The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Point of Sale for Your Coffee Shop

Whether you’re a first-time coffee shop owner, or an experienced coffee professional, choosing the right point of sale system for your shop is vital for running a profitable coffee business.

Your point of sale is more than a tool to process credit card transactions. It is an engine integral to your barista workflow, converting first time customers to loyal regulars, and ultimately growing your business.

But how to know which point of sale is right for your coffee shop? That’s where we’re here to help.

At joe we’ve worked with thousands of independent coffee shop owners across the country. With insight gleaned from working with these coffee pros, we developed joe Point of Sale to streamline barista workflow, automate loyalty marketing, integrate the #1 rated mobile ordering app for coffee customers, and growing your independent coffee shop.

Here’s our guide on choosing the right point of sale for your coffee shop:

It Empowers Your Baristas

Baristas are the backbone of your coffee shop, representing your brand, crafting your coffee, and interacting with your customers. So your point of sale should empower them, not hinder them.  

First, a point of sale that is user friendly and easy to navigate lets baristas focus more on creating a great customer interaction and less on processing a transaction. And when it’s the peak time of morning, an easy to use point of sale increases barista efficiency which in turn allows them to serve more customers in the same amount of time. 

Consider a point of sale with features that will help reduce your barista’s cognitive load, so they can focus on the parts of their workflow they enjoy! Small details make a big impact on what a barista has to juggle.  sticky paper printers eliminates wasted time writing orders on cups, and visual indicators on orders, 

In fact, Surfer’s Coffee improved their barista workflow with joe Point of Sale, maximized their efficiency, and as a result increased their monthly revenue by 18%.

Lastly, flexible hardware solutions or a KDS can automatically send food orders to your food station, so baristas don’t have to run between.  With a simplified, efficient workflow, your baristas’ productivity will improve, and their stress will decrease, meaning they’ll enjoy service more.

Bonus! Did you know that joe Point of Sale’s smart tipping feature increases barista’s tips by nearly $6 per hour? Your baristas will love it.

It Includes Brand Building Tools

As a busy coffee shop owner, your point of sale should work not only for you but also for your brand.  Just as stickers on your coffee cups represent your brand identity, your point of sale and the user experiences also set your shop apart from competitors. It’s 

Brand building opportunities to consider include digital ordering, a robust rewards program that is made for coffee, and loyalty marketing to re-engage customers. These can be built-in features or subscription based add-ons. 

Here’s why built-in is best for coffee.

Subscription based programs, such as Toast’s or Square’s Marketing Emails, are often enticing to coffee shop owners but are both costly and time consuming. Users have to draft, send, and optimize those emails manually and as a busy coffee shop owner, you don’t have time for that! One joe Point of Square partner switched from Square after feeling 'nickel and dimed' due to costly subscription models, like Square Loyalty, that charge more as their loyalty customer base grew. 

At joe, we’ll never penalize you for growth.

joe Point of Sale includes built-in brand tools that are optimized for you. Collecting data on your customers’ ordering behaviors, we do the work to re-engage them on your behalf through personalized text messages or push notifications, all to keep your brand top of mind and grow customer spend.

It's Priced Right

Coffee shops process hundreds of transactions every day. So an affordable point of sale, with transparent pricing is a must.  Other point of sales in the market were originally built for restaurants and have been modified for coffee, with their pricing model reflecting that. It’s 

Joe is built specifically for coffee and offers an industry-low processing rate.  Compare joe to these other coffee shop point sales.

But beyond transaction rates, there are other business costs to consider when choosing a point of sale such as cost of hardware, setup fees, software fees, and monthly subscriptions. 

Fees can quickly add up with systems like Square or Toast when coffee shops add on important tools for growth such as a rewards program, loyalty marketing, digital ordering, or a Kitchen Display System. 

Joe Point of Sale is the all-in-one system to streamline workflow, automate loyalty, save on costs, and effortlessly grow your bottom line.

It Grows Your Business for You

We can’t emphasize enough that a point of sale is more than a credit card processing. It is a tool integral to the experience in your coffee shop, converting first-time visitors to loyal regulars, and ultimately growing your bottom line – all without you having to do extra work!

Estimate the growth your shop can expect by switching to joe Point of Sale with our FREE Growth Calculator. 

With joe Point of Sale on your side, we’ll streamline your barista workflow, automate loyalty marketing with the right message at the right time, reduce costs, and ultimately grow your small business.

joe POS

Supercharge in-person rewards and loyalty 

joe Point Sale with built-in loyalty marketing effortlessly grows your most loyal coffee customers

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