The idea of the traditional coffee shop as a community gathering place, full of healthy discussion and debate, local artists, poets and musicians, and home to fair trade, organic coffee and chocolate along with homemade sandwiches and pastries, inspired Andy Jacobson to give up the world of finance and open Brew’d Awakening Coffeehaus in Lowell, MA. Coffee Shop Manager point-of-sale has been an important part of his formula for success.
“We started the business with just an off-the-shelf cash register, and when I was ready to buy a point-of-sale system I was attracted to Coffee Shop Manager for 3 main reasons,” Andy explained. “I like the fact that CSM is really specifically designed for coffee shops. I love the Quickbooks integration which makes accounting simple. And I was excited about the gift card / pre-paid account program that I could manage myself, without any transaction fees from a merchant services provider.”
Now that they’ve had Coffee Shop Manager in place for a number of years, Andy’s decision has paid off. “The reports are very useful for running the business,” he explained. “We use the Item Sales report, and the Sales by Hour report, to analyze business and improve our scheduling. It also really helps with training and holding employees accountable.”
Another thing that Andy makes good use of is the built-in loyalty program in Coffee Shop Manager. “We have a no-card program – Buy 7 Get 1 free – and customers just have to tell us their name. Its more convenient for the customer to not have to carry a card, and I really like it because it encourages everyone to get to know the customers by name as well as what they like to drink.
“We also use the pre-paid account feature, encouraging customers who want to use a credit card for just one coffee drink to consider setting up an account. This saves us transaction fees and is much faster to process during busy times.
“I would definitely recommend Coffee Shop Manager to other owners. The people are great and the software is a big help to us.”