Hello,
Just a reminder that if you haven't done so already, make sure you update your Christmas Eve hours in the Boss. This will automatically update your online store so customers can't choose a pickup time when you are closed.
Also...Don't forget to change it back after Christmas Eve. Maybe set a reminder :)
Thanks,
Bret & Colleen
Hello,
I was asked recently if it was possible to create a 2 FOR PROMO with quarts. The answer is absolutely. Here's a quick video of how to create your own online promo. Remember to promote it on your social media sites.
As always, if you have any questions don't hesitate to reach out.
Bret & Colleen
Hello,
That didn't take long. It appears NCR has resolved their issues. Your online store is back online.
Bret
Hello,
It appears NCR is having some issues. Back Office is down and their API is currently down. Which means Online Orders cannot be pushed to your POS. I've taken all online stores down until NCR is back online.
Bret
Hello,
As many of you know, we are doing a Fall Cake and Pie promo starting November 11th. $3 off a cake and $1 off a pie.
With that in mind, you may want to link the Fall / Thanksgiving themed pies and cakes as those are the images on the promo.
The video below will walk you through how to link the "Thanksgiving Pie" and the "Fall Cake".
If you'd like us to link your cake and pie for you, please email Heather directly at heather@brustersonline.com.
Thanks,
Bret & Colleen
Hello,
I wanted to take a minute and let everyone know about a new feature that is available if interested.
If you are currently using Telegram to acknowledge online orders, you can now receive an automated phone call to the store if an order is not acknowledged.
None of us want to miss online orders and this is one more fail safe to make sure all orders have been acknowledged.
In order to setup this service, login to Advanced Settings and scroll to the Online Contacts section. Right below that, you'll see a "Phone Call Follow-Up" section. Simply check the check box and click on the Save button. You can also change the number of unacknowledged messages before the phone call is placed.
The phone number that will call the store is a Kissimmee, FL phone number. Just so you don't think it's a SPAM call.
As always, reach out with any questions.
Bret & Colleen
Did that headline get your attention?
We've been fielding the request to make Favorite Flavor mobile for many years. Well...It's finally here. Sort of.
Many stores have become comfortable using the On/Off toggle of store flavors in mobile Boss. Whether it be for your online menu or your online store. We can now leverage that feature to send your Favorite Flavor texts and/or emails.
Here's how it works. At 3:00 PM, The system will check for any flavors that have been TOGGLED ON that day. It will then automatically send your emails/texts to your subscribers for those flavors. It's that simple.
Please let me know if you are interested in using this new method to send your Favorite Flavor emails and/or texts. This is not the default setting and needs to be "turned on" in the database.
Thank you,
Bret & Colleen
Hello,
I wanted to make everyone aware of a new security feature with online orders PROCESSED BY SQUARE. For 99% of potential fraudulent transactions, Square will automatically decline the payment. However, sometimes Square does accept the payment but flags the transaction as "HIGH RISK". Unfortunately, this flag doesn't happen until AFTER PAYMENT has been received. Effective immediately, our online ordering platform will be issuing refunds immediately after a payment has been flagged as HIGH RISK and notifying the customer that an alternative payment method is required.
Here is Square's statement about HIGH RISK transactions.
What does this mean to you? Probably not much. As of March 2020, we've had 36,569 online orders processed by Square. Only 70 have been identified as HIGH RISK.
If a transaction is refunded you will receive an email from Square that a transaction has been refunded. However, you won't be aware of the transaction as it was never processed as a paid order.
As always, reach out with any questions.
Bret & Colleen
Hello,
Colleen and I have been fielding some questions regarding selling Apple Dumplings online. I wanted to take a minute and address some of those questions:
1. Do you heat the apple dumplings when ordered online? - No. We put the ice cream in a small dish and put the cinnamon sauce on top of the dumpling. We also put the following label on the apple dumpling container.
