Search the Community

Opening a coffee shop while in medical school might sound overwhelming, but for Cyd Rosal, it was the perfect blend of passion and purpose. Inspired by her love for cafés and her hometown’s rich coffee culture, she transformed her dream into a thriving business that’s now on the path to expansion. With the help of Loyverse POS, she has been able to balance studies and entrepreneurship while keeping her shop running smoothly—even from afar. What kind of business are you running and how did it start? My business is a coffee shop that also serves local delicacies and coffee from our hometown. I started it just last year. Back when I was in college, I loved visiting cafes—I’ve always been a coffee fan. But going to coffee shops can get expensive, so I thought, “Why not make my own?” At home, coffee is actually one of our town’s main products. I would try recipes I found on YouTube, experiment, and innovate based on my taste. That’s how it all started. Right now, my coffee shop is temporarily closed because we’re expanding. The first space was too small, and when students discovered us, it became difficult to accommodate everyone. So, we’re building a larger space to welcome more customers. That’s also how I found Loyverse. I was searching on YouTube for the best POS system for beginners. I tried another local system before, but it didn’t work out. Loyverse, even just the free version, has been perfect for me. It helps me track sales, expenses, and stock in real time—even when I’m away at medical school. What makes your coffee shop unique? In the Philippines, there are so many coffee shops. For me, what makes us different isn’t just the product, but the balance of quality and customer service. I always tell my staff: taste is subjective—some may love our food, others may not. But what we can always guarantee is excellent service. Every customer should feel special. That personal connection adds something extra to the coffee and food we serve. So in short, we balance quality and service. That’s what sets us apart. How has Loyverse helped in managing your business? Honestly, just with the free features, I’m really satisfied. It’s very beginner-friendly and easy to use. I can monitor my business while I’m in school, which is so important since I can’t be there all the time. Even my employees find it simple. I only needed to teach them once, and they got it right away. That makes a huge difference—it saves time and prevents mistakes. What are your long-term plans for the coffee shop? Right now, I see my coffee shop as a trial-and-error ground. I’m still perfecting things—whether it’s the menu, the service, or the overall experience. But yes, I’m planning to expand. Once I feel we’ve perfected it here, I’d love to open more branches and grow the business. What advice would you give to young people who want to start a business? My advice is simple: just do it. If you feel strongly about something, go for it and give it your best. Of course, I also hesitated at first. The biggest challenge was getting my parents’ approval, especially since I was still a student and didn’t have much financially. But once I had their support, I pushed forward—even with no prior business experience. What drove me was my love for the café ambience, the feeling coffee shops create, and the joy of serving good food. That passion was enough to get me started. Follow their Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1A2DfuDbhQ/?mibextid=wwXIfr

In the heart of Lubao Pampanga, Kenitamu Poultry and Agricultural Supply has been a cornerstone of agricultural retail and wholesale for over 25 years. Navigating the challenges of a family-run business with both traditional and modern approaches, the owner decided to integrate a cutting-edge POS system to streamline operations. Discover how Loyverse POS became a pivotal tool in this business's evolution, enhancing inventory management, sales reporting, and overall efficiency while bridging generational gaps in business practices. Can you briefly describe the history of your business? I run a family business called Kenitamu Poultry and Agricultural Supply. The business started 25 years ago. We are currently in the retail and wholesale part of the agricultural department in the Philippines. We help many farmers in our province and sell products to other retailers in our nearby principalities. What are some unique challenges that you faced as a retail business owner? I have a very modern take on business. My parents are very traditional when it comes to business. They like to use pen and paper, which results in many paperwork and filings. I kind of don’t like that aspect of our business. I have decided and asked their permission to use a POS system as a basic for our business to keep our data, analyze it, and use this data for our future references. When did you come across Loyverse, and what made you decide to implement it in your business? A friend referred me to Loyverse. My friend owns pharmacies in the Philippines. They have different branches in the new provinces. He is using your software and recommended it to me. He taught me how to get started and what I needed to know. I think Loyverse is quite helpful. One of the essential features for me is the reports