CUPP is a popular bubble tea franchise, known throughout the UK for its extensive range of delicious flavours, high-quality ingredients, and customisable menu options — like varying sweetness levels, milk types, and innovative toppings. 🤤
The first CUPP launched in Bristol in 2012 from the back of a converted van. Within a year, business was booming, and CUPP opened its first location in Bristol. Today, the franchise has thirty-five venues across the UK — with a few more in the pipeline.
But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. Even with fast growth, the business faced challenges on its path to success.
THE CHALLENGE
One of the key hurdles CUPP faced? A fragmented tech stack.
The management team used multiple systems (as well as spreadsheets) to manage their inventory, scheduling, and sales. The systems didn’t integrate, meaning that a huge amount of time was spent flicking back and forth between different platforms.
And because the systems didn’t talk to each other, it was close to impossible to get an accurate picture of performance.
“Before Nory, we were using Google Sheets, an old ePOS system called Syrve, and Planday for our scheduling. We had all these different systems that didn’t talk to each other. It simply wasn’t sustainable as we grew.”
Paul Tanner, Managing Director at CUPP
The team also had little insight into the amount of food waste produced from different store locations. There was no way to perform regular and accurate stock takes, meaning they couldn’t identify:
- How much food was wasted at an individual site or central production unit (CPU) level.
- How to minimise food waste at a CPU and franchise level.
- How to optimise inventory management to prevent over-ordering and reduce costs.
But the good news? CUPP used Nory to improve its CPU operations and overcome these challenges.
THE SOLUTION
Nory’s enabled CUPP to centralise all its operations into a single location. 🥳 They can now track sales performance, optimise staff schedules, and manage inventory from the same platform.
Combined with our Vita Mojo POS integration, CUPP can now access all the data they need to make informed decisions about business growth. The seamless integration allows CUPP to handle customer payments, centralise order management, and streamline operations across the entire business.
And with Nory’s insights, CUPP can access real-time data (like daily revenue, staffing schedules, and supply chain operations) to make quick and informed decisions about how to boost the bottom line.
Plus, the integration consolidates all this data in a single location. In just a matter of clicks, users can create key reports and dashboards that display all the necessary information on one screen.
This has massively enhanced productivity from the central production unit (CPU). The CUPP teams are now:
- Making less errors in picking pallets
- More organised. Using Nory to streamline communications track key information rather than using emails and texts
“In the hospitality sector, you need everybody singing from the same hymn sheet. Having a central system like Nory helps us align our process across all our locations, which has been fundamental to our productivity and growth.”
Paul Tanner, Managing Director at CUPP
Having a centralised system also allows CUPP to streamline its franchise operations from a single location. Gone are the days of flicking between systems! They’ve been able to align processes across locations, improve stock management, and give franchisees more control over their own stock.
As a result, the entire franchise operation is more efficient. Both executives and franchisees have more visibility of real-time performance, and can make quick and informed decisions about each location.
“Nory CPU has streamlined how our franchisees and stores order to us and how we get information back to them. If things are out of stock or if we need to update something, it’s quick and easy to do it.”
Paul Tanner, Managing Director at CUPP
Now, let’s talk food waste.
Nory’s inventory management features have given CUPP control of its food waste. In fact, CUPP has reduced its total food waste by 60% (from 3-5% to 0.5-2%) across the business since working with Nory.
How? By monitoring food waste at both a CPU and site level, easily spotting how to make improvements. Whether that’s reducing the amount of ingredients sent to the CPU, or liaising with individual franchises to find out why their waste levels are higher than expected.
What’s next for CUPP?
CUPP has big plans for the future, including opening more franchise locations across the country. And powered by Nory’s insights and AI-powered technology, the business has the foundation it needs to continue expanding successfully.