2. How do I link my apple dumplings online? - Watch video here
3. How do I get the Apple Dumpling to appear at the top of my online store? Simply right click on the product image in Advanced Settings and click "OK". Watch Video Here
As of right now, only 25 stores have Apple Dumplings linked. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you need help linking additional items.
Bret & Colleen
Hello,
As we transition into the shoulder season, I want to highlight a fundraising opportunity that you may not be aware of. If you're reading this, you offer online ordering. So...why not give your customers the ability to raise money using our Online Ordering platform? It's super convenient for the organization and you don't have to do a thing. Except take orders like you otherwise normally would.
Here's how it works.
1. Make sure you enable online ordering as a fundraising option in advanced settings. Click on store options...check fundraising online...save your options.
2. When an online fundraising request comes in, we'll take it from there. We'll reach out to the organization and help setup their link. Whenever customers purchase from the fundraising link, a percent of the sale will go back to the organization.
3. All you have to do is cut the check when the fundraiser is over!
Hello,
We've released several updates to the Boss. Please watch the video below for details.
Have a great day,
Bret & Colleen
Hello,
Based on some feedback I've received from customers and store owners, I've decided to disable the INITIAL flavor popup when visiting online sites. The initial flavor pop-up was designed to create the same experience that customers have when visiting our store. However, it appears that the initial flavor pop-up was confusing some customers. I've decided to disable it as it doesn't really serve a purpose.
There are some other Boss related updates as well. When you access your online reports in Advanced Settings, you can now click on the order number and see a detailed receipt.
You can also change your Boss password if you like. Simply login with your main account and click on the "Change Password" link.
Hello,
Recently I was asked to do an analysis on some of the metrics associated with online ordering. I wanted to highlight one of the most interesting findings. "Extras" are 100% incremental. Either a customer purchases Extras or they don't. And while we all hope our scoopers are disciplined enough to ask the customer if they want extras, they simply can't compete with the simplicity of the online model.
Take a look at the findings below. From March 1st thru July 25th, only .63% of all in-store orders included extras. Compare that to 2.83% of all online orders. A difference of 2.20%. That's significant.
Hello,
We were asked recently if it was possible to create an EVENT webpage where a store could sell a CUSTOM menu for outside events. Essentially, they wanted the ability to take pre-orders online.
The answer is YES! The video below walks you through the process to create your own Online Event storefront.
The process goes something like this.
1. Create a Google Calendar that will be your Event Calendar. Your online event storefront will pull data from this calendar.
2. Link your Event Calendar in Boss.
3. Once your Event Calendar is linked, setup a default event menu. You can create specific event menu's later. But you should create a default menu in case you forget to setup event specific menus.
4. Promote your online event storefront to take pre-orders.
Watch Instructional Video Here
As always, reach out with any questions.
Bret & Colleen
Hello,
I wanted to share a demonstration video of how you can create your own promo offers online. For example, let's say you wanted to create a 2 half gallons for $20 promo. Or a 2 quarts for $16 promo. Whatever you want to promo, you can create your own promo offers.
With the July 4th weekend approaching, this could be a great way to introduce your online storefront!
Once the promo has been created. Promote it on all your social media channels!
Make sure to include the discount code in your social media posts. The customers need to know what they should enter in the discount code field to receive the discount.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out.
Thanks,
Bret & Colleen
Hello,
I wanted to take a minute and highlight two new features that may be beneficial for your store.
UNPAID ORDERS
The majority of online customer complaints are the result of unpaid orders. The customer, for whatever reason, doesn't pay for the order and thinks they have. They show up at the store expecting their order to be ready but, because payment hasn't been made, the store doesn't receive any notification of the order. There is now a way for you to search for "Unpaid Orders" in case this situation does arise. Watch the video below to see how you can search for Unpaid Orders.
FLAVOR AUTO TOGGLE
If you are currently on Silver Pro or using Detailed Ringing, you can now choose to automatically toggle your POS flavors ON when you send Favorite Flavor emails/text. Watch the video below to see how you configure this in Advanced Settings.
