Cafe2U experience their best quarter with the Goodtill by SumUp POS system

Cafe2U is the UK’s leading mobile café operator with 78 mobile outlets, each owned by a local franchisee. The company experienced their best ever financial quarter once initial COVID lockdown restrictions were lifted in Spring 2020. Due to the mobile nature of their operation, Cafe2U was able to deliver its unique blend of hot drinks, food and refreshments direct to non-traditional locations such as industrial estates, office blocks and special events. With help from the Goodtill by SumUp POS, entrepreneurial franchisees were able to capitalise on new opportunities that the situation provided such as home deliveries and orders through the Goodeats mobile platform which allowed customers to pre-pay before a van arrives which increased social-distancing and speeds up order fulfilment.

To find out more about their POS implementation, we asked Karen Atkinson, Operations Support Manager at Cafe2U about their decision to work with Goodtill by SumUp.

The challenge

Before working with Goodtill, Cafe2U decided that they needed to standardise their POS systems to offer a user-friendly integrated experience across their network.

The business required an approved POS provider that could offer a cost-effective and portable hardware solution with an intuitive front-of-house interface which could easily be scaled and introduced to existing and new franchisees. The solution would also need to provide franchisees with simple to use management tools to standardise accounting and reporting functions that, up until that point, were largely manual and different for each franchisee.

“The franchisees have got a lot of things to do, and the main thing they need to do is make coffee. Everything else needs to be quick and straightforward!”

When looking for a POS system space saving was key as there is little room in the vans. It also had to be portable and lightweight. What’s more, due to its unique business model, the system had to be 100% mobile connected with a strong and robust data connection.
The new POS provider also had to collaborate with Cafe2U’s head office to give their team ‘super-user’ access to monitor performance across their network, see trends and have the scope for future functionality and process improvements such as stock management.

The solution

Cafe2U chose Goodtill by SumUp as its approved POS provider for its franchisees. The 100% mobile connected low-footprint iPad hardware, coupled with SumUp card readers, was the perfect solution for the business. The new partnership offered significant CAPEX and ongoing savings compared to other providers

To ensure franchisees are confident using the system, the Goodtill by SumUp support team worked with Cafe2U to introduce a fun and comprehensive POS training module as part of the standard onboarding programme given to all new franchisees.

The training module helps ensure that the franchisees find the system extremely easy to use. This has led to greater efficiencies throughout the business from the processing of a transaction, to reporting daily sales and stock control.

“It’s brilliant for us. It’s simple, straight-forward and easy to use, the support is brilliant.”

A big advantage for Cafe2U is Goodtill by SumUp’s head office functionality. The head office team has visibility over the entire install base which means they can directly set-up new franchisees onto the system. This visibility also aids business continuity as the team can directly address any questions a franchisee may have.

A benefit of the Goodtill by SumUp system are the add-on modules that can offer increased functionality and value to a growing business such as Cafe2U. Additional modules, such as advanced analytics, bespoke reporting and centralised stock control can aid growth and allow a business to increase it’s margins from the services it provides to its franchisees and customers.

Advice for other businesses looking to change their POS supplier.

“Make sure that the system is simple and straightforward for people who are not comfortable with technology, but ensure it’s got the capacity to be complicated and in-depth for the people that require that other layer of functionality.”