Low Key Café Implements High Tech Sales System

By Nancy K. Crevier

There is something missing when customers at demitasse café on Glen Road are rung up. It is the familiar “Ka-ching! Ka-ching!” of the cash register.

Owners Mike Landry and Jerid O’Connell switched recently from a traditional point of sale (POS) system consisting of a PC computer terminal with monitor and printer, to an iPad, a tablet-style computer with a point of sale application.

“Since the back end of the iPad POS system is cloud-based, there’s no need for an on-premises server running the usual required databases and transaction reporting for a typical POS,” said Mr Landry. “All that’s needed is an Internet connection.”

Unhappy with frequent crashes of the traditional system they had installed when demitasse opened last year, causing them to lose business when credit cards could not be processed, the café owners were considering a change when Shawn Takatsu of Techatsu Support happened to contact demitasse. “I jumped on it right away when he called,” said Mr Landry.

The new system consists of an iPad linked to the cash drawer and receipt printer. It takes up just 49-square inches of counter space, a huge asset in situations like demitasse, where space is restricted.

There is also the “cool” factor of the iPad system, admitted Mr Landry. “The customers are mesmerized by it,” he said. Since installing the new system on June 10, “Everyone is commenting,” Mr Landry said.

The iPad POS system has been a breeze for staff to master, too, Mr Landry said. “A lot of them have iPhones, so this was easy. I didn’t even have to train them.”

The system was customized for demitasse by Mr Takatsu over the course of one day. Individual “buttons” for various categories — espresso, sandwiches, salads, etc — scroll side to side across the bottom of the iPad touch screen. “It’s super easy,” said staff member Chris Jennings, as he demonstrated the system.

Selecting a category brings up another menu of the items in that category, which the salesperson uses to place the order from the customer. As each item is entered, a smaller window on the left of the screen depicts the items ordered and the price, as it will be printed on the receipt. Items can be customized there, deleted, or additional items added. The screen can easily be flipped for the customer to preview before the order is placed.

It is even possible to put photographs of food items on the iPad, said Mr Landry, although they have yet to do so. “Can you imagine how amazing that would be? I could see it, especially for a full service restaurant. The waiter can take the order on the iPad tableside, and show customers the menu items,” he said.

Eventually, he wants to add a bar code application, allowing staff to scan retail items sold at demitasse. “It will take me a few minutes, and maybe 99 cents,” said Mr Landry. “I just haven’t done it yet.”

Cost Effective

Switching over to the new system has been cost effective, too, Mr Landry said. He was able to resell the computer, monitor, and printer from the old system, and the purchase of the iPad and application for the café was thousands less than a traditional PC-based system. “I reused my cash drawer and receipt printer, so I think it was less than $1,400 altogether,” he said.

What has really impressed Mr Landry, though, is the ease with which daily reporting can be done, and the precision of tracking that allows him to know down to the hour what café items are selling. “It’s just incredible. I can know how much of certain items to have on hand on the days or times of day that they sell best. I know when I am getting low on a product and how much to order,” he said. Each staff member has his or her own code, so work hours are reported on the iPad, making payroll a simple matter.

Because the system can be accessed from anywhere, at anytime, Mr Landry and Mr O’Connell are able to do management reporting remotely, and share information easily with each other. “I can actually spend more time at home, with my family, and still get my work done,” Mr Landry said. “If pricing needs to change, I can change pricing on the fly.”

The system sends information immediately, and should the Internet go down, the system still works. Credit or debit card information is stored until the Internet is back online, and then the whole batch is sent at once. “I had the best of the best, but my old system used to crash every day at some point. It was a pain, and not good for business,” Mr Landry said.

No secure information is stored on the iPad in the store.

“With all of the talk about privacy, I think that people like knowing that we are not storing any personal information here. There’s nothing to hack into, and even if someone were to steal the iPad, there’s nothing to find. Everything is saved on servers at remote locations,” he said.

Mr Landry is hard-pressed to think of a negative to the iPad POS system at demitasse. “I haven’t had one single problem. Staff loves it, customers love it, and I love it. I just want other business people to know about it,” said Mr Landry. “It’s worth it, and it’s good.”

And if customers really miss the ring of the cash register, “I’m sure there’s an app for that,” laughed Mr Landry.