No matter what type of café you run, attracting customers is key.
From a humble sandwich shop to chain salad bars and quirky coffee shops, once you’ve attracted customers, you must tempt them into coming back again and again. After all, nothing says satisfaction like a loyal customer base. The café industry can be incredibly competitive so working out how to charm people into a return visit is key.
Luckily, there are plenty of ways you can make your café as inviting and welcoming as possible, one of which lies in your commercial café refrigerator and having a great display refrigerator option.
Commercial display fridges help to make a perfect first impression
First impressions really do count; from the second a customer enters your café, it’s important to keep their attention. How you display your product offering can make a huge difference and entice customers into making a purchase.
A quality display cabinet is a great way of showcasing an extensive range of chilled produce and cold drinks. Investing in a high-quality display refrigerator is key; a customer shops with their eyes. Therefore, it’s of the utmost importance that your display refrigerator attractively merchandises products to maximize sales.
Display refrigeration can help to increase the visibility of the food and drink you offer. Customization offered by brands like True helps ensure units match your café décor, so they fit with the style and mood customers expect. Customers can be pretty used to what refrigerators look like, so something different can really capture the attention of potential buyers. A bright pop of color or an eye-catching image can make a display unit stand out in a café setting.
Stocking super fresh produce in glass door fridges helps too
For any café, the goal is to offer a range that is inclusive of your customers’ needs—something hot, something cold, something savory or sweet, even a vegetarian option—without being too overwhelming by offering too many choices. An overly expansive product offering may result in too much waste and cut into your bottom line. Profitable brands offer a targeted selection of customer favorites, with keen monitoring on sales to ensure overstocking is kept to a minimum.
To ensure that the products you stock stays fresh enough for sale, it must be stored at the perfect serving temperature. True’s patented forced-air circulation in its commercial display fridges keeps holding temperatures in the ideal range between 0.5°C and 3.3°C; this keeps merchandise food fresher for a longer period of time, meaning customers are forever tempted to come back thanks to high-quality food.
Another thing to consider is the relentless opening and closing of display fridge doors in a café setting, which means high energy efficiency and optimum holding temperatures are essential to keep produce fresh and tasty and keep energy bills low. To keep up with frequent door opening, refrigeration must be capable of recovering quickly and return to a safe temperature after each open and close, and it must also do this whilst using as little energy as possible because every business wants to save money on its utilities, right? True’s pioneering hydrocarbon refrigeration systems are perfect for operators focused on responsible environmental practices and a need for vigorous systems. True products harness the power of R290, a naturally occurring propane gas, to produce highly energy-efficient and environmentally friendly commercial fridge equipment which doesn’t sacrifice performance. True balances hydrocarbon refrigeration systems with the latest in energy-efficient components and patented technologies through extensive development and testing. This allows products to maintain consistent, accurate, and safe storage temperatures, even in the most demanding foodservice environments.
Placement of commercial fridges is important
As mentioned above, catching a customer’s attention is the first step in enticing someone to look closer and check out the products on offer. Think about where you place products and the best way your refrigeration can draw the eye of potential customers.
Perhaps a customer has had their coffee but could be tempted by a snack for later. What customers have seen can inspire a second purchase, and for this reason, it is important to understand the customer’s wishes after their initial order.
Displaying your products so they’re visible at the entrances and exits is a great way to achieve this, which is why you’ll often find a café’s main purchase and service areas sit at an angle to the main point of entry to improve overall visibility.
To take full advantage, it’s also important to make sure that your display cabinet is never half-empty; instead, you want to offer your customers an abundance of fresh food and bottled drinks. A lonely sandwich can’t compete with a tray of colorful sandwiches and tasty treats. Your display fridge should be uncluttered and well-lit, highlighting the amazing products you have on display. Also, ensure that customers have easy access to your commercial fridges and glass door units, especially in self-serve environments (soft drinks inside bottle coolers, etc.), so that it’s much easier to make a purchase.
Consider your BOH operations too
Serving customers quickly means they’re not left waiting too long and are more likely to return in the future. This is where the importance of an effective back-of-house layout comes into play. Equipment should be easy to access, and staff should have the freedom to retrieve the tools and ingredients they need; this helps ensure speedy service and reduces the risk of accidents.
It is also important to consider what is visible to customers too. The theater of making drinks, coffees and sandwiches can be exciting, but dirty dishes or food waste can put customers off.
Undercounter units help streamline service, so customers are served quickly and efficiently.
Need more tips?
The opportunities to boost sales and profit from your café can always be improved. Small tweaks to how you display your products and the equipment you use to present and prepare it can improve customer perception and keep people coming back for more.
If you’re on the lookout for any more commercial refrigeration tips, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. In the meantime, take a look at True’s vast product offering or check out the café inspiration page for more ideas.
