With Respo Self-Order costing just ¥5,000 a month and offering so many benefits, there was no reason not to switch (L.S cafe).

— Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this interview. How has it been since implementation?
Our service efficiency has improved, and even on weekends we can basically run the place with just two staff members outside of peak hours, so it’s been extremely useful.
We have 27 seats, which is quite large for a café, so before we needed at least three to four staff.
Now that we have more time to actually face and serve our customers, I’m very happy as the owner.

— I heard you previously used another company’s system. Was there any particular reason that prompted you to switch?
Yes.
With the system we used before, staff had to carry handheld devices to take orders and then process payments at the register, so it didn’t really lead to any fundamental improvement in our operations.
And even if we put tablets on the tables, we’d still incur maintenance costs for the devices.
So Respo Self-Order, which lets customers complete everything from ordering to payment on their own smartphones, was a perfect fit.
Since it’s on the customers’ own phones, we don’t have to pay for devices or repair costs.

— I believe you’ve also introduced L.S Cafe at another location after this one. Was that for the same reasons?
We’ve implemented it at our shop in Saitama.
However, since it’s in the suburbs, many of our customers are elderly, and if we ask them to order on their own smartphones, the cost of explaining how to use it becomes higher.
So at that location, we have our staff carry smartphones and go to the tables to take orders.

But since the monthly fee is as low as ¥5,000, the cheapest in the industry, we ended up switching from another company to this one as well.
Despite the low price, the available features (credit card payments, POS functions) were almost the same, so there was really no reason not to switch.

— Once again, could you tell us about L.S Cafe?
The business itself has been around for about nine years, and I took over the management from the previous owner three years ago.
We’re a place built around the concepts of health-consciousness, no additives, and organic ingredients, with a strong focus on natural foods and vegetables.
While keeping the stylish, Kiyosumi-like atmosphere, we aim to offer reasonably priced, health-conscious menu items.

— What kind of customers usually come to your cafe?
Most of our main customers are women.
Kiyosumi-Shirakawa doesn’t have many chain stores; instead, there are lots of independent Italian places that only serve things like pasta and coffee.
Among them, L.S Cafe is about 30 seconds from the station and has 27 seats, so it’s relatively spacious, which means we get a lot of groups of housewives.

— Since you have many group customers, do you feel any particular benefits from introducing the system?
When groups of five or six people come in, they often share items like salads.
Previously, when they wanted to pay separately, it took quite a bit of time, but after introducing the system, everyone just scans the QR code, orders individually, and can easily split the bill, which is great.
From our side, it’s extremely convenient that the payment is finished before we even notice.
Even on weekends, we usually run the place with just two staff members outside of peak hours, and for a cafe of this size, I think that’s pretty impressive.

— I’m really glad we could be of help. Was there anything you struggled with in the process leading up to implementation?
To be honest, almost nothing.
That’s because the person in charge of implementation supported us very politely and quickly.
After we decided to introduce it, they said, “I’ll come by your store tomorrow,” and everything moved incredibly fast.
I had assumed it would be more like asking questions online whenever I didn’t understand something, so in a good way it was totally unexpected and made things really easy.
I was surprised that we were able to complete the implementation in about two weeks.

––– It sounds like training the staff on site might have been tough. How was it actually?
That really wasn’t a problem at all.
We have a female employee in her 50s, but with Respo Self-Order it’s so simple that you can use it just like a smartphone app without getting confused, so there were basically no training costs.
So we didn’t need to close the shop for training or set aside special training time.
Honestly, it all went smoothly just by posting in the staff LINE group something like, “This is what’s changing,” “You’ll take orders here,” and “If anything comes up, just ask.”

Of course, it may help that we had introduced an ordering system before and were already used to it, but even if Respo Self-Order were our very first system, the operation is so simple that we would probably get used to it right away.

--- Thank you. Besides the low running costs, labor saving, and ease of use, have you noticed any other advantages?
With Respo Self-Order, it’s great that all we have to do is upload the names and photos of sold-out items or daily specials, and they’re instantly reflected on the customer’s smartphones.
Previously I was the one changing the menu, so being able to manage everything on-site has really improved our operational efficiency.

It’s also quietly nice that we can offer dishes that we come up with on the same day.
For example, there’s a wine shop next door, so they sometimes bring something over saying, “We’ve got this, if you’d like,” and we’ll offer it to our customers.
We can create a “Today’s Wine List” category and have it show up on customers’ smartphones right away.

--- Reducing the burden on the management side is a big deal, isn’t it?
We still have a few paper menus just in case, but we no longer need the old-style paper menus with photos, so we’ve saved on printing costs and significantly reduced our promotional expenses.
I really want to streamline the restaurant’s operations so we can serve food to our customers faster and at a lower cost, so this makes me very happy.

— Thank you very much for sharing all the different things you’ve been feeling. Lastly, could you tell us about your future plans?
I’d like to strengthen our takeout offerings and develop things like a night café.
Thanks to the improved efficiency, to be honest we now have some leeway in staffing.
So I’m thinking it might be good to extend our business hours into the evening and offer products then.
Of course we’ll serve coffee, but I’m also thinking of offering a little alcohol and some snacks.
Until now we needed at least two people to manage everything, but now it can be handled by one person, so I plan to run it calmly on my own.

— A night café sounds stylish and wonderful! We as a company will step up our support so that L.S cafe can provide even better service!

Thank you as well, and I look forward to working with you in the future!

Address: Ingen Building 1F, 2-14-7 Shirakawa, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Phone number: 03-6458-5462
Store details:https://autoreserve.com/restaurants/W4qqP7ooNgE8txGcsVwE