JUNE CAKE RESULTS
Our online ordering platform has definitely scratched an itch for our customer base when it comes to purchasing cakes and/or pies. Did you know that over 60% of all cake and pie orders happen outside of store open hours?
To give you a better understanding of how effective the online ordering platform is for cakes/pies, here's a chart to show you cake and pie sales for OLO Stores vs Non OLO Stores for the month of June.
As always, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out.
Bret & Colleen
Hello,
As some of you have noticed, we often times receive cake orders with the message "Happy Father" or "Happy Mother". I originally thought the issue was related to auto correct. But that doesn't appear to be what's happening. It turns out that some browsers treat the apostrophe different than other browsers and the text was being truncated at the apostrophe. I've updated the script to handle all browsers so this shouldn't be an issue going forward.
But...If you've received any cake orders where the message seems to be truncated, please reach out to the customer to verify what message they wanted on the cake.
Thanks,
Bret
Hello,
A reminder...If you are still using the "New Chat" app on your Amazon Fire tablet, you will need to remove that app and install the Telegram App. A demo of how that is done, can be viewed below.
Two exciting new updates were made to the Boss recently that I wanted to highlight.
1. If you are using detailed ringing for NCR Silver Essentials or you are on NCR Silver Pro, you can now toggle your flavors on/off in Mobile Boss and it will update in your POS as well. Watch the video below for a demo.
2. You can now publish content directly to Instagram from the Boss! Facebook (Instagram is owed by Facebook) has FINALLY allowed developers the ability to post content to Instagram from their API. Please watch the video below to see a demo of how it's done.
You can post to Instagram via the Boss from both a mobile device or your desktop computer. If you're on a desktop computer, simply click on "Mobile Version" from the dashboard. That will take you directly to "Mobile Boss" where you can go to Social...Instagram Library.
Another important caveat is that you can only post to INSTAGRAM BUSINESS ACCOUNTS. See below for instructions on how to convert your Instagram account to a business account if it isn't already converted.
If you don't see your INSTAGRAM BUSINESS ACCOUNTS listed, please click the Facebook Login button again as new permissions are required.
As always, reach out with any questions.
Bret & Colleen Wagner
It appears the API is back up and running again. You should have received the orders now.
Sorry for the confusion.
Bret
Hello,
Currently the NCR API is down and as a result orders aren't being pushed to stores. I will use this as a means to communicate paid orders until the API is back up. Please click on your store number to see the order detail.
Hello,
If you're having problems with your New Chat app, please watch the video below to see how to resolve your issue.
In short, we need to uninstall the New Chat app and install the native Telegram app. For whatever reason, the native Telegram app isn't in the Google app store.
The video above will show you how to uninstall the New Chat app and Install the native Telegram app as well as configure your Telegram settings.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Heather Wagner at heather@brustersonline.com
Thanks,
Bret & Colleen
Hello,
We received 4 text messages or emails yesterday from store's alerting us to the strange popup notification they received on their New Chat app. We are investigating the issue. It appears that the developer of the New Chat app may have violated some terms and conditions of the Telegram API service.
In the meantime, please add additional cell phone numbers and/or email addresses in advanced settings so you don't miss any online orders.
We will keep you posted on any updates of the app.
Thank you,
Bret & Colleen
Hello,
I wanted to bring to your attention a new fix that has been put in place to capture the 1/4 sheet cake upcharge when a customer selects "All Ice Cream" as their cake.
Previously, there was no way to capture the increased upcharge amount for a 1/4 sheet cake when a customer wanted all ice cream.
Now there is.
Please watch the video below to see how this is configured.
Thanks,
Bret & Colleen
Hello,
Effective Saturday, May 22nd the customer will see a new square payment form. The new square payment form provides order details that the previous form didn't.
You can watch the video below to see the new payment form.
