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Espressly + Square + Coffee Shop not named Starbucks
“Software companies, when integrated together, can act as one, with you.”
We work to help coffee shops drive a sizable sales increase, while seeing bottom line profitability increase…..to ease stress at the store for everyone. Everyone working together to accomplish a task that people appreciate. Byproduct being “making money” in the shop…important of cost….it is a battle out there of course. So be it.
Read below to follow the logic to how we operate at Espressly….loving what Starbucks does as a company with their sales program. The mobile app they have of course is the tip of the spear for their sales program. Naturally…..
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I go to Starbuck’s every now and then. I use their app a decent amount. It is awesome. The menu looks great….but I do not order in app. I order at drive thru, but I always have them scan my phone so I can pay with my phone. I use the Apple Pay option to buy up Starbucks digital dollars when I do not have enough in the app to checkout. I never pay using a saved credit card. Always by “digital wallet”. They offer me twice as many stars to do this…..so I do it. I appreciate their respect for loyalty. I am literally putting actual cash in their mobile app digital account. It is sort of nuts. I read an article that said they have over $1.4 billion in their digital wallets. That was a while ago. Let’s assume they have over $1.5 billion in those accounts. They pay the customers zero in interest. In the same article that talked about how much money they have in the Starbucks Loyalty digital wallet program, I saw that they have no obligation whatsoever to pay any interest rate on that money. They even tapped into it during pandemic to fund what they had to fund. Totally allowable and well done. Good for them. Great work to the planners and engineers that did that. Starbucks is a solid rock out there in terms of businesses across all sectors. They deal in coffee…and we know how critical coffee is to people….Starbucks is an incredible company.
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Starbucks has their own point of sale system, it seems. It seems to work well for their baristas and other workers. It seems to have tons of items. Cool. It works well with their drive thru. They have a tight flow. It is appreciated by many.
Then…they have an amazing order ahead and/or pay at checkout flow where I can get my loyalty points.
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I make use of the above program because I appreciate what they do to give me some joy as the battle rages on beside me. I enjoy the “non home made coffee” (haha) every now and then. Not all the time…but sometimes.
I value that event…the going to the coffee shop to get a coffee event….whatever it looks like….by myself or not.
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One more thing…..Pup Cups at Starbucks….all coffee shops should have “Pup Cups” on the menu….
My wife and I have a dog. He is sort of crazy. His name is Mando…as in Mandalorian…as in Beskar steel (suppose that my wife and I are Star Wars fans). I have been bringing Mando out for rides with me recently to get him out. He is learning to be good with people around him that he does not know.
He is a good boy.
Anyway, I take him for a treat when I go for a treat at Starbucks. I started ordering a pup cup at drive thru….it is something he can have….first time I got it, I thought I was going to get charged $5.00 for it. It is a tiny cup of foamed milk I suppose…not even sure. It was free. $0.00. I was shocked. I really appreciated that….thanks to the Starbucks workers of course….Keeps him calm and helps us a ton.
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Starbucks does a great thing. Nothing but respect for that.
Nonetheless…..I also appreciate local shops. I go to local shops when I can as well or when I am in an area that has a local shop that we want to try.
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We really need to replicate what Starbucks does….at their awesome company that I am a customer of…..
So that coffee shops not named Starbucks can have a simple buying process for busy folks out there…..
Simple.
This is where Square comes in. Square is the world’s greatest point of sale system that is available to the public to sign up for, for nothing. Zero. You only pay for processing and premium features. You can use whatever device you have now…or you can buy some of their cool hardware. It is 100% up to you…..printers all that jazz.
They get you all the gear you need so you are as close to a clone of Starbucks as possible….
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At Espressly, we make the order ahead mobile app….for iPhone and for any Android smartphone…..ported once to both, sent to the Appstore and to Google Play Store…we get approval….then we share your links to you via email.
You get it tuned up after syncing with Square. Easy. One click.
