FEATURES
IN THIS ISSUE
20 Pre-Made Goodness
Baked goods and pastries help round out
a coffee shop menu.
By Brenda G. Russell
24 Top Gift Cards and
Loyalty Programs
October
2013
Volume 20
Number 10
The options available for small retailers.
By Emily McIntyre
27 Free Your Mind (and Your Wallet)
Cloud computing is everywhere, but how does it help you?
By Brenda Porter-Rockwell
30 Regional Update: Juice Bars
Mixing drinks for health-conscious consumers.
By Maura Keller
20
FROM THE EDITOR
27
Technology to Tea
T
his month, we're highlighting a number of new technologies of great interest to small
business owners: gift card and loyalty programs, cloud computing and tablet computers.
While implementing new hardware or software in a store may not demonstrate the immediate
bottom line impact that changing a menu or switching wholesalers can, investing in new
technology is equally important. Over the long-term, increased efficiencies and revenues can
Jeremy Nedelka, editor
more than offset the cost of buying and maintaining the systems.
Using a gift card or loyalty program provider that integrates with the store's POS system
provides better service for customers and more options for increasing return visits (see page 24). Replacing outdated registers
or menu cards with tablet computers or switching from a server-based to a cloud-based system to handle back-end operations
can reduce overhead and free up time for shop owners to dedicate to what they do best, serving customers (see page 27).
Following two issues in a row where we've concentrated on technology, November will be a dramatic change. We'll go from
talking about a topic that changes every day to one that has slowly evolved over thousands of years—tea. The annual tea issue
is a must-read, especially now that many stores' tea sales are surpassing 25 percent of total revenue. Don't miss it!
Jeremy Nedelka, Editor
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