To cloud-based point of sale (POS) system Lightspeed, a fully integrated POS system acts as the focal point for a café. It handles the everyday side of business ownership, so owners can instead focus on why they started in the first place; bringing communities together and making Australia one of the most innovative and dynamic coffee scenes in the world.
To continue to empower businesses to pursue these goals, Lightspeed has announced the initial launch of its flagship hospitality platform, Lightspeed Restaurant, in the Australian market.
Peter Dougherty, General Manager of Hospitality at Lightspeed, says Lightspeed Restaurant is an industry-leading cloud platform, combining an innovative POS, contactless integrated payments, online ordering, advanced inventory, industry leading analytics and more; giving operators more levers to pull, so they may optimise their business for the long run.
“The local launch of Lightspeed Restaurant integrates cutting edge technology to build a single product that incorporates the best of homegrown Aussie innovation and local support, with the sophistication of Lightspeed’s market leading capabilities, and comes as Australia’s world-famous coffee scene continues to set new standards of excellence,” Peter says.
According to Peter, cafés have invested heavily in digital transformation in recent years, and merchants can’t compromise when it comes to technology.
“The platform allows businesses to take control of seat level ordering, multiple service environments, complex printing setups, and more, all through a single commerce platform – providing the solution they need to exceed the needs of customers, empower both front and back of house staff and overcome the challenges of today,” he says.
Peter says in a saturated industry where customer expectations are sky high and still rising, standing out isn’t easy.
“Australians have a ‘go-to’ venue, not just because of the quality of the coffee, but because of the quality of service and experience they receive at their favourite coffee shop. A memorable, exceptional experience is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s essential, and technology has become as important an ingredient for cafés as its beans, milk, or barista,” says Peter.
To provide this exceptional service in the hospitality sector, Peter says digital transformation now enables cafés across the country to survive in the short-term and thrive in the long-term.
“Data collected between January 2021 to July 2022 from a subset of Australian restaurants, cafés and bars using Lightspeed found that year-over-year revenue was up 50.3 per cent in restaurants, 48.5 per cent in bars, and 25.7 per cent in cafés compared to the same month in 2021,” he says.
“Remarkably, July was the sixth successive month of year-over-year growth, demonstrating the benefits venues can see, even during challenging social and economic times, through technology.”
From changing payment methods to new ordering solutions, investing in a POS system that will support and scale with a business as it grows is one of the best ways to remain competitive as the hospitality landscape changes, Peter says.
“A POS helps café owners run their entire business from one platform, streamline ordering to boost efficiency, accept multiple payment methods, control margins, understand stock in real-time and drive profits with detailed insights and business analytics,” he says.
“As staff shortages and economic pressures continue to bite, technology allows cafés to work smarter and save money by automating time-consuming tasks.”
Pater says one café that has used Lightspeed to grow margins and save time is Pablo and Rusty’s Coffee Roasters.
“With Lightspeed Restaurant, Pablo and Rusty’s increased their margins significantly by simultaneously reducing ongoing costs and generating more revenue. The seamless integrations made it possible for Pablo and Rusty’s to sell a lot more by speeding up queues. And the user-friendly interface allowed them to adjust their POS in-house, without the help and costs of an external IT technician,” he says.
And according to Peter, they’re not alone.
“Pablo and Rusty’s is one of thousands of cafés across the country using technology to build front of house and behind-the-scenes operations of the future and provide the exceptional experiences their customers crave,” he says.
“Whether you’re starting or scaling a café, get in touch with the Lightspeed team and talk about how you can give your business the POS platform it deserves, so you can give your staff and customers the experiences they demand and love.”
For more information, visit the Lightspeed website.