Coffee Shop POS: 5 Features That Make a Big Difference

While you’re brewing the latest batch, your coffee shop technology should carry you through the morning rush and beyond.

When potential customers are looking for a place to get a great cup of coffee, they have an endless number of options to choose from. The right POS features can help coffee shop stand out from the crowd and keep customers coming back while also improving your operational efficiency and your cafe’s margins.

Below are five coffee shop POS features to prioritize as you look to upgrade your POS technology in order to find a system that will actually help your bottom line.

To help you evaluate the tools along the way, you can download the POS comparison guide and check out the Toast point of sale compare guide.

5 Must-Have Coffee Shop POS Features

1. Customer-Facing Terminals

Coffee shops can take advantage of POS terminals that flip and become customer-facing to move customers through the line as quickly as possible. When the terminal is flipped, the customer can tip, sign, and request a digital or physical receipt in seconds, right on the tablet interface. This will help to reduce the time it takes to complete transactions and allow you to serve more guests at peak hours.

2. In-Depth Reporting & Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

With a CRM system that is built into the POS system, you’ll be able to collect a tremendous amount of customer data and build a detailed customer database overtime. This information allows cafes to gain valuable insight into their customers, like which guests visit at the highest frequency, spend the most, and what each customer orders.

The POS should also give you the ability to segment the data based on shared characteristics among customers, compare data over time, and create lists that can be used to fuel powerful targeted marketing campaigns.

3. Easy Menu Management

Let’s face it: Some customers’ coffee orders are outrageous. Your baristas should be able to order that decaf latte extra hot with 2% milk, a shot of espresso, and a cherry on top quickly with modifiers that are easy to add and easy to customize.

Cafes that have seasonal menus or that frequently offer specials need a POS system that makes it very easy to update the menu. With a truly cloud-based POS system, cafes can make changes to their menu in real-time either at the restaurant or remotely using any device with internet access. In addition, with some cloud-based systems, cafes can quickly mark items as out of stock so they can no longer be ordered on the POS system or set an 86 countdown on items that have a limited quantity.

4. Gift Cards

Gift cards enable an additional revenue stream while also being a powerful marketing tool. When guests purchase gift cards, they are essentially paying you to bring your cafe more business by giving you a cash advance on a product or service to be delivered in the future to a new customer.

As an added bonus, gift card recipients spend 20% more than the value of their gift card, and 75% of those who overspend spend a whopping 60% more than the card’s value.

5. Mobile Loyalty Program

With so many guests moving quickly through the line, it can be difficult to identify regular customers. Loyalty programs are a great way to show your customers how much you appreciate their business and encourage future visits.

An easy, mobile loyalty program can also significantly increase customers’ visitation frequency and average ticket. If the POS terminals can also flip to become customer-facing, guests can easily opt-in to the loyalty program as they tip, sign, and request a receipt on the tablet interface.

Related Coffee Shop Resources

• How to Open a Coffee Shop
• Coffee Shop Business Plan
• Best Coffee Shop POS System
• How Much Does Cost to Open a Coffee Shop
• Coffee Shop Name Ideas
• Coffee Shop Design Ideas