Hello,
I wanted to highlight a great way to promote our brand and promote your online site at the same time. Did you know that all Facebook posts made from the Boss include your store link in them? Yep. Right at the top for all your Facebook followers to click.
Have you seen the great new "We Are Brusters" promo videos? They're fantastic. You can now post directly to your Facebook page and include those videos from the Boss. Check out the demo video below.
Have a great week!
Bret & Colleen
Hello,
If you sell ready made cakes online, please check your inventory. Now that we are inside the 48 hour window for custom cakes, ready made cakes will be the only option for customers who want a cake for Mother's Day.
Also...Remember you can add ready made cakes in Advanced Settings.
Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers reading this!
Bret
Hello,
UPDATING ONLINE PRICING
I wanted to bring to your attention an upgrade we made in Advanced Settings. Updating your online store pricing is much more easy and efficient. You no longer have to click the "Modify" link beside each item. Here's a video demonstrating the new process.
If you change your pricing in Back Office, it will not automatically hit your online store. You need to update pricing in Advanced Settings.
If you have a digital menu board, your menu pricing should update automatically the next day as those prices are specifically tied to your Back Office pricing.
CAKE MESSAGES
We've received some inquiries about some Cake messages being truncated with "Happy Mother". I'm assuming that auto correct is somehow changing their message to something other than what they intended. Please reach out to the customer if you see a "strange" message as Auto Correct could be at play here.
Thanks,
Bret & Colleen
Hello,
READY MADE CAKES
Just a reminder that when you sell a Ready Made cake online, it decreases your inventory by a count of 1. I did a quick query a noticed that some stores haven't been updating their inventory count. With Mother's Day approaching, make sure your inventory is accurate.
FUTURE ORDERS
Some stores have inquired about allowing future orders (CUSTOM CAKES, ETC...) to hit their NCR Sales Summary on the day of purchase rather than the day of pickup. There is a brand new setting in Advanced Settings that will allow you to toggle that feature on. Watch video below for a demonstrations.
ONLINE FUNDRAISERS
Several stores have inquired about the ability to do a fundraiser online. That is absolutely possible. You can do it with just your store or you can partner with other local stores who are selling online. Here are a couple of current fundraisers to peak your curiosity.
Hello,
For those few stores who are using PayPal as your payment processor...We just received notice from them that their payment notifications are being queued. And, as a result, notifications to the online ordering server are also being delayed. What does this mean to you? Please check your PayPal account for any online orders that have been paid that haven't come through to the register.
The orders will eventually come through.
This notice also serves as a reminder, that we highly recommend switching over to Square if you are currently using PayPal.
Thanks,
Bret
Hello,
For those stores participating in the upcoming $3 off cakes and $1 off pies promo (only those stores who registered prior to April 5th), you should have received the "Spring2021" in your Back Office. If you look, you'll notice the Prompted Amount is 0. This is intentional as all Online Discounts must be a prompted amount of 0 in Back Office. When I push the order to your store, I'll replace 0 with either 3 or 1 depending on the item purchased.
DO NOT CHANGE THIS VALUE IN BACK OFFICE.
Hello,
Hopefully everyone is getting comfortable with the online ordering flow and is promoting the program accordingly. Remember...The more "touch points" you can create the more orders you will receive. Yes, you have links to your online store in Google and on your store web page. But Facebook posts, Favorite Flavor emails & texts and Instagram posts are just as productive.
BRUSTERSONLINE.COM
I made some changes over the weekend with respect to our url's. You should no longer see the "azurewebsites.net" name in our url's. A more brand acceptable url will show. "BrustersOnline.com". This will apply to our online menu's as well.
MOTHER'S DAY PROMO
You should have received an inquiry from the Marketing department about opting in to our Mothers Day Cake & Pie promo. Not only is this a great way to sell more cakes and pies, but it's also a great way to introduce your online store to your loyalty database as well as other social media platforms. I highly encourage you to opt in to this promotion
PROMO CODES
I have been fielding some questions relating to using promo codes to build Online Sales and/or general awareness of the Online Ordering platform. Once you create a promo code, you can then promote it on your social media accounts or even create some print advertising to hand out at the window. The image below is an example of what we're handing out at our store after creating a bounceback promo code.
