When to use to-go free coffee shop software?
Nobody likes to wait in a long line for their cup of joe. Especially during rushed mornings, you want to help everyone as quickly as possible. With unlimited ways for people to customize their coffee order (think syrups, milk alternatives, you name it) there’s a great time saver at your fingertips.
Allowing people to place their orders ahead of time, or on the spot through a QR code allows you to focus on fulfilling the orders with ease.
We surveyed various coffee shop owners and asked them about the biggest benefits of working with coffee shop management software. This is what stood out to us:
- Boost in revenue - No lost orders, people ordered more products like pastries and bottles of water, or even upsized their coffee order.
- Improved customer satisfaction - With our barista software, people can go about their day and just pop in and out of your coffee shop real quick. Making their day a breeze will ensure they come back more often.
- Insight into your most loyal customers - Popular coffee shops at busy corners can process hundreds of orders an hour. Keeping track of who’s a true regular is a great way to reward their loyalty at some point.
- Improved stock keeping - Spot trends in which products are becoming more popular, and ensure that you never run out of oat milk again.
Don’t get interrupted during work, let your customers order their coffees online
Will online coffee shop software boost my revenue?
Yes, one hundred percent! It might take a minute before your customers start adopting it, but big chains are doubling down on it because there’s great customer demand.
As an independent coffee shop owner, you may not have the budget to build a fancy app, nor do you really need to. There are great free products on the market, such as Vev, which allow you to easily take orders online.
Depending on how you go about it, you can just use the ordering system for to-go coffee orders from regulars, or use the order form for each and every order by sticking the QR code on the table. Coffee shop owners confirm that they see double-digit growth as soon as they start working with reliable barista software. The reason is actually quite simple: people have a better overview of what you all have in store and tend to order more. Furthermore, they don’t have to wait before they can place their order.
How to take online orders for a coffee shop business?
Easy! Your logo doesn't have to feature a mermaid to up your digital game. Vev created a free ordering system for coffee shops that is easy to work with. It’s up and running in about a minute, and you don’t need a credit card to activate your account.
After creating your account, all you need to do is insert the menu. Make sure to add all the different sizing options you offer. Tell the system if you charge extra for milk alternatives such as oat milk. Insert all the syrups you carry, sugar options, and ways people might want to tweak their order even further.
Vev's free coffee shop POS system also allows you to create various sections for other product groups that you offer. This is especially useful when you also sell pastries, cakes, fruits, bottled water, and so on.
It’s up to you how you’ll use the system to your advantage. You can straight up use it to let everyone order through the system. You can use it just for to-go orders, offer the ordering system only for drive-thru orders, or only use it during select hours, such as the morning rush.
To summarize all steps:
- Create an account
- Edit your menu
- Upload a logo and select your color scheme
- Print out your QR-code or communicate the URL to the customers
- Watch the orders flow in!
“Increase customer satisfaction 24% by not having to stand in line ”
How to offer drive-thru orders for a coffee shop?
Many coffee shop owners have told us that they use the coffee shop software from Vev just for their drive-thru offerings. Especially when your building only has one window available for these to-go orders.
The best way to take drive-thru orders is to put up a big poster or screen with the QR code leading to your page on it. That’s where people will place their order, the order comes in on either a phone or tablet on your side. Customers drive up to the (next) window, and collect their order.
Every order can be easily marked as ‘done’ in Vev to keep track of what you are doing.
Steps to start offering drive-thru:
- Create an account, insert your menu
- Design the route that customers have to follow
- Design a poster/screen that features the QR-code
- Customers order through that QR and drive up to the window after
- Customers pay via the software or at the window and collect their order
It’s the easiest way, with limited to no costs, to add drive-thru sales to the mix.
How to lower your costs when running a coffee shop?
Lowering the costs of running your coffee shop will allow you to free up resources and re-invest in your business.
Working with reliable coffee shop management software allows customers to place an order themselves, so your baristas can focus on fulfilling the orders and keeping the shop neatly organized.
