POS for cafes

A cafe sells things that are more complex than they look. A latte isn’t one product, it’s fifteen: small, medium, or large, whole, light, almond, or oat milk, with or without sugar, hot or iced, with an extra shot, decaf. If your POS forces you to create fifteen separate products to cover that, ringing up a drink takes longer than making it.

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What your POS has to do if you sell coffee

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How a typical cafe uses El Nido

Morning rush:

• The cashier builds the ticket: large latte, almond milk, no sugar, extra shot. Adds a 15% tip. Charges to card.
• The order shows up automatically on the barista’s screen.
• The customer gets their ticket by WhatsApp or printed.
• If they’re a regular, points stack up in their Apple Wallet without the cashier doing anything extra.

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Recipes with real cost

Every drink deducts what it uses:

• Latte = 7g of coffee + 200ml of milk + 1 paper cup + 1 lid + 1 straw = a real peso cost per drink.

With that number you know the margin on each product without guessing. If almond milk adds $8 to your cost, you decide whether to absorb it or charge extra.

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Digital points card for cafes

Your regulars (the ones who come by 3 to 5 times a week) collect points in Apple Wallet and Google Pay. No paper card that wears out. No app to install. Set it up as redeemable points, stamps (buy 10, get 1 free), or tiers. Cafes with a loyal following tell us their customers stop switching to nearby competitors because they don’t want to walk away from the points they’ve already earned.

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When you don’t need this

• You sell fewer than 20 coffees a day and it’s just you.
• You don’t care which product leaves the most margin.
• You don’t want to reward regulars.
• You take everything in cash and nobody asks for an invoice.

At that size, a tablet and a spreadsheet will do. A POS starts paying off once you have a barista, multiple shifts, frequent modifiers, or regular customers.

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What it costs for your size

• Free ($0/mo): to start a small cafe (up to 50 products, 1 user).
• Starter ($349/mo): 150 products, 2 users, variants, modifiers, tips, accounts, waste tracking, and a basic digital points card.
• Pro ($699/mo): 300 products, 5 users, recipes with cost, a live income statement, advanced analytics, a barista kitchen display, and loyalty tiers with Apple Wallet and Google Pay.
• Business ($999/mo): everything unlimited plus Pío, your AI assistant.

El Nido runs on $0 in transaction commissions, has processed 8,000+ sales and$700K+ MXN, and sets up in about 2 minutes with a 14-day free trial.