La Bottega Italiana

Established in 1965, La Bottega Italiana is a family-run delicatessen and coffee shop in the heart of Watford, Hertfordshire. it stocks a selection of the finest cheeses, wines, antipasti and authentic ingredients sourced from across Italy and Sicily.

Proprieter Vito Ricciardi wanted to get to grips with pricing and stock control, to improve efficiency and control costs. In September 2006 he introduced an Actinic EPOS system comprising of two cash drawers with customer displays, touch screens and barcode scanners to book in stock and back office system with printing for managing the business.
Three years on, he reflects on the benefits he has gained in customer service, efficiency, accuracy and business accounting.

La Bottega Italiana is a long-standing family-run delicatessen and coffee shop in the heart of Watford, Hertfordshire. Established in 1965 it stocks a selection of the finest cheeses, wines, antipasti and authentic ingredients sourced from across Italy and Sicily.

After taking over the business from his parents, Vito Ricciardi wanted to get to grips with pricing and stock control for the business to improve business efficiency and control costs. So in September 2006 he introduced an Actinic EPOS system comprising of two cash drawers with customer displays, touch screens and barcode scanners to book in stock and back office system with printing for managing the business.

Having now had the system in place for nearly three years he reflects on the benefits it has brought to the business.

"We have increased the speed in which we can process transactions and this has helped improve our customer service, particularly if they are just quickly dropping in for a few items. A lot of the produce we sell is perishable so we take frequent deliveries. I can now scan the barcodes as they come in, booking the goods into stock automatically which only takes minutes to accomplish. Doing this manually was very laborious. There are just me and three staff in the deli and it’s important to minimise the time we spend on regular, routine activities."

"The last 12 months have been as difficult as I have seen it and without an EPOS system I am not sure our business would have survived. The constantly fluctuating Euro would have been virtually impossible to manage previously but now I can modify prices across my ranges at the touch of a button. Plus with better stock control I have managed to reduce my inventory which in turn has helped with cash flow."

"EPOS can also help me get my pricing right. In the current economic climate customers do want to try something different and treat themselves, but they also want value for money. If I give too much margin away it’s not worth being in business. But overcharge and people will not buy, or certainly will never return. The EPOS system can help me track sales and margin by product and enables me to devise clever pricing strategies. I always know what is selling and what isn’t, and with slow moving lines I can put them on special offer, thus making sure I am not left with goods I can’t sell. I can also monitor staff and make sure they are correctly pricing goods."

"I have found the touch screens are easy for staff to use and even items like the various breads we sell, which aren’t bar-coded, have all their details on screen which makes selling straightforward."

"Another area in which I have gained huge benefit is with the book keeping which has never been an aspect of the business I have enjoyed. My accountant loves the fact that he can retrieve the required information straight from the system giving him accurate sales information, VAT and stock etc., which allows him to get his job done quicker and saves me money on his time.”