Epos Now meets Cowpens Coffee and Creamery: hot service, hot coffee, plus ice cream!

Every business has different requirements when choosing a point of sale (POS) system, but there are some things everybody looks for; cost, support, and security. After the Stauffers conducted their research, it was clear who they wanted to go with:

“I actually decided well before we opened in June 2022. I did a lot of research and chose Epos Now because of the cost. The cloud service is highly secure, so that was a big plus! And Epos Now’s monthly subscription for the terminals and 24/7 support was very, very attractive.”

“One thing that really caught my eye was that I could buy and own the equipment but change merchant services at any time. I’ve had people approach me about changing payment providers and I ask them ‘Are you compatible with Epos Now?’, because if not, that’s a dealbreaker for me. I say upfront: 'I’m not changing my Epos Now system!'”

Opening their business was a stressful time for the Stauffers. But through hard work and dedication, they grew Cowpens Coffee and Creamery into a flourishing trade loved by the locals, running events beloved by families, such as Mary Mistletoe’s Christmas readings! But we asked them what it was like setting up a new business and a new POS system:

Joyce: “We had a great Sales Consultant based in Florida, and they were wonderful. Very, very responsive. They answered the phone every step of the way…They’d do remote sessions and explain to me exactly what they were doing and how I could do it for myself in the future, so if an issue ever arises again, I’d be okay. So they were absolutely fantastic; so supportive and so patient.”

Jenny: “It was fun! The calls leading up to opening showed us how to use the system and really take advantage of all the options. They made sure we understood how to input everything properly and navigate the interface and Back Office, so I felt a lot more confident after that.”

The Stauffers prioritise top-notch, family-friendly service. So the team needs customer service that’s available whenever they need it. Our rapid customer support impressed Joyce and Jenny, often getting their inquiries answered in under half an hour.

Joyce said, “I have nothing but praise for the customer support…The team answered the phone very quickly and stayed on the phone with me as long as possible. If they weren’t available, I’d shoot them an email and they’d call me within twenty-five minutes and if they didn’t have an answer, they’d go and find one.”

“Sometimes, customers would interrupt our calls. But your team is extremely patient. The customer service staff would tell me ‘It’s okay. I’m still here. We’re gonna get through it!’ And so I have great, great praise for your customer service.

Trying to make decisions without data is like trying to serve melted ice cream - pointless! With their new business up and running, Scott, Joyce, and Jenny had to decide when to open, how many staff they needed, which products to restock, and more. Thankfully, the Epos Now system gathers all the data it can so they can stay informed and save time making decisions.

Jenny: “I think in the beginning, one of the major challenges was kind of trying to identify what was selling, what wasn't going to sell, and making sure that we were ordering accordingly and not having too much waste.”

“I use the reporting in the Epos Now system to identify our top sellers, where our biggest opportunities are, who has the opportunity for more upselling and things like that because there's usually a reason behind whatever's happening.”

Joyce: “The report that I run the most is sales report by time period, and it's just very easy to run. It's very accurate, and I can hand it over to my bookkeeper and let her know, “Here are the bills with tax and without tax”, which makes it very easy for both of us.”

“Meanwhile, having the capability to see the sales trends throughout the day, Jenny was able to come up with a training schedule that fit for that time period until we were able to get all of the staff in place and trained and everything, and knowing when we were able to do it with minimum impact on our business was very, very important!”

Epos Now takes pride in being part of the team, which means helping staff access the parts of the system they need (and helping them steer clear of those they don’t) to maintain the security and integrity of the business.

Joyce added: “Being able to create staff roles has been vital. Only four staff have the ‘No sales’ button in the business. Now, we’ve set up staff roles for people with different access permissions, for example, only certain people are connected to our VoucherCart, and so on.”

With so much to stay on top of, Cowpens Coffee and Creamery relies on Epos Now for all kinds of tasks, so having confidence in this crucial business tool makes it easier to make room for the essential tasks Joyce, Jenny, and the team need to carry out themselves.

“I am a person who likes to put things all underneath one umbrella and have everything connected to save as many steps as I possibly can… But we also have our POS system run the entire day’s data and balance sheets and record everything, including the gratuities. I think that is a huge plus for me.”

“And I could have it go further still, integrating with accounting and payroll, and knowing it has that capability gives me the motivation to work towards those goals so that my workload is minimised.”