How a Cafe in Colchester gains insights into customer behaviour with Merlin Cloud

Mission Café, a cozy and vibrant spot located on the Colchester student campus, has long prided itself on offering an exceptional experience to its customers. However, as the café's popularity grew, it became increasingly difficult to manage the influx of foot traffic, especially during peak hours. With no clear understanding of customer behaviour or flow, the café struggled with long wait times, inefficient table turnover, and inconsistent staff allocation, all of which impacted customer satisfaction.

Challenge

Mission Café faced several operational challenges as their foot traffic increased. Long queues during busy periods led to customer frustration, while staff allocation was often inefficient, with too many employees working during quiet hours and not enough during peak times. Additionally, table turnover was slow, particularly in areas of the café that were less popular, further contributing to the delays.

To tackle these issues, Mission Café needed a clearer understanding of their customer patterns. They sought insights into how long customers stayed, which areas of the café were most frequently occupied, and how to allocate staff more effectively based on real-time data.

Objectives

Mission Café aimed to leverage Merlin Cloud’s occupancy tracking technology to better manage customer flow and optimise operations. Specifically, they wanted to:

Solution

To meet these objectives, Merlin Cloud installed a wide-angle camera near Mission Café’s entrance. This camera was integrated with Merlin Cloud’s occupancy tracking system, providing real-time data on customer entry and exit, overall occupancy levels, and table turnover rates. Through a dashboard, the café’s management could monitor occupancy levels, the duration of customer stays, and peak traffic times, allowing them to make data-driven decisions throughout the day.

The camera system also helped track how quickly tables turned over, particularly identifying which seating areas were more popular and faster to fill up. This allowed the café to optimise their seating arrangements to meet customer preferences and improve table turnover.

Insights

After a month of tracking, Merlin Cloud’s system revealed valuable insights for Mission Café:

• Peak Occupancy: The café’s busiest hours occurred between 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM during lunch and 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM when customers stopped for afternoon coffee.

• Table Turnover Rates: Tables near the café’s large front windows turned over 40% faster than those in the back suggesting a preference for seating with natural light.

• Staffing Needs: The system identified that weekend afternoons were much busier than expected, requiring more staff coverage during this time.

• Off-Peak Hours: The café experienced significant drops in traffic between 2:30 PM and 3:30 PM, giving them an opportunity to introduce targeted promotions during this downtime.

Results

With the insights provided by Merlin Cloud, Mission Café was able to make several impactful changes to their operations. By adjusting staffing levels based on real-time occupancy data, they reduced customer wait times by 20% during peak hours. This helped improve customer satisfaction and created a more streamlined experience during busy periods.

Mission Café also increased their off-peak occupancy by 15% after introducing a successful happy hour promotion between 2:30 PM and 3:30 PM. This not only drove higher footfall during quieter periods but also helped maintain steady customer flow throughout the day.

The café further improved table turnover by 40% for the popular seating areas near the windows. By strategically optimising seating arrangements to accommodate customer preferences, Mission Café was able to serve more customers efficiently, leading to better table utilisation.

Conclusion

Merlin Cloud’s occupancy tracking system provided Mission Café with unprecedented insights into customer behaviour and traffic patterns. With these actionable insights, the café was able to optimise its operations, significantly improving both customer flow and staff allocation. The ability to monitor real-time data allowed Mission Café to reduce wait times, improve table turnover, and introduce targeted promotions during off-peak hours.

By leveraging these insights, Mission Café not only improved its overall customer experience but also increased profitability. Merlin Cloud’s data-driven approach empowered Mission Café to make smarter business decisions that positively impacted both daily operations and customer satisfaction.