Takes about 10 minutes maximum to set it all up once you get in the menu editor and settings. Even super complicated needs can be accomplished.
You literally can be Starbucks…on the tech front….
Square makes all that possible.
We are by no means done with all the work we need to do to get to what Starbucks does. We work….one day, then one more…advancing our Starbucks like ordering system….for coffee shops of any size…..single location, many location. Whatever. ALL powered by Square APIs
Orders print to the Square POS system…like Starbucks.
Labels print per the same KDS logic and basic printing logic….all the same. Like Starbucks.
Integration with Square Loyalty means that you have a loyalty system like Starbucks.
I think about how loyal I am to companies that help me great coffee. Starbucks only being one. We then work with other shops….we take this serious. We know what needs to be done. We do our best….but we do it all day and we follow what Starbucks is doing. They are good.
Anyone can get a mockup made. A dark theme. A light theme. We allow full customization….colors, icons, images, etc, etc….we get it just right. In app tipping.
Saved credit cards. Apple Pay. Square Loyalty points allowing you to earn both in app and in store…like Starbucks. I see what all the rewards I can work toward is in app….like Starbucks. I am told how many points I am going to earn if I checkout….I see it on the receipt. Good.
That is what we do at Espressly. That is precisely what we do. We do not work on anything other than the Square integration because we have chosen them as the world’s best point of sale system….they are that good.
Square sellers should know how respectful they are of developers. It is free to be a Square developer. They provide around the clock support via their Discord server. Bravo for that too. They are leaving Slack…probably something related to the bill being massive for what they needed. Anyway, amazing integration tech. It all works. It all sort of blows the covers off of what other point of sale systems have available for integration tech….only because they have been at it for 14 years.
It takes time to build the team that can accomplish what that software company has done for a long time. It is what they do. They are really good at it and they had a head start when compared with many other point of sale companies.
So ya….we make order ahead mobile apps for people that use Square for their coffee shop. Basically if there is no ask for delivery…and they use Square….it works great. Bakeries, shake shops, coffee shops, bagel shops….that stuff. Order for pickup and you get it when it is done. Simple…but important in terms of having a flow….very helpful.
The apps are integrated with Square Loyalty in so many ways. It is amazing to see that it is sort of like Starbucks….haha. Following along as we go….doing what we can.
I thank you to all the shop owners that have trusted this important task to us. We take great pride in only going as fast as we can go such that we never ever ever ever disturb even a single order. We do not have permission to advance at a rate any other than that. Having messed up orders is unacceptable. We found that delivery does not work. Plain and simple. So….if you really want the experience of some great coffee….a real treat (maybe even with your pup), consider walking or getting in the car…or riding a bike…or whatever….and stop by.
Anyway….we have improved our systems greatly. We are making apps go live. One went live today. That is always exciting to our team. Something special about it.
These are forever mobile apps with a forever point of sale system. Square is a rock. You need to be a rock. Do not look to be moving point of sales systems. You invest years into it. Do not switch over a few points in terms of processing cost……
Get your own app….you need what Starbucks has……if you cannot get what Starbucks has….find someone that can give that tech to you.
Espressly should definitely be in the running for that very specific task…..especially IF you are already using Square….and you happen to be a coffee shop or related business. Add your own app…..we charge no setup fee….zero….you will get your app….your own app, connected to Square in real time….settings in Square controlling the app. Some settings done in Espressly system.
Customers can earn in app or by ordering at the counter.
We can help reduce your labor costs and labor stress.
You perhaps started in the coffee business because you appreciate the ritual that is coffee. It has a special place for you. The path to being at peace in what you are doing is in help from tech. All offered under your name….not some 3rd party thing. It must be a first party order ahead app….like Starbucks.
Know what I mean?
Anyway, check us out at espressly.co if you want.
Go here to signup (this is all we need to start)….we ask for no money or payment method. We make your app…with you. Super easy.
