Artybaker puts community first with the help of Square insights.

Bringing a French flair to Dublin

Artybaker is run by Romain Tessier, a French baker, and his wife Suzanne Hodgkinson, who pivoted from a career in health IT to manage the business full time. They focus on classic boulangerie and patisserie with a twist. They’re strong believers in quality over quantity, whether that’s in regard to their locations, ingredients or the POS system they use. This ethos led them to Square. The sleek hardware and attractive rates were what drew them in initially, but realising the benefits of housing everything in one place – plus the analytics to understand their business and serve their customers better – is what’s kept them using Square.

The perfect marriage of efficiency and innovation.

With Suzanne’s corporate background, she’s able to use her skill set in a new way, handling the day-to-day management of the bakery while Romain runs the kitchen and works on the menu creation. It’s a true balance between front and back of house, where both parties are invested equally.

With the easy setup and intuitive nature of Square, they’ve been able to save time training employees. The user-friendly system has helped them spend more time expanding their business and getting to know the neighbourhoods in which they’re located. As Suzanne says, ‘Customer experience is a very big thing. It’s one of our main focuses.’

‘We love having one supplier for everything – it keeps things seamless and integrated and it’s easier to have one vendor to deal with.’

– Suzanne Hodgkinson
Owner, Artybaker

Keeping an eye on sales from anywhere, anytime.

As their business continues to grow, the data that Square provides has become paramount. They’re able to see how the dial is moving whenever they want. For instance, Suzanne and Romain often do a 3:00 check-in to see how many cakes they sold the day before. And that’s just one way they use their advanced POS system to get ahead. Square Point of Sale provides Artybaker with other advantages, including:

The ability to use Square data to monitor multiple locations in order to identify any operational issues
Insights to drive menu creation and enhance customer experience, giving their community what it’s truly after
Seamless integration between hardware and software, enabling easy access to insightful reporting that helps drive core business decisions
Swift and easy payments to move the queue quickly, allowing for more orders to be processed

‘I look at the data every single day, multiple times. I use the app on my phone just to see where sales are going and to see if there’s something wrong. It flags things for us to dig deeper’.

– Suzanne Hodgkinson

‘Part of the fun of the job is getting to know people. We have so many repeat customers that you know their orders, so you almost start to feel like you know them a little better.’

– Suzanne Hodgkinson

Using customer insights to become a local favourite

Right now Artybaker is getting ready to open their fourth location. But true to form, they’re only interested in doing it if it can be done right. With the help of the Square Point of Sale analytics feature, they’re confident they can keep the momentum going and cater to what their new neighbourhood craves. As they continue to fine-tune their offerings, they’re thinking of other ways to connect with their community, such as offering French baking courses to the Irish market.

With the reporting functionalities from Square, they’ve been able to understand their customers’ purchasing habits, such as how windy days – not rainy days – are their slowest; or how grab-and-go items by the register are a hit. These crucial pieces of information, along with building strong customer relationships, make all the difference.