Epos Now helps Planet Doughnut shoot for the stars with multi-location management
The journey from humble beginnings to broader horizons
Planet Doughnut started out in the McGregor family household back in 2017. Duncan tells us:
“My wife and I started Planet Doughnut in our kitchen and garage. We both worked full-time, but we saw a business opportunity that could support us going self-employed, so we shot for our first retail shop in the local area, which opened in May 2018 in Shrewsbury. It was busy every day from that first moment.”
“In winter, we realised people wouldn't go down the side street as much. So we opened a kiosk site in Telford and had an amazing December and January.”
In 2019, Duncan signed up for Epos Now POS systems after seeing great success and needing a flexible system to cover multiple sites. However, he still had many more challenges to face.
“In 2020, Covid-19 closed us down pretty quickly. When the shops closed, we started a website and tried to do something different. We sort of flipped into wholesale. We did our deliveries by hand and then changed it to DPD delivery. Then obviously, we got the cost of living crisis.”
However, due to Duncan’s ability to pivot his business and flexibility to trial new ideas, he’s kept Planet Doughnut growing.
“But going wholesale worked really well for us, and we opened more shops. We got a partner that invested with us, and we’ve opened shops in Chester, Nantwich, Lichfield and Warrington - we also tested the market and opened a dessert concept.”
The rocket power of POS reports for Planet Doughnut
Ground control to Planet Doughnut, it’s Epos Now here. When a business grows quickly, you need systems that can support it! In particular, you need ways of managing all your data. That’s why Duncan’s business reports are so important and was one of the reasons he’s got on so well with his Epos Now system.
“Managing multiple sites, we found it hard to gather the revenue and see who was performing well. There’s so much data you don’t know what to do with it. The week-by-week comparison. This week versus last week. Has your percentage gone up or down versus the week you’re looking at?"
“With Epos Now, we often use the tender report to check and get through all that data from our sites. What are we doing? How are payments going? Is there an increase in using cash or card? With Epos Now, you know what you’re selling on a daily basis. It’s all there in the reports.”
As you can tell, Duncan finds the report function invaluable. Epos Now uses a cloud-based POS system, which syncs with the Epos Now Multi-site Manager app, so Duncan can easily see all his reports and data from multiple sites.
Planet Doughnut and the successful multi-site Milkyway
As Planet Doughnut continued to grow, Duncan stayed on top of management using the multi-site manager app, which allowed his reports from many locations to come together in one place - the Epos Now Back Office. Thanks to cloud-based data storage, Duncan doesn’t have to be on-site to view it. Here’s what he said when we asked him about it:
“It’s seamless, really. I can flip across the site data. I’m so used to it. I can sit on my phone in the house on a Saturday, see how everyone is doing, and see if anything’s gone wrong.”
Quick and easy payments for pain-free progress
Though they began working with another payment provider for their card transactions, Planet Doughnut found the work involved needed to be faster.
“We found that these integrated card systems weren't for us. They were too labour-intensive for me - after all, I don't have an IT department. So I don't know how to work out what sort of PCI check goes wrong, and I don't know why ports open. I just want card payments that work.”
Duncan switched the Planet Doughnut team over to Epos Now Payments in 2023. He found the setup was much smoother.
“When I heard you offered free card processing for 12 months in your recent deal, I thought, ‘This is great’! Parts of the deal are worth their weight in gold for me, and not trying to figure out how to close a port every single month helps too.”
Why Duncan loves Epos Now's cloud sync capabilities
Duncan has seen a lot of change over the last few years, which makes a dependable system and easy-to-use interface important to his day-to-day life, ensuring he can stay on top of everything that’s going on:
“I found it great that you can scan a barcode in your office when adding your products. I can work in my office to easily add products. Epos Now’s cloud sync to the tills is probably the biggest benefit!”
Looking onwards and upwards to the stars
While the Planet Doughnut website helped get the team through Covid-19, Duncan hopes to see a more significant high street presence soon.
“Our focus is expanding our brand on the high street. We’re looking at several franchise options, working with partners, and will hopefully launch across the rest of the UK in the next two years!”
Keep your eyes peeled for this exciting company in the future. The Epos Now engine will be alongside them, powering their galactic journey!
