NEW ORLEANS, U.S. — USA Technologies, Inc. (“USAT”), a premier digital payment, consumer engagement and logistics service provider for the self-service retail market, announced it successfully demonstrated USAT’s end-to-end enterprise software during NAMA’s Coffee, Tea and Water Show (CTW) in New Orleans November 12-14.
CTW is the world’s largest coffee services event and aims to deliver insight into the workplace by showcasing new technologies and industry trends that are impacting business and driving change in U.S. coffee services, which NAMA estimates to be a $4.25 billion industry.
With nearly a million connections to its state-of-the-art ePort Connect payment platform, USA Technologies offers what it believes to be the industry’s first true integrated end-to-end enterprise platform for the unattended retail market, designed not only to increase sales by bringing digital payment options to unattended retail locations including coffee services, but also to decrease operational costs by giving customers the ability to run their businesses in a more efficient and competitive way.
USA Technologies highlighted its Seed Delivery software, which enables OCS operators to replace paper-based invoices with iPads, postage with email, and phone ordering with self-service Web ordering. For operators with both vending and OCS businesses, Seed Delivery is available as an add-on to Seed Office, USA Technologies’ cloud-based vending management system. The “delivery” component eliminates the need for on-premise servers, as well as the need for paper invoicing and statements. Operators can also leverage online ordering using Seed Delivery without the need for costly IT integration.
Several channel partners, including Bunn and Coffea Technologies, featured USA Technologies’ cashless payment solution in their booth during the show. Founded upon five generations of family entrepreneurship, Bunn is headquartered in Springfield, Illinois with support from five additional United States locations, as well as warehouses or offices in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, China, UAE and the United Kingdom.
Coffea Technologies is the inventor and exclusive patent holder of the limitless vacuum extraction brewing method. Manufactured in North America, Coffea designs and distributes commercial brewing equipment for the Hospitality, Restaurant and OCS markets around the world.
“We believe coffee services is a cornerstone of the unattended, self-serve retail industry, and is in a state of increasing innovation,” said Michael Lawlor, Chief Services Officer, USA Technologies. “As we saw at this week’s CTW, coffee services companies are looking for next-generation technologies to streamline processes, cut costs and increase sales. We were excited by the interest we saw in USAT, and it indicates the industry’s continued momentum toward modern, innovative, end-to-end solutions.”
According to the 2017 State of the Office Coffee Industry report by Automatic Merchandiser, the office coffee industry alone represents $5.1 billion in revenues and remains one of the strongest segments in the workplace refreshment industry post-recession, with sales increasing for 68.4% of the operators in 2016.
Last year, USAT completed the acquisition of Cantaloupe Systems, which includes its Seed Office and Seed Pro services, adding logistics, dynamic route scheduling, automated pre-kitting, responsive merchandising, inventory management, warehouse and accounting management to its existing portfolio of cashless payment, loyalty and consumer engagement services. The combined portfolio is designed to provide an enterprise system for self-service unattended retail businesses, including coffee services.
