customer Archives

Rebecca Connors • September 14, 2026

How Cafés Can Profit From the Home-Espresso Boom

More customers can now make a good espresso without leaving home. That sounds like a challenge for cafés, and for routine coffee purchases, it can be. A customer with an espresso machine, grinder, and favorite beans may no longer need to stop at a café every morning just to get a cappuccino. But home espresso

Cafes & Bakeries

Rebecca Connors • September 14, 2026

How Caterers Can Make EventsUpgrades Feel Worth the Extra Cost

Event planners are constantly making trade-offs. Better flowers or a bigger dessert table? A live band or upgraded décor? Premium wine or another hour of photography? For caterers, that creates a familiar challenge: how do you convince people to upgrade when they are already watching every part of the budget? The answer is rarely to

Catering & Events

Rebecca Connors • September 14, 2026

Why Many Cafés Don’t Make It Past the First Five Years & How to Avoid It

Opening a café is exciting. Keeping one open is much harder. U.S. business survival data shows that only around 59% of accommodation and food-service businesses are still operating after five years. In other words, roughly 4 in 10 close within their first five years. And the problem is not necessarily bad coffee. A café can

Rebecca Connors • September 7, 2026

How Pink Dot Turns Every Coffee Into a Little Escape

When you step into Pink Dot, one of Thessaloniki’s most recognizable cafés, you immediately feel like it belongs in a fairy tale. From floral walls and oversized pink hearts to elegant Italian teacups and personalized coffees, every detail has been carefully designed to make guests smile before they even take their first sip. For founder

Customer Stories

Rebecca Connors • September 1, 2026

The New Cocktail Hour Standard: Why Caterers Are Investing in Non-Alcoholic Bars

Not long ago, offering a non-alcoholic option at an event meant placing a pitcher of lemonade on the bar and calling it a day. Today, guest expectations have changed. In a recent 2026 BizBash article, Jill Torke, Director of Sales and Marketing at The Ritz-Carlton, Chicago, said she’s seen growing demand for sophisticated alcohol-free beverage

Catering & Events

Rebecca Connors • August 23, 2026

How Independent Cafés Are Competing with Big Chains

According to Toast’s 2024 Restaurant Trends Report, independent cafés grew 3.2% year over year, even as major chains struggled to maintain the same momentum. At the same time, the National Coffee Association has continued to report strong coffee consumption across the United States, suggesting demand hasn’t disappeared – it’s shifted. For independent cafés, that’s encouraging

Bars & Restaurants Best Practices Cafes & Bakeries Catering & Events

Rebecca Connors • August 23, 2026

Ripples’ Design with AI: Turn Guest Ideas Into Shareable Drink Experiences

The best marketing idea in your venue right now might come from a guest, not your team. With ‘Design with AI’, Ripples’ new feature in the Ripples Web App for customers with the Advanced Design Plan, guests can describe what they want to see on their drink – whether it’s a birthday message, a funny

Bars & Restaurants Cafes & Bakeries Hospitality & Travel

Rebecca Connors • August 19, 2026

Your Regulars Don’t Need Another Discount. They Need Recognition.

Pursuing more loyal customers, café owners launch loyalty apps, print a punch card, offer another “Buy 9, Get the 10th Free” deal. There’s nothing wrong with rewards, but do these tactics create loyal customers, or simply reward people who were already coming back? According to the National Coffee Association‘s 2024 National Coffee Data Trends report,

Cafes & Bakeries カフェ＆ベーカリー

Rebecca Connors • August 18, 2026

Ripples’ Live Scores: Make Your Venue the Place to Watch Every Game

Live sports create some of the most valuable moments for bars, restaurants, hotels, cafés, and hospitality venues. Every goal, touchdown, end of a quarter, or final score is a moment when guests gather together at your venue, order another round, take out their phones, and become part of the atmosphere around them. Ripples Live Scores

Bars & Restaurants Cafes & Bakeries Hospitality & Travel

Rebecca Connors • August 2, 2026

How ‘Intentional Espresso’ Turns Coffee Into an Interactive Brand Experience

The team at Intentional Espresso, a specialty coffee catering company based in the Pacific Northwest, knows that the best events stay with people long after they end. That’s why they designed their coffee bar to create moments that feel personal, intentional, and worth talking about. Owned by Randy Matheny and co-owned by Katie Matheny, Intentional

Customer Stories

Rebecca Connors • July 28, 2026

How Astro Coffee Turns Coffee Into an Event Experience

At a great event, the details guests remember are often the moments that feel personal, unexpected, and worth sharing. For Astro Coffee, a family-owned mobile coffee company based in Golden, Colorado, coffee creates an opportunity to deliver all three. Owned by Lisa Huron and Steven Schillaci, Astro Coffee operates a fleet of coffee carts, trailers,

Customer Stories

Rebecca Connors • July 19, 2026

The Lesson Many Food & Beverage Businesses Learn Too Late

Food and beverage businesses are usually managed through things that can be measured: costs, staffing, inventory, speed of service, menu performance, waste, reviews, and repeat visits. All of that matters. A business cannot survive without strong operations. But customers do not experience a business through its spreadsheet. They remember how the place made them feel.

Bars & Restaurants Best Practices Cafes & Bakeries Catering & Events