The Espresso House Coffee shop chain has 460 coffee shops in five countries; Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Germany The digital age is clearly visible in the business as well as the POS solution.
The largest coffee shop chain in the Nordics is known for its special coffee, its own bakery products and excellent service.
Espresso House arrived in Finland two years ago. The growth has been considerable, and the chain has already opened 22 coffee shops in Finland. In 2018, a minimum of 12 new coffee shops will be opened, and the chain aims to be a significant player on a national level within five years.
Winpos Hospitality is a vital part of Espresso House’s full-scale business system, which is under constant development.
The chain uses the same database in all countries, which means that all information can be centrally entered into the same system. The POS system is also integrated with the chain’s own mobile app and business intelligence system. The system is under constant development, alongside the business environment and technology.
The Winpos POS system is reliable and ideal for our industry. Orders can be sent directly from the POS terminal to a display in the preparation area, which enables the barista to start preparing the order even before the payment transaction is finished.
CEO of Espresso House Finland, Anssi Thureson, is more than pleased with the POS system and the collaboration. – The most important thing for us is to be able to provide fast customer service and allow our excellent baristas to concentrate on our guests. – The Winpos POS system is reliable and ideal for our industry. Orders can be sent directly from the POS terminal to a display in the preparation area, which enables the barista to start preparing the order even before the payment transaction is finished. This speeds up the service, since the customer often wants a minute to decide what else to order, after having ordered a cup of coffee. The solution also allows greater consideration of special requests and minimizes the risk of errors.
Regular customer loyalty cards will soon be history. They have been replaced by mobile apps, which enable more customer attention than before. The Espresso House Coffee Card loyalty program also works as a payment method. – Digitalization plays a key role in today’s business and enhances the customer experience. Through the app the customer gets personal offers and discounts based on previous visits. It is possible to load money to the loyalty program and i.e. send shopping money to a friend in the form of a gift card. The customer management is handled directly in the POS system, from where the information is transferred to the chain’s business intelligence system.
The digitalization is clearly visible also in future development projects between Espresso House and Winpos. – In Finland, we are behind when it comes to digital payments. In Sweden we already have dozens of coffee houses, who no longer accept cash. It is faster as well as clearer and safer for the personnel, Thureson says.
Oskar Röös, head of CRM and loyalty at Espresso House, is also happy with both the system and the project management delivered by Winpos. He tells us, that Espresso House highly appreciates being able to tailor the system through either configuration or development, although the basic functionalities of the Winpos POS system cover the chain’s extensive demands to a large part.
– Together with Espresso House we are creating a system, which is under constant development. We cannot allow ourselves to become stagnant, says Winpos project manager Nico Nysten. – Right now, we are testing a prepayment function, which enables the customer to order and pay before even entering the coffee shop. In addition to this, we are also working on a self-service concept. Our mutual future projects have the same main themes: safe payments, shorter queue times and faster service.
