Taking orders in a bakery: reducing errors

An incorrectly entered order, a forgotten product, confusion over the price: all these small errors can tarnish the customer experience and your profitability. What if you could eliminate them at the source, before they even disrupt your service? From simplifying processes to optimizing tools, discover how to transform your counter into a zero-error zone, while improving efficiency and customer satisfaction.

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Understanding the causes of ordering errors in bakeries

Before implementing solutions, it is important to understand where the errors made during order taking originate. By identifying the main causes, you will be able to take appropriate corrective measures.

Human errors when entering data manually at the cash register

Input errors are inevitable when using a manual cash register, especially when staff are under pressure. Who can claim to have never entered the wrong amount, forgotten a product, or mixed up a price, especially during peak hours? Manual cash registers, even if they are familiar, are not the most suitable for a dynamic work environment such as a bakery.

Cognitive overload during peak hours

During busy periods, employees' mental workload increases significantly. Between managing orders, restocking sales areas, providing customer service, and preparing products, it becomes difficult to maintain maximum focus. The more tasks there are to manage at the same time, the greater the risk of communication or data entry errors.  

Poorly managed queues increase pressure at the counter and lead to more order errors. Wait marketing, on the other hand, involves transforming this waiting time into an opportunity to inform and educate customers, preparing them for their order and ensuring a smooth transaction.

Inefficient organization of the counter and processes

A poorly organized counter or unclear ordering processes can lead to data entry errors or oversights. For example, if employees have to constantly move around to find a product or check a price, mistakes can occur, especially if communication with the customer is unclear. A well-structured organization is essential to avoid confusion and limit errors when taking orders. 

This includes optimal counter layout for quick access to products, clear division of roles within the team, smooth management of customer interactions, and the use of appropriate systems (touchscreen cash registers, fast payment solutions).

👉 To go further: Bakery and restaurant: effectively managing receiving inspections

Solutions for reducing errors: reorganizing and optimizing order taking

Once the causes of errors have been identified, it is time to take action with concrete solutions to reduce them.

Optimize product layout and price display

A clear and optimized product layout is essential. The most popular items must be easily accessible to staff. Price tags must be clearly visible and neatly presented to avoid any confusion with customers. The aim is to make the ordering process as smooth and quick as possible.

Train and educate your team on best practices

Regularly trained staff are key to efficient order taking. So make sure that every member of your team is fully familiar with the steps involved in taking orders, serving customers, and managing products. 

Implement measurement tools to manage performance

It is impossible to optimize your service without monitoring. By regularly measuring results, you can easily identify areas for improvement, adjust processes in real time, and implement corrective actions if necessary. For example, you can monitor error rates, order processing times, or customer satisfaction. 

👉 To go further: Which POS software should you choose for your bakery? 

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Using digital tools to improve accuracy and speed

Integrating digital tools into your bakery not only significantly reduces errors, but also improves the overall efficiency of your service.

Adopt a touchscreen cash register

The simplest and most effective way to reduce errors is to adopt a touchscreen cash register. With an intuitive interface, touchscreen cash registers enable fast and reliable order entry. They eliminate human errors associated with manual entry and offer better product and price management, which increases the accuracy of each order. 

During busy periods, they also allow multiple orders to be processed simultaneously.

Opt for fast payment solutions 

To reduce payment errors and streamline service, several fast payment solutions are available. Here is an overview of the main tools and their benefits:

Set up an online ordering system

With the rise of takeout and delivery orders, a well-designed online ordering system has become a must for modern bakeries. Online inventory and order management must be perfectly synchronized with your cash register to avoid errors related to product availability. By allowing your customers to pre-order online, you reduce the number of mix-ups and oversights.

👉 To go further: Boost your bakery's profitability with digital technology

The financial impact of ordering errors

Order errors represent a cost for your bakery. It is therefore essential to quantify their impact in order to justify investments in optimization solutions.

Quantify the impact of errors on profitability

Ordering errors can result in direct costs (product replacements, refunds), but also indirect costs, such as lost customers or time spent resolving complaints. By taking the time to measure this impact, you will better understand the importance of investing in solutions and where to focus your efforts.

Calculate the ROI of order processing optimization

Investing in the right tools and reorganizing your order-taking processes will not only reduce errors, but also improve your profitability. By calculating the return on investment (ROI) of these optimizations, you will quickly see tangible benefits: fewer errors, time savings, and increased customer satisfaction.

Note: To calculate the ROI of an optimization, simply compare the cost of the investment (cash, training, implementation) to the gains generated (errors avoided, time saved, customer loyalty). For example, if a solution costs $2,000 and saves $5,000 over the year, the ROI is 150%.

Feedback: a concrete example from the Tranché bakery

The bakery Tranché, where craftsmanship meets modernity, perfectly illustrates how well-chosen tools can transform a service. For its founders Marie and Augustin, one of the daily challenges was cash management. Cash still accounts for 20 to 30% of sales, which complicates margin calculations and increases the risk of errors if everything is managed manually.

By adopting a connected cash register synchronized with their accounting, human resources management, and ERP systems, as well as an automatic coin dispenser, they were able to structure their cash management in real time, accurately track their sales, and reduce cash register errors.

This is also confirmed by Peggy Garnier, a BCHEF franchisee in Perpignan: "Since my coin dispenser is synchronized with my cash register, all my transactions are accurately accounted for at the end of the day."

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With this digitization, made possible by a solution tailored to bakeries, the team has enjoyed additional benefits: simplified administrative management, more accurate margin tracking, and more time to focus on what matters most, such as customer experience and team cohesion.

👉 To go further: How to open a bakery franchise? 8 key steps

Reducing order errors in bakeries is far from impossible. By optimizing your counter, training your team, and adopting the right digital tools, your order taking becomes more fluid and your margins are better controlled. One click, one fair price, one well-placed product—these are all small actions that, when added up, transform your service. So why continue to waste time and lose customers when a few adjustments can make all the difference?

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How can you effectively reduce order errors in your bakery?

Innovorder experts assist you in choosing the right digital tools and monitoring your performance for a smoother and more accurate service.

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