like Sales summary, which helps us understand how the business is going and make informed decisions. Another crucial point for us is inventory management, and Loyverse’s inventory features have been crucial to us. Is Loyverse the first POS system that you have used in your business? No, I have tried various popular POS systems in the Philippines. None of them can beat Loyverse’s versatility when it comes to device handling and the user-friendliness of the software itself. Here in the Philippines, some of the cashiers are old, and some of them are young. The young ones learn faster than the older ones. It is very difficult for us to train them. But when we used the Loyverse POS, almost all of them were able to use the software. What are some of the features that have helped you streamline your business operations? As I mentioned before, inventory management is essential for our business. I have subscribed to Advanced Inventory. We use Purchase orders and Stock Adjustments frequently. I would specify the Transfer Orders as a very useful tool for me in the Advanced Inventory. We have multiple branches, and we need to transfer stock between them. I use Stock Adjustments when I need to do an urgent inventory count or if there is a need to deduct the stock if there are damaged items. The inventory valuation report is one of the best features for me. Have you created separate profiles for your employees in the system? Yes, we have added employees to the system. This helps us manage their access rights and track their performance based on the reports. In terms of reporting and analytics, how valuable is the data you obtain from Loyverse in terms of understanding your business’s performance and making informed decisions? We primarily use Sales Summary to review our purchases. For example when we purchase goods that are not in season, we are forecasting for the season when this item will be sold a lot. Before that item runs out, because here in the Philippines, most of the items are scarce, so we need to decide before the season of that product ends. We manage to buy the items that we will sell in the next two months in bulk to have consistency for our clients. That is possible because of the data we get from Loyverse sales reports. Do you use the Dashboard app as a tool to check your sales analytics? Yes, of course. When I am making some reports for my parents, I usually use the sales summary to inform them how much we are making for that particular month or particular quarter of the year so they can make business decisions on how we can enhance our customer experience, or if we need to upgrade something. How would you describe your experience with Loyverse’s customer support? Have they been responsive and helpful in resolving any issues or answering your queries? Yes, the Loyverse support team is very responsive. They reply in a few minutes and always resolve the issues that we have. Would you like to share any advice or words of wisdom with aspiring entrepreneurs who are looking to start their own retail and wholesale businesses? I suggest finding what you are good at and investing in that ability. Entrepreneurs must be passionate about what they do. Always do something you love, not something you must push yourself to do because you need to.

Boomski Pet Supplies began as a heartfelt endeavor driven by a love for pets and a desire to support a growing family. What started with selling dog tags online soon blossomed into a thriving retail business with three branches across the Philippines. Despite launching just before the pandemic, the founders leveraged challenges into opportunities, innovating with same-day delivery and embracing Loyverse’s POS system to manage their expanding inventory. Their story exemplifies how passion, adaptability, and dedication can turn a personal dream into a successful business venture. Can you briefly describe your business? We started a Pet retail business, not because it is in demand but because we love pets. I have been married for 16 years. One of our struggles as a couple is having a child. We had been going through an arduous journey, and it came to a moment when I wanted to give my wife a gift. I decided to get her a dog. Once we got the dog, all the business opportunities came into place. We started our Pet shop, Boomski Pet Supplies. First, we started the business online selling dog tags. We fabricated and sold them online. Once we came to that opportunity to get a fund, we decided to open a Pet store and retail business. We started in October 2019, right before Covid. Six months after, when the pandemic hit us very badly globally, the pet industry and the pet community became an opportunity for us to rise. We started on a small pet store first. We now have three branches in the Philippines, in Quezon City, next to the capital city. That’s how we started, and now we have 1400 SKUs. When we started, we had only 20 SKUs. Initially, it was a challenge for us because we weren’t familiar with the pet industry. We did a lot of hard work and sacrifices. Our initial goal was to have our own business; I can proudly say we have had that success. But we are aware that there is a long way to go. This is our history. How did COVID-19 affect your business? In the