Another time waster in the cafe is having unclear systems, without a coherent and logical direction for customers. If your customer has to ask “Do I order with you?” Or “Where do I get lids?” then you have an issue. A confused customer will slow down the flow of the service, and apart from that, if a customer feels puzzled in your cafe, it will dampen their overall experience, making them less likely to return. Put yourself in the customer's shoes, and look at your cafe layout with fresh eyes; when you walk in the door are there clear ‘order’, ‘wait’ and ‘collect’ points? If it was your first time in the cafe, would you know where to start and finish? Having a linear bar with the till on one side and collection point on the other will help direct customers and stop a bottleneck. If customers have to backtrack or reach-over to get something, there's something not right with your customer flow. If you don’t want to use signs to direct your customers, put visual cues to guide them: menu board beside where you want them to order, lids, sugar etc where you want customers to collect. Other things that will help with this is having a clear, concise and refined menu, that is simple to read and shouldn’t require too long for customers to think over, or confuse them. Avoiding an overcomplicated drinks menu means simpler dockets (especially important if you are handwriting dockets - orders should be one word, not an essay!) and less communication needed from person on till to those making the drinks and overall quicker service.

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