Starbucks POS System
As one of the largest companies on Earth, would you be surprised to find out that for quite some time, Starbucks utilized Square, a POS system that small business owners are able to acquire for free?
Starbucks and Square fell out of a partnership back in 2015, meaning Starbucks had to find another company adept at handling 90 million customer transactions per week.
So who does Starbucks currently trust to collect beverage payments including your own latte, Frappuccino and tea purchases when you pop in for a quick pick-me-up? Continue reading to learn more.
Starbucks x Oracle Simphony
When Starbucks ditched Square POS, it was lucky enough to find another business that could help it process payments and speed up in-store operations.
These days, Starbucks is teamed up with Oracle and became partners, using the companies shiny and robust Simphony point of sale system.
Of course, you might be wondering, how in the world is Oracle MICROS Simphony able to handle the high volume and diverse inventory that Starbucks deals with each day?
At its foundation, this point of sale system is a way for Starbucks to go through with customer transactions. However, Simphony added on some unique and customized features to deal with the mass amounts of data that Starbucks collects each and every day.
In the end, the goal of this coffee giant was to make the interactions between its stores and its customers absolutely seamless.
Baristas can make use of the Smart Navigation features to enter several orders at once, reading them off without any room for error. The POS system can be scaled pretty uniquely as well, allowing for both larger and smaller locations to make use of the many onboard features.
For example, a larger Starbucks store might want to take advantage of the table management system.
For Starbucks, turning transactions from its customers to data that it could use to enhance customer service and optimize efficiency was the goal.
Oracle Simphony goes far and beyond your typical POS system, however. In many ways, it is a customer relationship management solution. Managers can use this platform to keep track of expenses, stock, and inventory.
For the full review, see our Micros Simphony POS review article.
Top Oracle Simphony POS System Features
Every aspect of the company, including the coffee and the service, remains constant from location to location. The same goes for the POS solution that Starbucks created with Oracle.
While there are plenty of incredible software features found on these systems, here are some of the most crucial to note:
Smart Navigation
Navigation is much easier with the Oracle Simphony POS system. Coffee preparation is optimized with the fact that staff members can easily add notes and make substitutions, communicating them with those who are making the coffee.
Because these stores are often very busy, having the ability to reduce errors in the process is extremely important.
Speech-Style Ordering
The order page found in Simphony's technology was created to mimic the way that humans speak. An employee working at Starbucks can easily find the SKU that they are looking for in a matter of seconds. Again, it also makes adding any notes or substitutions to the food and drink easier than ever.
Table Service
The sizes of the stores differ quite a bit. Some Starbucks offer seating for the patrons. This type of feature, while not used at every location, is very popular in the restaurant industry and a very critical part of the Simphony POS software. An employee can see which table the food or drinks belong to by quickly glancing at the POS software.
You will see this sort of feature at many large businesses around the nation that offer customer seating.
Taking The POS System International
When you look at the scope of Starbucks as an international business, you begin to see how large it is and why it was so important for them to have a legitimate point of sale system that could handle a mass amount of data.
However, Oracle Simphony isn't a system that is used in every store around the world. Some of the store locations make use of LS Nav, while the TCS system is the platform used at store locations in India.
In the near future, we expect that other locations will slowly transition into using the Oracle Simphony system.
Going Mobile
The pandemic changed the way that many businesses operated. Starbucks had to go through quite a few changes to stay afloat during this past yearr.
As of today, many Starbucks stores are now equipped with mobile POS systems.
The idea behind this new mobile POS system was to enhance the customer experience while serving them efficiently and safely.
Plus, this unique system sped up and shortened the line in each location, as customers could order and make payment from their phones, never having to speak with anyone working at the particular location.
Of course, even before the onset of COVID-19, Starbucks was offering mobile orders and curbside pickup. However, it did allow them to adapt to the new ways in which customers liked to operate during the pandemic.
For example, more and more customers began to order food and drinks online while the pandemic was in full rage. Starbucks was able to adapt to these newer customer behaviors and habits. By the end of the quarter in 2020, the company had a curbside pickup at more than 1,000 of its stores.
The mobile POS system is now finding its way into the hands of customers as well. Starbucks made a smart choice updating its customer-facing app this past year, optimizing the company's rewards program. The Starbucks app was one of the best decisions the company made in years. You can see this technology in many similar businesses around the world, including McDonald's.
In doing so, the face-to-face interactions with employees when buying food and drink were minimized. Customers could pay online and get their caffeine boost by clicking a few buttons and picking up their coffee outside the store.
Final Thoughts: Is The Oracle Simphony POS System The Right Choice For your Business?
We hope that this answered your question as to which point of sale system Starbucks uses.
While the answer to the above question differs depending on which of the stores that you visit, you can typically assume that the POS system United States Starbucks is running is the Simphony retail point of sale system.
Of course, because the business is so large, it needs access to robust payment processing, marketing features, massive sales data collection, security features, and more. As of today, this is one of the most robust POS systems on the POS market.
Many restauranteurs and retailers are turning to Oracle Simphony in their search for the best POS systems on the market. It's so elegantly built and has some of the strongest and most robust software on the market today.
However, it doesn't make sense for every business in the food industry, as there aren't many businesses that operate at the same level that Starbucks does.
All of the features for this system would likely be far too much for your business if you're not running at high volumes. For restaurants and retailers looking for point of sale systems that might fit in well with their day-to-day operations, we recommend that you shift your attention to our reviews of POS systems here on the Orga Systems website, as they are packed with helpful information that can help you make the most informed buying decision possible.
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Tyler Connaghan
Contributing Author
