September 28, 2018

We can all benefit with some more green in life---especially on our food plates. And that's precisely what the 'Little Green' business is doing. Located in Newcastle, England, Little Green is a family-run health food shop and café / bistro, serving plant-based, freshly prepared foods, coffees, teas, supplements and more. Their foods are predominantly locally-sourced, vegan, raw and organic, with gluten-free options. There's also a retail shop offering natural body care and beauty products, ecological cleaning products, and other items that support a healthy and planet-friendly lifestyle.

Gareth Zeal, Little Green's Co-Owner & Director (and a nutritional consultant!), decided to start this business with his wife a couple of months ago after his entire family had become vegan; they wanted to open a nice place to eat that would inspire people to transition to plant-based food---and to create a fun holistic 'experience' for the local community. This meant that his shop would need to function as both a small café/restaurant as well as a retail store.

And, Gareth knew he needed a point-of-sale (POS) system to help him manage it all.

We spoke with Gareth about his Little Green business, why he chose Retail Management Hero (RMH) as his POS solution, and what benefits he's already experiencing with it.

Tell us about your retail background and what led you to co-founding Little Green.

Gareth: I've been in retail close to 30 years; in fact, in the 1980s I ran the biggest health food store chain in Europe. I didn't use POS software during that time; I did everything manually. Over the years, as I also worked as a nutritional consultant and realized that a vegan lifestyle was really, in my opinion, crucial to the future of our planet, my wife and I decided to start a business that would help people transition to plant-based food in a fun, relaxing and healthy environment. We're centered in a highly student-dense community, and we wanted to show them that eating vegan did not have to be a social stigma. It's why we make sure that everybody who walks into our store can enjoy good food, good nourishment, good music and a good time, 7 days a week.

You recently installed RMH as your POS system. What prompted you to choose RMH, and what functionality are you leveraging right now?

Gareth: One of our suppliers recommended RMH. Right now, we're using RMH in our retail shop and also trying to customize it for our table service. So far, on the retail side, I'm really liking the inventory functionality and being able to have accurate stock management. It's easy to check my stock levels, and I value the auto-reordering feature. The system is fairly straightforward. I also appreciate whenever we get a new supplier, the import utility enables all their items to show up in our database the next day.

How is the technical support?

Gareth: With our RMH distributor, Emporio UK, the customer support is great! Whenever we have a technical issue, they can adjust the computers from their end---very convenient.

Any advice for other retailers who are looking to implement RMH as their POS?

Gareth: Yes, take time to get to know the RMH system and see where it's customizable and where it's not, and plan how you can best use it to optimize your business operations.