CuppaPug
Location: London, Manchester and California
Restaurant type: Café
Cuisine: Cakes and toasties
Years open: 2
The start: The CuppaPug story starts seven years ago, with a very shy pug called Gaston. Aaron Carty and Matthew Pieterse wanted to take their new rescue dog to a pug café to help him socialise, but none existed. Four years later – and with several more pugs in tow – the couple spotted a space for rent near their home in London. “So we literally went to the landlord and said we’ve got no money at all, but we’ve got this idea for a pug café and he absolutely loved it,” remembers Carty.
Opening a café where they lived gave them an immediate advantage. They knew that their local area had lots of apartments filled with people who loved dogs but didn’t have one of their own. “We saw the opportunity to fill that gap,” he says, and they opened their first café in May 2022. While they didn’t have much money when they started out, they understood the importance of social media. Pictures and videos of customers playing with pugs in the café were shared widely and “we found that people were coming from all over the world to visit us,” says Carty.
The challenge: At CuppaPug, it’s all about giving customers unique and joyful experience. While the pugs provide plenty of joy, implementing the experience proved challenging for Carty and Pieterse. First of all, a simple off-the-shelf booking system wouldn’t work for their business. A more complex booking system was required to accommodate overlapping one-hour reservations. Once they had their booking system in place, then they had to find software that could integrate with it. “Square was literally the only solution,” says Carty, “we spent so much time and money trying to figure out other solutions. But Square was the only one that fit”.
The pugs themselves present the next challenge. “Our customers are only with us for 60 minutes and they are vastly distracted by the dogs for that time.” It’s a race against the clock to facilitate food and drink orders. “We’ve got to be really quick in getting in there, being able to get them to place orders and get that through to the bar to make and serve really quickly,” says Carty. The portable Square Terminal helps staff to take orders wherever customers are, so they don’t have to waste time queuing at the bar. They can even take payments on their phones. “I can be talking to someone as they're about to leave and then they look at that tote bag and say I’ll buy that. I can just take out my phone and take the payment there and then,” he says.
The present: “The business has expanded in more ways than I could have ever imagined,” says Carty. Having discovered a huge demand for their offering, they’ve opened cafés in Manchester and Escondido, California this year. They’re also developing their online presence and merchandise. Using Square for Retail, they can see exactly which products and sizes are selling, and continually optimise their range.
The insight: Carty says that the piece of advice he always comes back to is, “No matter how good or bad your business is doing, always make that time to step back and look at it through another pair of eyes”. He recognises how easy it can be to get caught up in the day-to-day grind, but he stresses the importance of gaining perspective so you can see how you need to adapt.
Square products used: Square Terminal, Square Register, Square Point of Sale, Square Advanced Access, Square Online Store, Square Invoices, Square Gift Card
