Leveraging the integrated power of Sage CRM and Sage 300, Second Cup Coffee Co. was able to sustain a period of rapid growth and become Canada’s largest franchiser of specialty coffees with 350 cafés across the country.
“The system sends the franchisees an email detailing the date and amount of the payment to be collected. It is very efficient; we don’t have to print and mail invoices or process checks”
Robert Masson,
CFO, Second Cup Coffee Co.
From its humble beginning in 1975 as a kiosk in a shopping mall, selling only whole bean coffee, Second Cup grew to become the café of choice for thousands of guests every day. As the business expanded, its main business system was struggling to give the company the flexibility it needed; it was much better suited to a bigger, more bureaucratic enterprise than an agile business like Second Cup. “Reports and inquiries were labor intensive to produce, and ongoing support costs were high,” recalled Robert Masson, Chief Financial Officer for Second Cup.
The firm identified the need for a system that would give the business the flexibility needed to keep up with an ever-changing, fast-growing operation, an integrated solution that could provide accessible reports and cost-effective customer insights. By integrating Sage CRM with Sage 300, Second Cup has a customer tracking system aligned with a complete suite of financial management modules. With a sleek, fully web-enabled solution that's easy to use, the business is better able to track its assets and monitor advertising and loyalty programs across its franchises. “Within just a few months we had a new, fully web-enabled and seamless system that matches both our needs and our corporate culture,” said Masson. “We have been extremely pleased with the results.”
Robust, easy-to-use reporting delivers business critical information when and where it is needed. Exporting reports is quick and easy, offering wide access to data throughout the organization. And because Sage stores all information in one easily accessible place, less time is spent on administrative tasks, increasing productivity.
The integrated solution is accessible to franchisees through a central portal where they can input their sales and view their open royalty invoices. “We can capture the sales figures they enter and create an invoice automatically,” explained Mason. “This will save us hours of data entry each month.” The system also manages royalties and advertising for its franchise locations and tracks new applications for franchise operations. “We continue to expand our use of the software and are finding new ways of putting it to work for us,” he said.