how much ground coffee and brewed coffee sells every day and how much you need to get through a day. You can break those numbers down so you brew just enough coffee to maintain the perfect fresh cup for every customer.

DizLog POS can help you to maintain the right amount of inventory

But that’s not the only inventory you have. Most shops have some sort of snacks to go with the coffee, often baked goods like pastries, cookies, and muffins. They don’t have a very long shelf life, so keeping only what sells in a couple of days allows you to give each customer a delicious experience.

The other side of inventory management involves spotting employee theft. It happens all the time, and can lead you to run out of inventory when you thought you had enough to cover a day. Employees likely won’t consider the little extras they take as theft, so spotting it and correcting it can let you maintain a healthy work environment and happy customers.

Point of sale can combine employee tracking and inventory management software to spot the times when your orders and supplies get out of sync. By narrowing your time frames down, the culprit reveals themselves.

When a customer comes back and asks, “Hey, where’s my drink?” your barista shouldn’t have to ask, “What did you order?” Orders come fast and furious in a coffee shop, and missing one or two won’t put you out of business. But when that stray cappuccino slips by, getting it back on track should be as easy as glancing at your screen.

Customers can be fickle. “Could you change that to a drip coffee instead of an Americano?” Sure, your staff says and figures out what ticket they wrote that order on. But digitally tracking those orders means digitally changing them. And that’s way faster.

POS systems are designed for this. Every order, every customer becomes an easily editable record. Any time your customer interactions go off script, all it takes are a couple of button taps to get it back in order.

We’ve already talked about how important it is to get your customer from order to payment quickly. But it’s just as important to get them through the payment process quickly. Whether they drop a fistful of quarters, swipe a card, or use a new digital method, you need to take the money, calculate change, and give them a receipt. Maybe with that there’s a tip, either dropped into the ubiquitous jar or added to the total on the final receipt.

POS software can process these methods quickly, print or email the receipt, and get your line moving. If your staff need to make change, the system calculates it for them. It’s faster than thought, so all they need to worry about is serving good coffee with a smile. You can even set up your POS software on a mobile Poynt device, so your staff can take those payments without forcing customers to the register.

Every second counts in coffee shop customer service. Whether it’s the seconds a customer has waited for their drink, the seconds that the brewed coffee has sat warming, or the seconds the next customer has waiting to give their order, you want to shave as many of them off as possible without compromising service. A POS system will help you do just that.

You can set up your POS software on a mobile Poynt device, so your staff can take payments without forcing customers to the register.

Thanks to the great feedback we receive from our customers managing coffee shops, we’re able to put together informative articles for those who are considering a POS for their own café.

For more information, contact us or try DizLog POS for free to see these functions and benefits in action.