Black Velvet is a Melbourne based boutique roastery and espresso bar that supplies quality beans to cafes and home baristas alike. Their second store based in the Galleria on Bourke St, which opened two months ago is already doing a roaring trade with thanks to the teams’ refocus on data and analytics to power and grow the new shop.
Manager and Part-Owner, Matt Easterbrook said: “At our Galleria store we’ve introduced point-of-sale app Square Register that now allows us to collect data about our sales. Since using Square it’s given us a lot more ideas – ones which we should have been thinking about but we just didn’t have the tools to uncover them in our first cafe.”
“Being able to closely track sales so easily has allowed us to monitor trading periods – from a day down to an hour. We’ve noticed that during lunchtime, coffee sales slow, so we often put shout outs on social media or add lunchtime specials to encourage customers to come in during these quieter periods.”
“An example of a even a really small item we’ve noticed just this week by monitoring sales, is we’ve found that by 10am all of our almond croissants have sold out, so we’ve ordered extra for next week to keep up with the demand.”
Hourly breakdowns allow them to compare like-for-like, and the team are often challenged to sell more if they spot they are down from the day or week before, during the time period.
Matt added: “We’ve now hired an extra member of staff as we are growing so quickly – I’ve been reviewing our busy periods and deciding rosters based on this. The app is almost addictive.”
About Square, Inc.
Square helps anyone take care of their business. Square’s free Register app is a complete point of sale with tools for running every part of your business, from tracking sales and inventory to sending digital receipts. Founded in 2009 and headquartered in San Francisco, Square’s Register app is available globally in 130 languages, while credit card payment processing through Square’s iconic reader is currently only available in the United States, Canada and Japan. Square operates in Australia through its wholly owned subsidiary, Square AU Pty Ltd.
