Long wait times is an issue that can soon find your customers turning to the competition. From mobile apps that make it easier to place a pick-up order to providing your staff with additional training, there are plenty of ways to speed things up. Shorter wait times mean greater customer satisfaction which can lead to increased sales.

Mobile Applications

Customers are choosing to conduct their business from smartphones in greater numbers than ever before. A full-featured application is a resource that no coffeehouse can afford to be without. Easier ways for your customers to browse the menu or to make a pick up purchase from off-site can make quite a difference. This can keep catering towards in-store patrons and office coffee orders more efficient.

E-Menus

Digital menu boards are often a worthwhile investment. The ability to change the menu with a few strokes or to provide customers with updated information more easily makes them a valuable resource. Real-time menus that can be accessed online help to minimize the delays that may be caused by customers who have yet to decide on what to order. If they have specific or complicated orders they can order on touch-pads and pick up their order as they come out. This way you get more people focused on making the coffee rather than taking them. 

More Efficient Workflow

More effective ways of performing even the simplest of tasks can help to speed things along. Spending a day observing your staff can turn up several ways in which various workflow processes may be improved. Superior efficiency can eliminate many of the lengthy delays that your customers are experiencing.

Equipment

Lacking the right appliances and other equipment is an issue that can slow things to a crawl. While the additional costs needed to purchase and install specialty appliances may seem like an obstacle, the means to brew drinks and prepare orders with greater speed can be worth a little added cost. Superior automation goes a long way towards ensuring orders can be placed and completed as quickly as possible.

Staff Training

Expecting your staff to make use of new apps, equipment or workflow processes without providing them with additional training would be a mistake. Even those employees who have a firm grasp on their duties may benefit from an occasional skills refresher. Training your staff to be as efficient as possible means that speeding up the line won’t have to come at the expense of customer satisfaction.

Fine-tuning is often essential, regardless of which resources you decide to employ. Efficiency is an ongoing struggle and coffeehouses would do well to assess their current level of performance from time to time. Making additional changes can often be essential in order to keep wait times to a minimum.