For Perky Blenders founders Adam and Victoria Cozens, growing from a single mobile coffee cart to five shops and a roastery in the last 8 years while juggling family life, a pandemic and a cost-of-living crisis has been no mean feat. But switching to Square for their payment services was a no-brainer in the evolution of their well-respected, specialty coffee business. Not only has it allowed them to standardise operations across their coffee shops but it’s also proving invaluable data as they scale.
Describing Square as a natural next step for their independent coffee chain, they reveal how implementing it was a smooth and painless process while also laying the groundwork for franchising. Find out how Square has been the boost they needed to take them to the next level.
Growing from a single cart to a coffee shop chain brought challenges for Perky Blenders
Like many businesses, Perky Blenders has dealt with tough times over the last few years navigating the Covid-19 restrictions and harsh economic conditions. The family-owned coffee roastery has always had the backing of its loyal community and started a popular coffee subscription service to help it through – but expanding to become a multi-location coffee chain ramped up the admin and in turn, it became essential to understand how each shop was performing by accessing sales data with ease.
To support growth, Perky Blenders needed to:
- Cut the time spent on admin each week
Square automates many essential admin tasks. Through Square Point of Sale, employees can clock in and out while owners can keep track of inventory and make better business decisions with real-time POS reports. - Standardise operations across coffee shops
Square’s ecosystem offers free management tools, enabling you to look after your business across multiple locations through your Square dashboard. You can create unique business profiles, set different permissions for different sites, manage devices by location and transfer to different bank accounts for different premises. - Integrate their operations with other business tools
Square integrates seamlessly with hundreds of other business applications, like Xero or WooCommerce, through the Square App Marketplace. - Have access to reporting
Real-time POS reports via the Square dashboard can reveal unexpected trends and data which will help you make informed business decisions. Access top-line metrics such as gross sales and refunds in a set period in minutes straight from the Square app. - Find a payment platform that will scale as the business grows
Square enables you to manage your business in one place, adding devices and locations as you grow. Accept multiple forms of payment, generate invoices, manage team members, track customer trends and create customised marketing programmes all in one place.
How Square offered solutions
Victoria admits she was initially cautious partnering with Square because of difficulties with previous software but they were persuaded by the great customer service they received and since joining they haven’t looked back.
[pull out quote] “I love the intuitiveness of Square. No one has trained me on it but I can use it. If I don’t know the answer I can easily find out and get the right support.” – Victoria Cozens, co-founder Perky Blenders.
In fact, Victoria describes integrating Square as a huge relief moment because they’d outgrown their previous software and needed something that would grow with the business as they expand into franchising. Far from being a difficult transition, it was easy to switch over with Square support staff guiding them through the process.
How Square has benefitted Perky Blenders
Reduced admin time
Adopting Square has saved Victoria one day a week of admin. Instead of spending hours downloading and analysing reports, she can access her dashboard on the go and view real-time data on sales, pricing and customers, choosing the metrics she wants to focus on.
It has freed up her time to concentrate on building the franchise element of the business and saved her a lot of work. Through Square, she can share the menu and set up with her franchisees and retain control over her brand but pay out to different bank accounts.
“The time saving enables me to drink more coffee! But it also allows me to focus on areas of growth and the growth of our franchise. I haven’t got to worry about how to set it up as it’s already done and Square just goes to work”, she says.
“It’s allowed us to look at the bigger picture as we grow, which is going to be fundamental.”
Seamless reporting
One of the features Victoria most loves about Square is the reporting function and the ability to access data through the app. There’s no need to pull out complex data sets and manipulate them. Instead, she can see at a glance how Perky Blenders is performing across each store and the impact adding or removing items is having on sales.
As Victoria says, each shop is unique and when one is busy another might be quiet. Having the relevant data to hand allows her to understand why that is and make adjustments if she needs to.
It’s also helped her to make informed business decisions in an industry where prices change rapidly and says it’s a real plus point being able to react quickly and alter prices seamlessly at the till.
Easy multi-location management
As Perky Blenders has grown, so has their need for a platform where they can manage all their stores as well as their online presence in one place. Square fits the bill with its integrated ecosystem, which encompasses not just Square POS and Square Terminal used in store but the management of their subscription service and internet coffee sales. It also means staff, who often work across more than one store, will find the same set up in each one so they can hit the ground running every time they start work.
Professional look and feel
The design, feel and speed of Square has had a huge impact on the business, giving it a professional look and inspiring confidence in Perky Blender’s customers, explains Victoria. Customers know their data is safe when they hand over their card to pay.
“You can brand the unit; it looks professional and it’s robust. Speed and having transactions go through with no issues is massively important to us.”
Rapid mobile payments
Square’s card payment machines enable Perky Blenders to take payments anywhere, whether it’s in one of their stores at the till, by the table, or at a festival or exhibition.
“We recently used the terminal at an event and it was seamless”, says Victoria. “Plus, when you’re at an event and you can instantly add a product to the menu, that’s massive – it’s the difference between selling and not selling a product.”
Transparent fee structure
When partnering with Square, the fees were really important to Victoria as they didn’t want to be paying significantly more than with their previous payment provider. But they were pleasantly surprised to find the fees comparable and appreciate the transparent fee structure which lets them see clearly what the charges are.
Looking to grow and scale your business like Perky Blenders? Get started and learn about Square’s intuitive POS and payment devices.