Philippines, on the entrepreneur side, they call us pandemic babies. We strived to sell more during the pandemic. A lot of people used to go around and shop for products for their beloved fur babies. What we did is that we offered them a “same-day delivery concept.” When they reached out via our online platform, we delivered same-day to their address in one to two hours. We also gave an opportunity for our friends who were severely affected by the pandemic to work for us to deliver the products to our customers. They are working with us to this day. Did you start using Loyverse when you opened your shop, or did you implement the system later? No, we did not use the system since the beginning. We started doing anything manually first. I started researching for a POS system when our business grew. I saw many coffee shops using Loyverse here in the Philippines, and I became inquisitive about it to learn how it works and what features it provides. I noticed that the Loyverse system offers the easiest way to monitor our products. When we opened the store and had only 20 SKUs, it was easy to manage them manually, but after the number of products grew, it was necessary to have a system to help us manage all the items. I put my effort into learning the Loyverse system, and now I can say that Loyverse is a partner in our success. Because you offer free use of the system, right? But to unlock additional features that might be useful for the business, there is a subscription, which we have activated because the features included in the add-ons are excellent and needed by us. Which are the features that have been most useful for your business? Advanced Inventory is the feature I appreciate the most and has helped me the most. One of the features that I frequently use is the Purchase orders. We use Transfer Orders to transfer stock between my branches. The Advanced Inventory features suit to our business perfectly. Loyverse is very intuitive and easy to use. I don’t have any issues with making sales and using the POS app. Of course, the Back office reports, where I can see my sales and my profit, are very beneficial for me to understand how the business is going and to make informed decisions. In addition to the Sales Summary, my second favorite report is sales by item, which allows me to identify the fastest-moving items and the slowest-moving items. This information helps me determine which products to purchase next. Have you created your customer base in Loyverse, and do you offer loyalty programs to them? Unfortunately, we have not explored the loyalty program yet. The majority of our customers are repetitive, actually. We have added them to the system. When we issue a receipt, we assign the customer to it so that the customer can see his name on the printed receipt. This is very convenient for us to understand who are returning customers and who are walk-ins. Which online platform do you use for your online sales? We use Meta; we have our Facebook page. Also, there are many e-commerce platforms here in Southeast Asia, like Lazada and Grab. When we make sales online, we enter the sales manually in Loyverse so that these sales are calculated in the reports. We recently learned about the integrations that Loyverse offers, and we plan to explore that more to sync the sales from our online platforms automatically to our Loyverse account. Have you found Loyverse’s customer support responsive and helpful when encountering any issues or having questions about the system? Customer support has been very helpful in answering all my questions and trying to help me with workarounds for specific features that I might have asked that were not currently available in the system. What are your plans for the future, and how do you envision Loyverse supporting these plans? We aim to grow constantly and open, on average, new stores every two years. Right now we are trying to sustain our three branches, and following two years, we want to open again a new branch. But, like now, the pet industry is like a mushroom. They are coming out everywhere. We have a lot of competition, and we are so lucky that we have established ourselves for the last five years. We have created a credible identity and reliable opportunity for the clients to purchase their needs regarding their fur babies. Our focus for the future is growth. Would you like to share any advice or words of wisdom with aspiring entrepreneurs who are looking to start their own retail business? This is so funny because I feel I don’t yet have the credibility to speak about other people’s businesses and their entrepreneurial journeys. I am with the idea of “their money, their rules.” But, all I can say is do not follow the trend and what is currently popular. Based on my experience, my advice would be: “Do what you love, do what your heart says.” If you are passionate about doing something different, something unique, push and pursue your dreams. There are a lot of sacrifices, but eventually, there will be success. This is in line with our vision. Our vision as a retail business is to create a wonderful and unique experience for our customers. And this vision is in line with our belief that our pets are family. Visit Boomski Pet Supplies social pages: Instagram Facebook Youtube