Run your coffee shop on auto-pilot With your new toolset
Sell
Marketing
Payments
Business
Learn
Auto pilot
Overview
Customers
Add your coffees and more
Decide what you offer at your coffee shop. Add descriptions for your coffees, add an image, and best of all set your own prices.
Your day at a glance
See exactly how much your coffee shop makes, what your customers order most and even learn how they made their order.
Order again
In just a tap your customers become regulars. Get the best date and time for the next order. No upcoming order? You and your customers are reminded to order a coffee again.
Sell smart
Add options, durations, variations, preparation time, cleanup time and your duration to help your customers order.
Define your own duration
Some orders don’t require your attention the whole time, so you can help another customer.
Order deadline
Choose till what time customers can order a coffee.
Time suggestions
With 'Smart suggestions' you can optimize your day by letting customers choose from suggested times. Or choose 'Show all slots', this will show the best times first, but customers can then choose to see the full list of time slots.
Sell
Add your coffees and more
Decide what you offer at your coffee shop. Add descriptions for your coffees, add an image, and best of all set your own prices.
Your day at a glance
See exactly how much your coffee shop makes, what your customers order most and even learn how they made their order.
Order again
In just a tap your customers become regulars. Get the best date and time for the next order. No upcoming order? You and your customers are reminded to order a coffee again.
Sell smart
Add options, durations, variations, preparation time, cleanup time and your duration to help your customers order.
Define your own duration
Some orders don’t require your attention the whole time, so you can help another customer.
Order deadline
Choose till what time customers can order a coffee.
Time suggestions
With 'Smart suggestions' you can optimize your day by letting customers choose from suggested times. Or choose 'Show all slots', this will show the best times first, but customers can then choose to see the full list of time slots.
Marketing
Share your link
Add your link to your website and socials. A link in bio could boost the orders of your coffee shop up to 40%.
Cover your barista
Add a cover to your header that matches your coffee shop. Impress your customers of your barista even more.
Order with a QR-code
Include your QR code on flyers, business cards, stickers and other placements in your coffee shop to let your customers order coffees by scanning it on their phone.
Policy
Vev automatically sets a policy for you so it's clear for your customers what to expect. Works perfectly with payments, deposits and refunds.
Page description
Add a slogan that describes why you're the best barista. So your customers can spread the word.
Show your colors
Choose how your page looks, so it connects to your coffee shop.
Get reviews from your customers
Word of mouth is the best marketing, and reviews are the digital equivalent of this. Coming in the future.
Payments
Scan to Pay
Let your customers scan your QR for you to get paid. Vev will keep track of who has paid for their coffee so your barista administration is always up to date.
Contactless payments
Accept contactless payments with only your iPhone. No extra terminals or hardware needed.
Get paid ahead
Have your customers pay ahead for their order. Only if you want to, you're the barista, and you are in control.
Deposits
Have your customers put down a deposit to get their order. This has proven to reduce no-shows.
No extra payment devices
No need to fill in the amount again. Or sync, connect and charge that extra device in your coffee shop. Simply use your phone to have customers pay for their coffees on the spot.
Discounts
It's easy to give your customer a discount on their coffee. Choose a percentage or fixed amount. Whatever works best for your barista.
Upsell & Tipping
Add a percentage or fixed amount to the price of the order, in the simplest way possible for you as a barista.
Refunds
Customers who've paid ahead will automatically be refunded when their order is cancelled. Yet another thing less to worry about for baristas.
Payments work out of the box
Payments are set up automatically for you. So you can get paid out of the gate. No need for any set up.
Policy
Vev automatically sets a policy for you so it's clear for your customers what to expect. Works perfectly with payments, deposits and refunds.
Business
Your overview of coffees
See exactly who will get what coffee, and at what time the order is due.
Your opening hours
You decide when your coffee shop is open (or closed) for orders.
How many
Set up the number of customers, bikes, or tickets you can have at the same time.