Click Here To See How To Create a Promo Code
Thanks,
Bret & Colleen
Hello,
Happy Easter! I hope everyone can find time today to spend with family and/or friends.
The New York Cheesecake Sundae has been added as an online item. Feel free to go into Advanced Settings and link your "NY Cheesecake Sundae" menu item to the New York Cheesecake Online Item. Remember to set your tax rate and verify your online price. You will need to click on the "Refresh" button to see your newly linked NY Cheesecake Item.
If you'd like to make the item a "promotional" item by moving it to the top of your menu, just right click on the image in advanced settings.
IMPORTANT!
This product will not prompt the customer for a flavor. NEW YORK CHEESECAKE IS INFERRED. SO IS STRAWBERRY TOPPING. The first popup window the customer will see is the Extras window. So make sure you configure your extras as shown below.
IF YOU DON'T PLAN ON HAVING NEW YORK CHEESECAKE ALL THE TIME DO NOT LINK THIS PRODUCT!
Thanks,
Bret & Colleen
Hello,
Just wanted to send a friendly reminder that your online store hours are driven by your hours in Boss. If you will have modified hours on Easter, please update ASAP to prevent any future orders from being selected for pickup on a time you may be closed.
Thanks,
Bret & Colleen
New Reconciliation Reports
If you haven't found them already, there are two new reconciliation reports in Advanced Settings to help you reconcile both your Payment Processor reports as well as your NCR Store Summary reports. It's important to note that the date selectors at the top of Online Reporting will update all reports. So if you're looking for total monthly data, change the date selectors at the top of the reporting section and "Refresh".
Bunny Cakes
"Custom Bunny Cakes" have been added as an item to link in Advanced Settings. If you are interested in selling Bunny Cakes online, simply link the Custom Bunny Cake item to your "Custom Bunny Cake" item in the drop down list. Be sure to set your price and your tax rate after linking the item. You may need to "Refresh" your item list to see a newly linked product.
Tipping Summary
When you visit the "Online Orders" tab you can now get a daily summary report of tips simply by clicking on the date link. See video here.
Amazon Fire Update
As much as I'd like to say we've found a resolution to the Amazon Fire dropping connection, we haven't. It appears to be a known bug with these tablets. If you're having problems with your Fire, we highly recommend you download the Telegram Messenger app on an Ipad or another device. The notifications will come through automatically if you login to the Telegram app with the same phone number you registered on the Amazon Fire.
Here are some recent instructions I sent to a store owner this past week...
The first thing you'll want to do is download the Telegram Messenger app. Image shown below. Once it's downloaded, make sure you login to the app with the same phone number you registered with the Amazon Fire.
After you've logged in to the app, search for [YOUR STORE CHAT GROUP]. Once you've found it click on it and select "Start".
After you have started your chat group, you'll want to make sure the notification settings of the app are enabled. Go to Settings...Notifications and Sounds
Make sure both Message Notifications and Group Notifications are enabled and choose the sound of your liking. Make sure volume of the iPad is up.
You'll also want to make sure your ipad doesn't go to sleep as you won't receive notifications if it goes to sleep. Here's how you keep the iPad from going to sleep.
To keep your iPad from going to sleep, update the Auto-lock setting. To do this, go to your iPad Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock. Set Auto-Lock to "Never". This will keep your screen awake, but still respect your screen dimming settings.
Sales Update for week ending 3/28/21
Cakes represented 26.73% of all online sales. Promote your cakes on Facebook and Instagram with a link to your store.
Avg Ticket was 18.06 online for all stores.
Extras represented closed to 2.79% of total online sales. Compared to .95% in store. Computers upsell better than scoopers.
