Category: Customer Stories

Adventurous diners are common in many places and Chef Bren Jones wants to feed them! With this in mind, Jones established Bren’s Traveling Bistro, a unique food truck that moves from various locations introducing a variety of dishes from around the world to customers with a taste for new and exotic cuisine. With customers lining down the road whenever it made its temporary home, Bren’s Traveling Bistro needed a solution that would enable easy, rapid access to customer information from the counter to the kitchen while conducting business operations simultaneously.

After researching a variety of options, Jones chose a POS system bundle comprised of an Apple iPad®, iConnect POS software, and a TSP650IIBTi thermal receipt printer from Star Micronics. Jones identified the software’s Blod-based platform and the printer’s Bluetooth communications capability as a perfect fit for Bren’s Traveling Bistro because it would support a POS system running entirely on mobile devices. Installation of the solution took just a few seconds and necessitated only that the app be downloaded on a single iPad®. A user-friendly interface between the iPad® and the app made training employees a painless process.

iConnect enables all transactions at Bren’s Traveling Bistro to be processed via the Cloud no matter where the food truck has traveled. Complementary positioning of buttons and icons on the screen ensures rapid service with minimal errors. Similarly, the Bluetooth connection between the iPad® and the TSP650IIBTi indicates that the printer can receive messages from a distance away, minimizing the duration between the moment orders are placed and the time of service.

The solution also yields access to the back office on-the-go, sales, inventory, and other critical business data that is instantly available via Internet or the iConnect app. Maintaining a secure handle on the operation, coupled with the ability to quickly serve more customers no matter the location, has helped Bren’s Traveling Bistro to establish a footprint and, in turn, boost profitability. Further upping the profitability ante, the low cost to acquire and use the solutions give Jones continued flexibility to invest in other aspects of the business at a local level.

“I truly value the products provided by iConnectPOS and Star Micronics,” Jones says. “They make running our food truck business simpler, organized, and less stressful. I will be using the POS system bundle to not only impress customers with fast paced service, but also provide exceptional food quality.

– Bren Jones, Owner and Chef, Bren’s Traveling Bistro

Read the full case study here: Star_Brens-Traveling-Bistro_Case-Study

Gorge Greenery, the only Clean Green Certified recreational marijuana dispensary in the Columbia Gorge, prides itself on providing the highest quality cannabis products from the best producers and growers in Oregon. Gorge Greenery was able to find a simple, yet reliable point of sale solution for their upcoming dispensary through Green Bits and Star Micronics.

Gorge Greenery had no choice but to install a cloud-based point of sale system in their dispensary. A cloud-based system was the best option for Gorge Greenery to keep their initial investment at a reasonable cost, while also having the ability to access live sales information and reports from anywhere, at any time, without remote access software. “Our ability to remotely log-in from anywhere via the cloud was key,” says Kirsten Cook, Owner of Gorge Greenery.

After researching their options, Gorge Greenery found Green Bits’ point of sale software with Star Micronics’ peripherals to be their best option. Green Bits application suite along with Star’s Bluetooth printer is what won over Gorge Greenery.

The ability to operate the point of sale on mobile devices and Apple iPads® that function seamlessly with Star’s TSP650IIBTi printer, was a true selling point for Gorge Greenery. The Green Bits software allowed dispensary management to easily see customer sales, state compliance, inventory management, and sales analyses reports all on one, easy-to-use platform.

The Green Bits and Star Micronics point of sale system was a huge benefit to Gorge Greenery. The solution gave them the ability to keep track of sales and analytics by budtender in order to see which employees are performing well, compared to which ones could use further training. Gorge Greenery can now also keep track of cash management, inventory control, and hourly sales reports which in turn help them to efficiently schedule and decrease their labor costs.

“This technology allows us to present and expedite a professional experience to our customers. We are able to streamline the point of purchase process by four-fold. The Green Bits iPad-based system with Star’s wireless printer has helped us to reduce clutter, resulting in a huge increase of impulse sales at the point of purchase.” – Kirsten Cook, Owner of Gorge Greenery.

Download the full success story here: Gorge-Greenery-Case-Study

Operating under the brand names Blackbird Vineyards, Recuerdo Windes, Resolute Wine, and AERENA Galleries & Gardens, Bespoke Collection offers a curated selection of boutique wines, one-of-a-kind objet d’art, and unique lifestyle experience.

Bespoke Collection strives to capture the essence of personal connection in their own customer interactions and knew that Salesforce was the best platform to keep their focus on the customer. Bespoke already utilizes Salesforce’s Sales Cloud and Marketing Cloud to ensure they capture and respond appropriately to each touchpoint of a customer’s journey. Bespoke was in search of a platform that would allow them to continue to track each customer’s journey while also capturing critical customer data at the point of sale.

Bespoke Collection discovered SuiteRetail’s SuitePOS for Salesforce with Star Micronics peripherals, which allowed them to capture customer data at the point of sale and input the data directly into Salesforce. SuitePOS for Salesforce paired with Star’s TSP100 receipt printers allowed Bespoke Collection to gather real-time, end-to-end information using one user-friendly interface, one database, and one security model.

Bespoke sales associates can now look up a customer’s journey and, with a single click, be ready to take a transaction, facilitating an even more efficient and personalized customer experience.

“Whether a guest is considering art today, or buying wine tomorrow, it’s essential that each and every sales associate has access to that customer’s journey,” says Paul Leary, President of Bespoke Collection. “With SuitePOS for Salesforce and Star Micronics peripherals, we can better track our customers’ journeys and ensure that each customer is receiving the experience they are looking for.”