Choose a time and date
Let your customers choose what time works for them. You can decide how strict or flexible you want to be with your time.
Add your breaks
Plan when you want a fixed break. Looking for more flexibility? Turn on smart breaks.
Add 'Me time'
Got a personal appointment? With just a tap you can block time off. This way customers can't make an order.
Exceptions
Want to open up during public holidays? Or close for a vacation? Your decide when your coffee shop is open.
Order deadline
Choose till what time customers can order a coffee.
Make your accountant smile
Export data of your coffee shop on a monthly basis. Including all the information of your orders soon this will also include taxes. Giving you all the information you need.
Sync to your calendar
Automatically sync your orders to your personal calendar app.
Ahead of time
Set up your booking horizon, this let you define how far in the future customers are able to order coffees.
Define your own duration
Some orders don’t require your attention the whole time, so you can help another customer.
Notifications for you
When your customer makes an order, cancelation or change you will receive a notification.
Time suggestions
With 'Smart suggestions' you can optimize your day by letting customers choose from suggested times. Or choose 'Show all slots', this will show the best times first, but customers can then choose to see the full list of time slots.
Learn
Your month wrapped up
Every month starts with an overview of last months' orders cancelations and revenue for your barista. This way you know exactly how your coffee shop is doing.
Your day at a glance
See exactly how much your coffee shop makes, what your customers order most and even learn how they made their order.
Auto pilot
Communication made easy
Every order, cancelation, change and reminder is automatically sent to your customers. Emails are sent in your style so they feel familiar to the customers of your barista.
Order reminders
On the day of the order, your customer receives a reminder from you. It's send automatically and includes all the information of their coffee.
Your month wrapped up
Every month starts with an overview of last months' orders cancelations and revenue for your barista. This way you know exactly how your coffee shop is doing.
Share your link
Add your link to your website and socials. A link in bio could boost the orders of your coffee shop up to 40%.
Sync to your calendar
Automatically sync your orders to your personal calendar app.
Add 'Me time'
Got a personal appointment? With just a tap you can block time off. This way customers can't make an order.
Plus, a lot more
There's a lot more coming in Vev+ that will make doing business even easier. But we keep those under wraps for the moment.
Overview
Your day at a glance
See exactly how much your coffee shop makes, what your customers order most and even learn how they made their order.
Notifications for you
When your customer makes an order, cancelation or change you will receive a notification.
Your overview of coffees
See exactly who will get what coffee, and at what time the order is due.
Focus on your customers
Your daily overview of customers. Showing you exactly who's you will see today, and an easy way to let you order again.
Delivery overview
See exactly where and at what time you need to deliver coffees. Everything shown on an interactive map to make it crystal clear for you!
Sync to your calendar
Automatically sync your orders to your personal calendar app.
Your month wrapped up
Every month starts with an overview of last months' orders cancelations and revenue for your barista. This way you know exactly how your coffee shop is doing.
Customers
Customer management (CRM)
See your customers in the best way. This lets you build relationships and get more orders. And soon you can search and find your most valuable customers.
Edit customers
Edit customer details, and merge and remove to keep your customer list clean.
Customer details
For baristas it's super handy to have all the details of customers at their finger tips. Allowing you to send a text, call or email whenever you need.
Notes
Add notes about your customers. These notes show up around the order, so you can pick up the conversation with your customer where you left off last time.
Focus on your customers
Your daily overview of customers. Showing you exactly who's you will see today, and an easy way to let you order again.
Order again
In just a tap your customers become regulars. Get the best date and time for the next order. No upcoming order? You and your customers are reminded to order a coffee again.
It's your data
It's your data. The customer information is yours. Vev doesn't sell, resell, target or advertise with the data from your barista. Of course not!
Custom fields
Soon you can ask your customer more specific information to make running your barista even better.
Customer history
See exactly what kind of coffees your customers had at your coffee shop last time.
Get reviews from your customers
Word of mouth is the best marketing, and reviews are the digital equivalent of this. Coming in the future.