Online sales represented over 2% of sales for stores who are live. First time we went above 2%!
As always, reach out with any questions or comments.
Thanks,
Bret & Colleen
Hello,
We have some updates and some general questions answered below:
1. QR Code on receipt - We've had some stores ask about adding a QR Code to the bottom of their receipt. This is an excellent way to provide the customer with another way to access either your online store or your online menu. This can be done in Back Office. Login and select "Settings...Store Information". Click on "Include QR Code" and add your Website Url. Don't forget to hit "Save".
3. Telegram App - The notification you receive on your Fire tablet is from the app called "Telegram". This app can be loaded on any device. If you have other devices that you want to add the notification to, feel free to download the Telegram app on that as well.
4. Processing Online Gift Cards. - Some stores have reached out regarding how to process online gift cards. Here is a link to a YouTube video we created that outlines the process.
5. March 14th is "Pi Day". Maybe promote your online store on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and mention an Ice Cream Pie would be a great way to celebrate "Pi Day". Also...A "Pi Day" post is available to clone on the social media calendar. Nothing drives traffic to your online store quite like a Facebook post.
In the famous words of Matthew Graham, "Have a scooptastic day".
Bret & Colleen
Hello,
Some updates regarding the platform:
1. In addition to Apple Pay, we have integrated Google Pay into the Square payment form. Nothing needs to be done on your end. All payments, regardless of type, will appear in your Square account.
2. Banana Splits have a new flow. Instead of assuming the default configuration, we are now giving the customer the ability to "build" their banana split. It defaults to the standard configuration.
3. Ready Made Cakes - You can now build your Ready Made Cakes in Advanced Settings. If you would like to add a Ready Made cake to your inventory that isn't currently available, simply login to Advanced Settings and find the section show below. Choose you Flavor, Filling, and Cake/Crust type and click on "Add".
As always, reach out with questions or concerns.
Bret & Colleen
Good morning,
If you're new to online ordering, we occasionally send updates to the platform via this blog. Please see the latest updates below:
1. New Reporting - When you login to the BOSS desktop version, you will see the new heading "Online Store Summary Reports". The first is your current product configuration. The second is your weekly sales summary.
The sales summary report has a ton of useful information. You should be receiving a pdf version of it every Monday morning via email. But...if you want to reference it more than weekly, simply click on the link on your Boss dashboard.
5. Emails - We have been having some problems with our emails being delivered. Please make sure you add bret@brustersonline.com, colleen@brustersonline.com, and heather@brustersonline.com to your list of contacts to avoid our emails going directly to SPAM.
Thank you,
Bret & Colleen Wagner
Hello,
I did a quick query and noticed some of you have "closed" your online stores. No doubt due to the inclement weather. You don't want to do that. Just mark Monday as closed in Advanced Settings. Customers will still be able to place future orders but won't be able to place orders for pickup today.
You don't want to prevent cake orders. Heck...a snow storm is the perfect time to order a cake:)
Thanks,
Bret
Hello,
With Valentines Day approaching, I wanted to highlight a new menu item that was recently added to the online store. The Valentines Day Mini Cake. This item should also be available in your dropdown list to link in Advanced Settings. Simply look for "Mini Custom Valentines Cake".
Here's a link to purchase the pans.
https://www.amazon.com/X-Haibei-Flexible-Silicone-Sandwiches-Hamburgers/dp/B00SCROCUM
Hello,
With Valentines Day approaching, I wanted to highlight some new OLO menu items you can setup in Advanced Settings.
The Strawberry Chocolate Cake Sundae (New LTO), Custom Ice Cream Pie, and Valentines Day Pie have all been added. You should have those menu items available to select in Advanced Settings if you want to link any of those products.
The Custom Ice Cream Pie was added because we didn't have a "Non Themed" pie to choose from.
The Valentines Day Pie is also available. Please reach out if you aren't sure how to prepare the Valentines Day Pie.
As always, don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
Bret & Colleen
