Bakery POS Solutions
Even the smallest of towns in the US have at least one great bakery. When researching the numbers, there is a wide disparity from source to source. The reason for this is that bakeries come in so many different flavors. Some market research includes segments of the industry that are fairly specialized like donut shops and bread outlets. Others include “big box” bakeries like Panera Bread. Personally, I would classify Panera as a QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) rather than a bakery. Nonetheless, the numbers are staggering. Simply put, every city and town has a need for a great bakery.
A large portion of the market is made up of independent bakeries that focus on baked goods such as cupcakes, customized cakes, and other delicious sweets and treats. With the wildly popular TV shows like Cake Boss and DC Cupcakes and their growing fan bases, many entrepreneurs continue to pursue the dream of owning and operating a bakery.
Like many entrepreneurs in reckless pursuit of their dreams, these new start-up bakery owners are faced with a number of challenges and business decisions that need to be made in order to be successful in the new endeavor. Often times in the case of a bakery, the owner has a passion and an expertise as a baker. However, they don’t always have business experience and especially lack retail experience.
A retail bakery is very much like other types of retail. However, it is also very much like a QSR in many cases. Some bakeries have eating areas and offer light food and beverage services. Others offer retail items that typically focus on baking and various kitchen accessories. Some offer all of the above. So, from a product mix standpoint, most bakeries are a bit of hybrid. This makes them more complex than they appear to be on the surface from a business perspective.
To manage a hybrid facility like a bakery, it is critical to deploy the right technology tools. One of these tools is the POS system. A bakery typically demands a flexible, hybrid POS solution that offers a mixture of features and functions to support the different types of revenue streams. A standard retail POS system is not the best fit. A standard hospitality POS system is typically not the best fit. The bakery POS solution needs to provide a mixture of the two concepts to achieve the ultimate in efficiencies and controls.
A few examples of the functions a good bakery POS solution will support are:
- Flexible pricing utilities that support tiered pricing, kit pricing, package pricing and date/time-sensitive pricing
- A completely integrated customer loyalty program to keep the clients coming back for more
- Speed of service features like touch screen design and 1-second approvals on credit card payments
- Fully integrated gift card platforms
- Cash controls to keep the employees accountable in a high volume bakery
- Integrated e-commerce solutions to keep the bakery open 24/7 and allow the greatest in customer convenience
The bakery POS solution is a critical component to the business. The items listed above are just a few of the many items to consider. If you are considering opening a bakery or currently own and operate a bakery that needs a POS solution, download our free checklist of items to consider when selecting a POS system.