What is the best café till system & card machine set up?
Things are changing in the coffee shop till system market. When choosing a cafe till system you used to have to sign up to a contract to get cheap rates, but there are a range of options now available.
If you are looking for a cafe till system, the questions you need to ask yourself are:-
Do you mind having a contract?
You may not want a contract, but if your business is already established and been going for more than a year and things are looking good, then it could save you a lot of money. If you are taking more than £50k per year on cards, then it is worth choosing a contract and accessing lower rates.
What features do you need in the software?
Do you need full epos software or just a semi epos solution. The difference is that full epos usually comes with things like stock management, loyalty apps, customer data management systems & much more. If all you want to do is track cash and card transactions, see product sales & manage your product modifiers then you do not need a full system
How big do you think your business is going to get in the next year?
If you think your business is going to stay small and you will take less than £40k on cards, then stick with pay as you go and choose something like Sum Up, Izettle or Poynt
Best cafe till system for bigger coffee shops
You will want a decent software system, loyalty app, secondary printers, stock management & customer management system. A full epos system makes sense for you & you can also access lower card transaction rates.
Card machine wise you’ll want to choose something with lower rates at around 0.5% rather than the likes of izettle & square at 1.7%. But you’ll also want to make sure the
machine is integrated, so you don’t need to double key amounts on to the card machine. Or you can choose something like Poynt that is an all in one card machine & epos system. This may also be better if you do table service as you can use hand held devices for table orders that link to bigger screens at counter.
Best cafe till system for Medium sized coffee shops & Café’s
If all you’re doing is counter service then a Poynt would work well. It has a built-in printer, customer facing screen & can link to other printers. If you want loyalty apps then you may want to upgrade to the advanced software, but you may be able to keep costs low here.
Best cafe till system for Small coffee shops & Café’s
Sumup, izettle & square all offer low costs machines with rates around 1.7%. You usually need to buy a separate tablet, printer & card reader, so it’s a few hundred pounds up front. Poynt now also have a pay as you go price with rates around 0.95%. The good thing about this is that the machine is an all in one machine for £399, but with lower rates.
At Breathe Payments, we offer a full range of EPOS, Till Systems and Clever Card Machines which we can be packaged up in the best way to match the needs of your Business both now and in the future.
Find out more on the Poynt Smart Terminal here.
Alternatively, just give us a call on 0203 985 9080 or email us on info@breathepay.co.uk
Get a free quote for your business