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About a year ago, I noticed a little artificial intelligence button on the bottom left-hand side of my Square Dashboard. And when I clicked on it, I could ask Square AI basic sales and inventory questions that I would usually need to run complex reports on.
It’s just me, my wife, our son and daughter-in-law running the operations of Keva Juice, which has 21 locations in the Southwestern U.S. We wear all these crazy hats, and we have to do all of the things that major competitors do, but with a small team. We originally chose Square because it helps us save, and now Square AI is helping us do even more in less time.
From simple to smart (and affordable) tech
When my wife, Jennifer, and I started the business 21 years ago, the merchant processing industry was very archaic. You had to fill out a credit report, then it had to be approved, and there were all sorts of rules that you had to follow. The cash registers were electronic, and at the end of the night, they didn’t store anything. There were no databases. The types of systems that did have databases cost millions of dollars, and small coffee shops and smoothie shops like ours couldn’t afford to pay for that technology.
Before we discovered Square around 2010, our merchant fees were anywhere from $300 a month to over $1,000 a month. So, if you were paying a 20-cent swipe fee on a $2 item, that was 10% of the total sale, with 10-12% of revenue was leaving your pocket.
I remember hearing about Square and how it wanted to help merchants get the sale by simplifying the process and bringing transparency to the merchant industry. Square created a fair pricing model so that vendors knew how much they would get from each transaction. That simplicity and transparency not only saved us a ton of money, but also made the entire process effortless. And as Square grew its features, we grew our business along with them.
Turning data into dollars: Square AI’s role in record-breaking seasonal sales
When we first started using Square AI, a lot of the questions we asked were around sales: what was selling, what wasn’t selling, what were people adding on to their orders, and what was our average ticket? It was an exhilarating feeling that simple and complex questions that would normally take hours, if not days, to analyze could be answered in seconds. Because you can have the best team, the best menu, and incredible products, but if you’re not selling, your business is dead. Sales solves all problems.
Before Square AI, we had to export all of our data into a spreadsheet, and there were different variations and sizes and modifiers and all sorts of complexity involved in seeing what customers were ordering. Now with Square AI, within a matter of seconds, we can see what our most popular seasonal items are. And based on that data, we can decide how and when to execute those items.
Take our Smashing Pumpkin Smoothie for example. It was so popular last year that we chose to put it on the menu a month earlier than usual, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in incremental sales. Not only that, but we were able to calculate how much pumpkin we needed and placed the order before the season even started. What’s even more significant? Because we purchased the product months early, we saved almost 40% on the cost.
We also launched a second pumpkin smoothie called the Pumpkin Chai Chiller to capitalize on the popularity of the pumpkin. We would not have been able to do that without insights from Square AI.
There is also a huge demand for protein-type items in the marketplace right now. Using Square AI, we determined in a matter of seconds that we had 90,000 upgrade shots of protein last year (that’s almost 4,000 pounds of protein). And we were also able to look at the data and determine that demand will grow by 25% next year. And so now we’re able to forecast on a larger volume when we purchase those ingredients. We also rolled out four new protein smoothies, including the Protein Grain, the Peanut Butter Chocolate Protein Shake, and other items, to really cater to consumer demand all thanks to Square AI.
Tech gave us an advantage and time back in our day
To have a semblance of a work-life balance and have a business, you have to embrace tools like Square AI, because without them, you’re just going to run yourself in circles. First, you’ll spend money where you don’t need to spend it, and you won’t run an efficient menu. You’re not going to be able to tell what’s working and what’s not, because everyone else is moving much more quickly. This technology is really leveling the playing field for all Square businesses, so we can compete in an ever-changing marketplace.
I see an era five years from now where this technology is truly going to allow all business owners to have a better quality of life. Square AI is giving time back so that we can do the things that are critical: The innovation, the creativity, and the fun stuff for our business. Plus, it’ll allow us to spend more time with our friends and family.
