Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Tests Mobile Payments and Order Ahead: What They Learned

The cafe known as Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf got its start in California back in 1963, built around the premise of making “an extraordinary cup of coffee.” That’s a great way to build a legacy, but any more, it doesn’t always do the job. A lot of places promise that same thing, so other ways to differentiate have to come into play. Thus, the company recently started experimenting with mobile order-ahead options, and what it found out might be a lesson to us all.

With 11 percent of Starbucks orders now coming in from mobile devices, and Dunkin’ Donuts planning 50 new stores built around mobile order-ahead only by 2019, it’s clear that placing orders by remote is going to be a thing, especially in the coffee circles. Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has around 1,200 locations worldwide, and now, 191 of these in Southern California and Arizona have gone live.

It wasn’t the first test, either; the company started testing in just 22 locations before expanding to 191. Technology and culture changes alike came with the move, and these took some getting used to before moderating to a much smoother run. Additionally, the company found the same problems that Starbucks found: a lot more orders coming in that overwhelmed staff who were trying to alternate between serving customers that were in the room and preparing orders for customers who were about to be in the room.

So what the company ultimately discovered seems to be what others discovered as well; mobile order-ahead isn’t an automatic solution, and must be done right in order to succeed. It’s all about the user experience at the end of the day, and businesses are finding out that this tool can be valuable, but may have the potential to be too successful if the people filling the orders can’t keep up. By introducing the order-ahead system gradually, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf could spot the problems in advance and adjust accordingly.

That’s the way to go for most any new venture; a little at a time to work out the bugs. Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf discovered as much, and will likely benefit greatly from mobile payments and mobile order-ahead options.