Epos Now meets Cowpens Coffee and Creamery: hot service, hot coffee, plus ice cream!

Cowpens header

Quick answers

During training, Joyce Stauffer got her questions answered in under 25 minutes by her Epos Now onboarding specialist, no matter the time of day.

24/7 support

Joyce Stauffer chose Epos Now over Square and Clover because of the affordability and 24-hour support which she calls โ€œvery, very attractive!โ€

Integration options

Cowpens Coffee and Creamery use Vouchercart to offer gift vouchers to customers so they can give to friends and family for special occasions.

The residents of the small town of Cowpens, South Carolina, USA, got lucky when the Stauffer family (Scott, Joyce, and Jenny) chose to move to the area to pursue their dream of opening an ice cream shop and cafe in 2022. Cowpens Coffee and Creamery is a delightful blend of familial warmth and sugary excitement, with the cherry topping of professional and attentive customer service.

However, every entrepreneur knows running a business in the 2020s means choosing the right tech. Thatโ€™s why the Stauffers had committed to Epos Now for their point of sale system before they even opened the doors. Jenny and Joyce kindly shared their story with us.

Industry
Shop and cafe
Location
Cowpens, South Carolina, USA
Joined Epos Now
February 2022

The best POS system saves you money and stress

Every business has different requirements when choosing a point of sale (POS) system, but there are some things everybody looks for; cost, support, and security. After the Stauffers conducted their research, it was clear who they wanted to go with:

โ€œI actually decided well before we opened in June 2022. I did a lot of research and chose Epos Now because of the cost. The cloud service is highly secure, so that was a big plus! And Epos Nowโ€™s monthly subscription for the terminals and 24/7 support was very, very attractive.โ€

โ€œOne thing that really caught my eye was that I could buy and own the equipment but change merchant services at any time. Iโ€™ve had people approach me about changing payment providers and I ask them โ€˜Are you compatible with Epos Now?โ€™, because if not, thatโ€™s a dealbreaker for me. I say upfront: 'Iโ€™m not changing my Epos Now system!'โ€

"We looked at Square; we looked at Clover, and the one we chose was Epos Now because of the cost."
Joyce Stauffer
Joyce 3

Training with peace of mind

Opening their business was a stressful time for the Stauffers. But through hard work and dedication, they grew Cowpens Coffee and Creamery into a flourishing trade loved by the locals, running events beloved by families, such as Mary Mistletoeโ€™s Christmas readings! But we asked them what it was like setting up a new business and a new POS system:

Joyce: โ€œWe had a great Sales Consultant based in Florida, and they were wonderful. Very, very responsive. They answered the phone every step of the wayโ€ฆTheyโ€™d do remote sessions and explain to me exactly what they were doing and how I could do it for myself in the future, so if an issue ever arises again, Iโ€™d be okay. So they were absolutely fantastic; so supportive and so patient.โ€

Jenny: โ€œIt was fun! The calls leading up to opening showed us how to use the system and really take advantage of all the options. They made sure we understood how to input everything properly and navigate the interface and Back Office, so I felt a lot more confident after that.โ€

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Cowpens Coffee and Creamery rate our customer service

The Stauffers prioritise top-notch, family-friendly service. So the team needs customer service thatโ€™s available whenever they need it. Our rapid customer support impressed Joyce and Jenny, often getting their inquiries answered in under half an hour.

Joyce said, โ€œI have nothing but praise for the customer supportโ€ฆThe team answered the phone very quickly and stayed on the phone with me as long as possible. If they werenโ€™t available, Iโ€™d shoot them an email and theyโ€™d call me within twenty-five minutes and if they didnโ€™t have an answer, theyโ€™d go and find one.โ€

โ€œSometimes, customers would interrupt our calls. But your team is extremely patient. The customer service staff would tell me โ€˜Itโ€™s okay. Iโ€™m still here. Weโ€™re gonna get through it!โ€™ And so I have great, great praise for your customer service.

"Just knowing thereโ€™s somebody there to help walk us through has really been a peace of mind."
Jenny Stauffer
Cowpens coffee 1

Reports that get you ready to take your next steps

Trying to make decisions without data is like trying to serve melted ice cream - pointless! With their new business up and running, Scott, Joyce, and Jenny had to decide when to open, how many staff they needed, which products to restock, and more. Thankfully, the Epos Now system gathers all the data it can so they can stay informed and save time making decisions.

Jenny: โ€œI think in the beginning, one of the major challenges was kind of trying to identify what was selling, what wasn't going to sell, and making sure that we were ordering accordingly and not having too much waste.โ€

โ€œI use the reporting in the Epos Now system to identify our top sellers, where our biggest opportunities are, who has the opportunity for more upselling and things like that because there's usually a reason behind whatever's happening.โ€

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Staying on top of sales trends with ease

Joyce: โ€œThe report that I run the most is sales report by time period, and it's just very easy to run. It's very accurate, and I can hand it over to my bookkeeper and let her know, โ€œHere are the bills with tax and without taxโ€, which makes it very easy for both of us.โ€

โ€œMeanwhile, having the capability to see the sales trends throughout the day, Jenny was able to come up with a training schedule that fit for that time period until we were able to get all of the staff in place and trained and everything, and knowing when we were able to do it with minimum impact on our business was very, very important!โ€

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A POS system that adapts to every person on the team

Epos Now takes pride in being part of the team, which means helping staff access the parts of the system they need (and helping them steer clear of those they donโ€™t) to maintain the security and integrity of the business.

Joyce added: โ€œBeing able to create staff roles has been vital. Only four staff have the โ€˜No salesโ€™ button in the business. Now, weโ€™ve set up staff roles for people with different access permissions, for example, only certain people are connected to our VoucherCart, and so on.โ€

"It's a pretty easy interface for all our staff to navigate on the front end. I think they like it a lot."
Joyce Stauffer
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Got tons of tasks? The Staufferโ€™s Epos Now system does it all for them!

With so much to stay on top of, Cowpens Coffee and Creamery relies on Epos Now for all kinds of tasks, so having confidence in this crucial business tool makes it easier to make room for the essential tasks Joyce, Jenny, and the team need to carry out themselves.

โ€œI am a person who likes to put things all underneath one umbrella and have everything connected to save as many steps as I possibly canโ€ฆ But we also have our POS system run the entire dayโ€™s data and balance sheets and record everything, including the gratuities. I think that is a huge plus for me.โ€

โ€œAnd I could have it go further still, integrating with accounting and payroll, and knowing it has that capability gives me the motivation to work towards those goals so that my workload is minimised.โ€

"So having Epos Now saves time, steps, and energy, and makes sales flow easily for the customers - which is great for us!"
Joyce Stauffer
Cowpens logo 1

This family-run business give us a friendly thumbs-up!

Cowpens Coffee and Creamery is the kind of business that gets the best out of everyone, letting people play to their strengths and staying incredibly organised to create something everyone can enjoy!

As Joyce tells us: โ€œItโ€™s been a whirlwind, with a few bumps here and there, but we got through it! Nothing is more important than family. So it feels really good that we're all able to come together and make this place something special for the town because that's why we did it.โ€ 

These family values and community spirit are why their endorsement means so much. But Jenny assures us Epos Now has their seal of approval.

โ€œYeah, Iโ€™d recommend Epos Now! Weโ€™ve had a couple of small business owners ask us who we use and Joyce highly recommends you guys whenever she talks about it.โ€