‘Every minute is precious’: how an efficient payment system helps a thriving coffee business

The way that customers choose to pay has evolved dramatically in recent years, with less reliance on cash, and a huge uptake in the use of cards and digital payments. And that makes a robust payments processing system a top priority for business owners.

At the speciality coffee business Copper + Straw, which operates three cafes in Bray and Dublin, in Ireland, 88% of customer payments are made by card or smartphone, via payment services provider Elavon.

The chain’s founder, Stephen Kennedy, says: “Our customers include people who live and work locally, as well as tourists from all over the world, all using different types of cards, so it’s vital that we have the right payment provider in place; it is the oxygen of the business.”

Kennedy’s journey into the coffee business has been an unconventional one – high on both risk and reward. “I was previously working in higher education, but coffee became a passion and visiting coffee shops – at home and when travelling abroad – became a very important part of my life outside work,” he says.

“It felt very experimental in the early days. Baristas were suddenly talking about coffee the way sommeliers talked about wine – taste, aroma, balance, mouthfeel, acidity.”

It was this sense of passion and natural curiosity that led Kennedy to step away from his established career and into an uncertain but exciting new life as a barista.

“I sold my home, quit a secure, pensionable job and then worked in coffee shops all over Dublin for three years,” he says. “It takes knowledge, expertise and experience to make truly beautiful coffee.”

Kennedy opened his first coffee shop in Bray in 2018. During that first year of trading he had partnered with a different payment provider, but experienced some issues around reliability of service.

“There were times when the service would go down, especially after a system upgrade,” he says. “We are a seven-days-a-week operation and downtime is hugely disruptive to our business, therefore reliability of service was a major priority for me.”

The following year, after researching the payment provider market, he made the decision to switch to Elavon. “It’s crucial that your payment provider understands how mission critical their services are to the operation of your business, which Elavon clearly does,” he says. “I accept that problems can arise, but when they do you need a swift response and resolution.”

Another factor in his decision was competitiveness. The hospitality industry is facing huge challenges as businesses such as Copper + Straw contend with pressures from energy inflation, increased supplier costs, and minimum wage rises in both Ireland and the UK.

“Elavon is well established; a big player in the market, but they are also competitive,” says Kennedy. “In terms of their rates, for example, transaction fees, authorisation charges, equipment rental charge and software licence fees, Elavon offered a much better proposition than the provider I was using – and that was a major factor in the eventual decision to partner with them.”

However, the impact of the Elavon payments system on all aspects of his business operations has confirmed the wisdom of his decision, Kennedy says. Being able to process payments quickly, securely and reliably is crucial for a coffee shop that has peak times of the day when there are high volumes of orders and transactions. “The person on the till has to be able to process those orders quickly and efficiently,” he says. “The system interface is intuitive and user friendly, the software is well structured, and the layout is easy to customise for our own needs, which supports the seamless processing of transactions.”

Elavon facilitates a next-day transfer of funds into the business account, which aids cash flow, while the back end of the system, which includes reporting and data analytics, provides Kennedy with valuable insights into the performance of his business. This data is vital to helping him understand what is happening in each of the three coffee shop locations, and in developing an effective business growth strategy.

“As a business owner, I have an awful lot to do, from hiring staff and marketing, to looking after the finances and keeping an eye on what our competitors are doing,” he says. “The peace of mind that comes from knowing that our payment processes are taken care of frees up my time and allows me to focus on the rest of my business.”

Ultimately, for many people, great service and exceptional customer experience is all about their most valued commodity: their time. “We have a lot of customers in the morning who literally have just 15 minutes before they have to be in the office, or they come in during their lunch break when they have just half an hour,” says Kennedy.

“Every minute is precious, so the ability to manage queues and complete a large number of orders efficiently is hugely important. People might walk into our shop and see four or five people ahead of them, but they can also see that we’re getting through those orders very quickly at the till.”

Related: Wash and grow: how the right payment platform helped a laundry service to innovate

Switching to a different payment provider can feel like a daunting prospect, with concerns about business disruption while adapting to a new system. Kennedy says, however, that switching to Elavon went really smoothly.

“Thanks to their onboarding process, it was one of the slickest, smoothest transitions I’ve had in relation to switching any type of service provider,” he says. “They provided a huge amount of initial and subsequent support as their system was implemented into all three of our shops. There were no glitches and no setup issues. From the second we pressed launch, we were able to hit the ground running.”

Hear more from Stephen Kennedy on how Elavon helps Copper + Straw continue to grow his business

_{Elavon Financial Services DAC, trading as Elavon Merchant Services, is a credit institution authorised and regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority. Subject to regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority and limited regulation by the Prudential Regulation Authority. Details about the extent of our regulation by the Prudential Regulation Authority are available from us on request.}