You can scroll up and click the orange button that says “Get Demo”…….of course…..
or you can go to this link…same thing. Fill the form and we have what we need. The form asks the right questions of course.
If you are not using Square yet, here you go:
https://squareup.com/signup/us
All we need to know is when you have a Square account open….we can sync as you click a big blue button in Square that will come up in your squareup.com account portal (for Square)….that page shows that Espressly is looking to connect. It lists what we will have a real time 2 way sync on in terms of data. Then the work that we have done to build on top of Square takes over. Simple. Nothing more than that….you market your app….tell people to download it in the App Store or on Google Play.. It keeps your menu and all settings accurate….like Starbucks.
Making apps for local shops to run businesses that are more profitable…with less labor….to reduce overall stress….we know that we are part of that equation. We do not take our task lightly.
A special thank you to our team and to the folks that have believed in our team for a long time….hammering away. Work to be done. On it.
For those we work with…there is one must have that we should seriously add…..in the app of course….
Pup cups.
Then we would have Starbucks level tech in place to make ordering easy…you then just make your higher quality coffee. Customers will shift from Starbucks if you can deliver the same ordering experience via app. Mando would love a pup cup while out on a ride to get some morning coffee.
That is where we are.
Point of sale is no longer a screen in a store that employees interact with.
The point of sale in today’s busy world is iPhone and Android. Customers are operating the point of sale…we prefer that…it is easier…Easy reorder, saved favorites, saved payment method, digital wallet, in app loyalty….i would rather order in app with all this. I appreciate the loyalty rewards. I do. We all do.
I am going to start ordering in Starbucks app instead of paying at counter. Will see how this goes…I sense I will continue to use in app ordering. Will give it a go….it is compelling. I hope to be able to work with more great coffee shops and with Square and their tech to advance this….
I don’t happen to have a coffee shop within 10 minutes of me that is not named Starbucks…..if I did, and ordering was all done in app like at Starbucks….I would perhaps not go to Starbucks. I don’t know. Maybe I would alternate. Not sure….would love to find out.
I hope that this is what we provide to people out there. I was looking at the order count from customers yesterday. I noticed that someone that uses the Hansa Coffee app has ordered just about 1,500 times…..I think about that….1,500…that is a lot. The only other app I have ordered that much from is perhaps Amazon. Yup, amazon. That customer is amazing. Thank you customer. We are here for you.
I see all the point of sale companies out there. There are lots of good ones.
At Espressly, we endorse Square at the highest level. My advice to any coffee shop is to use Square. I have found a lot of people that say the cost is too great for Square. I hear it. What if you could have a Starbucks like tech experience while you simply continue to do what you do with your Square account….plus a few other new things that are specific to the app? How much would a system that could handle all that stuff be worth to you in terms of sanity in your business? I think in that scenario…when you factor in Square costs….plus Espressly costs……you are in a much, much more favorable position if it can be executed by all parties.
It can be. You can do it easily. We don’t manage any menu level items, categories etc….on behalf of coffee shops at Espressly. The shops manage all of it….occasionally we are called in to help…..we help ASAP….our development list is commonly halted to work on priority tasks for shops that need something that requires custom coding. Of course we do. Once we clear those priority tasks, we just get back to advancing deeper into Square land. Their tech is second to none. The community that they have built for and with developers is much appreciated and respected in the developer world. A respectable company doing good work…..operating at a profit. Making money. Stable.
Remember….Starbucks….very stable….I put money in their digital wallet systems…..like a bank account.
Moving around with point of sale is not recommended. Avoid at all costs. It is focusing on the wrong problem. The challenge is not saving on processing fees. Moving of money is a “race to the bottom” game….they all have the most competitive rates possible……they all want a piece of that pie. Apple is a beast….they want to be Apple. Square’s tech is very Apple like. 14 years cannot be faked. Jack Dorsey as co-founder.
Have or get Square……
then your app.
A forever app….for coffee shops….that is the plan.
– Joe Capone, CEO and Co-Founder, Espressly Inc.