Miel Bakery started 4 years ago in London making sure that the ingredients and the teams are at the top of the field. In this article, the owner shares his experience and brief but powerful key points outstanding from other competitors regarding the good smell of fresh bread.

Why and how did you start your business?

We launched it together with my wife 4 years ago. She has a high level of baking, she went on a baking course with high-level people in France. So she wanted to open a French bakery in London where she also taught baking workshops.

We didn’t know much about launching a bakery, so I had to research a lot over there even looking for the right point of sales system.

What makes your business stand out from the other bakeries?

The special ingredient is actually that we use special ingredients. Our product is very high quality for a few reasons. Number 1, we have really the best ingredients; we purchase them from France and Italy for very high prices. It’s not like someone says everyone uses bad ingredients but actually no, we don’t buy the ingredients from the supermarket. We use very special sources. The second thing is the technique. We have very professional, experienced bakers who know what they’re doing and have done this for 5, 10 years in France. The third point is that we use very good equipment. Our product is very strong, making us stand out from others.

What is the philosophy behind your business?

There are multiple philosophies that are considered. The two important ones are, number one: the customer goes first. So there is a customer obsession philosophy. But it doesn’t mean that the customer is always right, but it means we need to work backward understanding what the customer wants, to see what can we do to fulfill that customer needs. That involves listening to the customers. To listen to the customer means the people who are baking who are not really close to customers compared to the sellers or baristas, they need to talk to each other and there is where the second philosophy comes from, to be kind to each other. The employees in our company work with each other very well, which helps to communicate information among the team members. This is how the information flows from the customers to the people who are baking and then changes the product based on what the customer wants.

Where did you find Loyverse POS?

I just Google it. I started a business, and I spent a lot, so I was looking for a point of sale that would be cheap, and it can do the things that I need. So I didn’t need staff management or inventory management. I need such basic things as someone on an iPad who can tap on some items and gives simple reports. So when I researched, I found Loyverse, I saw the testimonials and made a few tests. And the best thing is freemium, is not forcing me to buy because the add-ons are optional. Ultimately, I end up buying one of the features of the Employee Management

What features help you the most?

Reporting. The blue app with the lives sales, the Dashboard, is very important. When I’m up there in the shop I can see what is going on, so it is very busy, I can go there and help them. The secondary is the Back Office reporting is important as well. It shows me all the sales, I can export all the receipts and import them to Excel, play around with it and figure out which products are doing well and from what time.

Would you like to share some advice for those who will start a business too?

Make sure that you have two things very well. One is a good product, second is good business sense. The combination of both is very important. There are a lot of artists who have a very good product, but they might not have a very good business sense. For those people, I would say to try to read a lot, learning a lot about the businesses that are succeeded that are failed. To do a few business courses, meet some people and ask them questions. The people who have good business sense but not a good product, it’s even harder. For example, MBA, or bankers who have a lot of experience but have never run a coffee shop. So they have to become experts themselves, not only hiring the employees to do it for them but also being able to do it by themselves.

Thank you so much!