Download the full case study here: star_bespoke-collection_case-study

Castillo is a New York City restaurant, offering unique Ecuadorian cuisine with a twist of America, Italian, and South American spices and flavors. Established in Sunset Park fifteen years ago, Castillo is now famously known for their dishes by different geographical locations in Ecuador, including the coast, the Andes Mountains, and the norther border between Ecuador and Columbia.

With their expanding business, Castillo felt their current POS system was unreliable and did not offer the data and analytics needed for sustaining operations. The POS system was dependent on their network’s WiFi connection, which caused their printer  and cash drawer to cease to function when the internet connection was lost from the router. Castillo also had trouble analyzing the data collected from their POS application. The owners understood data was collected accurately, but the dashboard was difficult to navigate and did not display user-friendly functionality. This dilemma left Castillo challenged to decipher the future of their growing business.

Star Micronics and Sabor provided Castillo with both hardware and software solutions for the ideal POS system bundle. Star Micronics’ TSP650IIBTi receipt printer pairs easily with Bluetooth connectivity. Castillo no longer has to worry about losing a WiFi connection if the internet went down. The quick and easy-to-use receipt printer includes “Drop-In & Print” paper loading, compact size, a reliable guillotine auto-cutter, and a fast printing speed of 60 receipts per minute. The installation only took about 15 minutes, and training was painless with easy-to-learn tutorials from Sabor’s “One-on-One” support team. Castillo staff members are now confident that they can perform excellent customer service and have a reliable printer during long business hours.

“We are very satisfied with the Sabor POS System,” says Maria Lema, Owner and General Manager of Castillo. “The issues we had with out printer and WiFi are not apparent on this system. Sending orders to the kitchen is no longer a hassle as it was with our older POS system. We like the restaurant features of the new system. They are certainly easy to use with big buttons to identify all the different sections of the software! We strongly recommend Sabor and Star Micronics solutions to other growing businesses. Everything is working great and I am more satisfied than ever!”

Download the full case study here: Star_Castillo_Case-Study

Bac’n Me Crazy is a gourmet food truck based in Charleston, SC that specializes in out of this world dishes that are loaded with bacon. Bac’n Me Crazy was one of many food trucks in the Charleston area that was searching for a way to help their customers avoid the crazy and unpredictable South Carolina weather, and create a smoother workflow for employees. Wholly App and Star Micronics teamed up to provide Bac’n Me Crazy with the ideal solution for their food truck.

Bac’n Me Crazy, one of the most popular food trucks in Charleston, SC, was searching for a way to make ordering not only easier for the customer, but for the employees as well. The unpredictable east coast weather made standing in line at an outdoor food truck an undesirable prospect for customers. Always putting the customer first, Bac’n Me Crazy sought an online ordering solution from Wholly App that would help to make the ordering experience more convenient for customers, and create an easier and smoother workflow for employees.

By installing Wholly App’s solution with Star’s TSP650IIBTi printer and WebPRNT, Bac’n Me Crazy was able to not only create a better ordering experience for customers, but improve the overall daily workflow of their business. Wholly App was able to create a customized solution for Bac’n Me Crazy, allowing customers to order from their phones, and receive an alert when their order is ready. When the customer ordered, the order would be sent directly to the Star printer using WebPRNT. WebPRNT eliminates the need to install any drivers, and enables printing from Wholly App’s native application built specifically for Bac’n Me Crazy. Star’s TSP650IIBTi has the durability to withstand the rush hours, and offers ultimate mobility with its Bluetooth feature, allowing employees to move the printer throughout the truck as necessary.

 “This solution has been a dream come true for us,” says Jason Broz, Founder of Bac’n Me Crazy. “Wholly App and Star Micronics’ solution allowed us to increase our business and make the lives of our customers easier – which is really the most important thing to us.”

“When developing this app for Bac’n Me Crazy and thinking of printing options, Star was our first choice,” says Mike Werner, Found of Wholly App. “The TSP650IIBTi with WebPRNT made our job so much easier by providing a mobile and durable solutions that could print orders right from the app.”

Download the full success story here: Star – Bac’n Me Crazy Case Study

Sunshine Daydream Hippie Shop is a psychedelic shopping boutique, located in St. Louis, Missouri. Sunshine Daydream offers an array of merchandise from clothes, to home décor, to smoking accessories, and more. Already a user of Star Micronics TSP100 LAN printers, Sunshine Daydream has decided to implement Star’s AllReceipts™ digital receipt app in all four locations, allowing customers to store and manage their receipts digitally on their smart phones.

Sunshine Daydream, already a user of Star’s TSP100 thermal printers with Microsoft RMS, was looking for a way to better connect with their customers. After seeing a live demo of the AllReceipts app, they immediately saw the value to the solution. Allowing customers to view their receipt digitally was a feature that Sunshine Daydream was previously looking for, but was very expensive to add to their Microsoft RMS platform. AllReceipts free digital receipt app was the perfect solution.

AllReceipts digital receipt app provided Sunshine Daydream with a way to engage with customers and receive their direct feedback on their shopping experience. The app also allows Sunshine Daydream to manage their POS directly through the app, seeing receipt recalls, printer status, and if the cash drawer had been left open for too long. What’s more, the AllReceipts app came at no additional expense for Sunshine Daydream, and the installation took less than two minutes; they were able to go live with the app instantaneously!

“Star’s AllReceipts app was the perfect digital receipt solution for Sunshine Daydream. Aside from it costing us nothing, the install was easy, and it allows us to receive direct feedback from our customers, and manage our devices digitally through the app, which was a huge plus!”

– Jay Trudeau, Owner of Sunshine Daydream

Download the full success story here: Star_Sunshine-Daydream_Case-Study