Plantation Coffee Cafe Case Study
How we helped Plantation Specialty Coffee succeed
The Customer
Calvin Leung worked for several Government IT departments before he went into the coffee business. Realizing that cafes were the highlight of his workday, he dropped his IT role and began investing his time, money, and future into coffee bars. He bought into Plantation Specialty Coffee’s flagship store in 2012 and found he had a knack for helping coffee businesses grow.
Plantation uses freshly roasted coffee beans instead of freeze-dried grounds, creating real coffee for real people. After a year of Calvin’s influence, Plantation opened its second store, which quickly led to negotiations to create a chain of small Plantation coffee bars. Their popularity continues to grow; more coffee bars are in demand and building plans are underway.
The Challenge
Plantation uses Square for its merchandising needs. When Calvin was offered an opportunity to expand into the Myer department stores, they requested that he equip his kiosks with the conventional POS system that was standard concessions in Myer and integrated with the Myer 1 loyalty card. As a tech-savvy individual, Calvin had no intention of using their clunky POS system. But, if the Myer 1 card couldn't be used, there was no deal.
He needed a POS system for small businesses that would enable his company to use the Myer 1 loyalty program for his customers. Socket Mobile's barcode scanners were the answer. They are easy to use for both retail POS and loyalty.
Calvin, the tech-savvy individual that he is, wanted to make sure he selected the best scanner possible.
"We tested many different scanners before we knew: this was the one," said Calvin.
The Socket Mobile Solution
Calvin chose the SocketScan S700 for several reasons: "[they are] Cordless, look attractive… and can scan both physical cards and digital barcodes on phones," said Calvin.
Plantation implemented Square's API with custom coding to work with Socket Mobile scanners. The entire system was set up in two days.
The Results
The Socket Mobile S700 allowed Plantation to implement Myer’s loyalty programs just as they hoped. Three new cafes have been constructed, and more are on the way. Customers gain points using their Myer 1 card, which encourages customers to stay in the store, creating more business.
At the end of the day, both customers and vendors are happy. Employees have no complaints because the scanners are straightforward and easy to use.
The Socket Mobile scanners made the expansion of Plantation Specialty Coffee within Myer department stores possible.
"If we couldn’t accept Myer 1 cards, we couldn’t have done the deal." – Calvin
