Costa Coffee

A Flawless Rollout: Costa Coffee’s UK-Wide POS Upgrade Completed Ahead of Schedule.

Overview

Making coffee part of everyday life, Costa Coffee required a full upgrade of existing hardware and software across its UK sites, covering both equity and franchise locations. WRS was selected to deliver this large-scale rollout, ensuring minimal disruption and maximum efficiency.

The challenge

Costa wanted all new terminals to be implemented over a significantly reduced timeframe and old terminals decommissioned, without any disruption to trading. This required a highly coordinated, large-scale operation to replace the existing Point of Sale (POS) infrastructure across the entire UK network, a task never before attempted on this scale with a zero-downtime mandate.

Our solution

The preliminary rollout, featuring 1,470 installations, was completed four weeks early without disrupting any store trading, making it the industry’s largest in a decade. WRS provided a comprehensive POS solution, including new tills, self-service kiosks, and Kitchen Display Screens (KDS), which improved both customer experience and operational efficiency. The project's success was driven by meticulous planning, seamless logistics, and a highly skilled team of engineers who ensured each store was operational throughout the upgrade process.

Resulting impact

Partnership with WRS led to a seamless nationwide upgrade with zero downtime, which was a critical requirement for a brand of Costa's scale. The new technology allowed for increased speed of service and reduced queues, particularly during peak hours. Introduction of self-service kiosks has been particularly impactful, with the Costa Mapperley store seeing a 10% uplift in sales via the kiosk alone. Enhanced functionality, such as upsell features, has also led to an improved average spend per customer. Internally, the new touchscreen KDS has significantly enhanced staff efficiency by providing a clearer, faster way to manage orders, directly contributing to a better customer experience.

Client Feedback

“It has been a truly successful project and reflects the planning and coordination from all those involved at WRS and Costa, including the engineers in store and the store teams during their busiest period of the year. A job well done by everyone.”

Head of Store Solutions – Costa Coffee

“The kiosk has been amazing for us. Feedback has been really positive and the interface is really easy to use. It’s great for our commuters who can place their orders quicker and then collect their drinks.
“With some of the software functions WRS has added, mainly being an up-sell option for customers to order extra, it drives our average spend which is a great tool for us.
“WRS has been great for us. From the support team, we can call or email and we always get a quick answer. They can dial in if needed. Thankfully we hardly have any issues at all.
“When we added the KDS (Kitchen Display Screens), our staff took to it immediately. The information is clear on there and it makes our operations so much easier. The speed of service has increased from our team as well.”

Harley Clarke – Costa Franchise Partner

How We Helped

Back Office POS Software

Manage stock, pricing, reporting, and more with Stockade: the cloud-based POS software built to simplify your hospitality back office.

POS Data and Analytics

Make smarter decisions with live POS data and reporting. Track sales, staff, and performance across your venues with real-time analytics.

Cash Office Software

A powerful back-office cash control module that helps you count drawers, manage banking, track discrepancies and streamline your daily reconciliation.

Kitchen Display Systems

Replace paper tickets with a real-time kitchen display. Improve order accuracy, reduce prep errors, and streamline kitchen operations with WRS KDS.

Loyalty System

Reward your regulars and boost repeat visits with a fully integrated POS loyalty system that works across tills, kiosks, and mobile orders.

Hospitality Payment Solutions

Fast, secure, and flexible payment solutions that integrate seamlessly with your POS. Choose the provider that works best for your business.

Self-Service Kiosks

Give your customers a faster, easier way to order. Our self-service kiosks are built for busy environments, with smart upselling, flexible layouts, and real-time menu updates.

Stock Control

Track stock in real time, reduce waste, and automate ordering with WRS inventory management – fully integrated with your POS system.

Till Systems

Durable, high-performance till systems with touchscreen control and flexible layouts. Ideal for busy venues that need reliable, integrated POS solutions.

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