Katsute100: Five Japanese tea rooms connected by Lightspeed
Opened in 2017, Katsute100’s tea rooms are havens in some of the busiest spots in London and Edinburgh. The word Katsute represents nostalgia and moments in time, so each location is meant to offer a chance to take a break and slow down. Sumi Kwak, the Director at Katsute100, imports all the tea herself from Japan, and the offerings at all five locations (as well as the interiors) are unique. But what connects them all is Lightspeed. Find out how Sumi and her team fuse Japanese tradition with our tech below.
Business type:
Café
Products:
Location:
London and Edinburgh
Partnering (and expanding) with Uniqlo
One of Katsute100’s major milestones was opening tea rooms in two Uniqlo shops, one on Princes Street in Edinburgh and another in Covent Garden in London. But that exciting expansion created a challenge for Sumi: the need to centralise the back office.
“The shops inside Uniqlo had a different company name and system so it was difficult for me to follow the stock check and everything for each shop,” she explained. “But with Lightspeed, managers can just log in and see what stock they have.”
Tracking the tea
Running those five tea houses involves importing a lot of tea from Japan – about 100 kgs per month, Sumi says. That stock is stored between two of the shops, and she uses Lightspeed to keep track of it all.
“I can see individually how much stock each shop has and check that everything is matching up,” Sumi said. “And in the summertime, I’m normally not in the UK. So my team can figure it all out themselves.”
“Before we moved to Lightspeed, we used another cloud-based system. And when the internet went out, we just couldn't do anything.”
Sumi Kwak, Director
No internet, no problem
When the Wi-Fi goes down, Lightspeed systems keep functioning in offline mode. That’s a feature that impressed Sumi, especially after using alternative ePOS systems that let her down.
“Before we moved to Lightspeed, we were using another cloud-based system,” she explained. “And when the internet dropped, we just couldn't do anything. We had to wait for the Wi-Fi to reboot, but now we can keep working when the Wi-Fi drops.”
Not only can Sumi and her Katsute100 team keep working, but they can avoid losing out on sales with a more reliable ePOS.
Katsute100 uses Inventory to streamline their operations.
Find out how you can too.
What’s next for Katsute100
“We just want to keep adding more unique colour to the areas we’re in, and work with other local businesses,” Sumi said of her goals for Katsute100. “It’s going to be 10 years since we opened in Angel. So we're going to have a big event together with other shops at the end of next year. It’s going to be quite a big moment for us.”
Lightspeed has been an essential part of Katsute100’s journey, and here’s to 10 more years of matcha, black sesame cake, and wagashi.
