“A Game-Changer”: How Corretto Harnesses The Power of Data To Grow Its Business

Taking its name from an Italian caffeinated alcoholic drink, consisting of espresso and a small amount of liquor, Corretto aims to live up to its namesake.

Situated in a prime spot in Dee Why, overlooking the pine trees and open ocean, Corretto has established itself as the ideal all-day drinking and dining destination. From coffee to cocktails and a delicious selection of food, Corretto is a must-visit in Sydney’s Northern Beaches. 

We spoke with Kurtis Bosley, a veteran of the Sydney hospitality scene and owner of Corretto, about his experience with Lightspeed.

The importance of data

Kurtis and the team at Corretto are passionate about the importance of data, analytics and digging into their numbers to inform business decisions. As a result, it was essential for Corretto to adopt an in-depth reporting and analytics tool that could seamlessly connect all the dots in their business – from staffing to sales.

When Insights got launched, that to me was a game-changer,” says Kurtis. 

Accessing data on the go, via Lightspeed Insights easy-to-use smartphone app was a game-changer for Corretto. And, having access to detailed business reports also made it easier for the team at Corretto to plan ahead. 

“Having Insights on my phone to track things quite rapidly was important,” explains Kurtis. “The insights app is great as you can actually see an average of your day, your week, your month – we have peaks and troughs and we can start to plan.”

In the hectic world of hospitality, ensuring the right people have access to the right information is crucial to the smooth running of a business. For Corretto, having the ability to send easy to read reports to the relevant stakeholders, meant the right people always have access to the right insights. 

“For our normal reports each week we break it up between food and drink – so we get two different reports for that. One goes to my head chef, one goes to my head bartender, as well as the site overview.”

Armed with the relevant data, key stakeholders in the business can plan and prepare for the upcoming week accordingly – ensuring everything runs as efficiently as possible. 

From educated guesses to informed decisions

While most business owners have a pretty good idea about what’s going on within the business, it’s important to back any assumptions up with data, rather than relying on educated guesses. 

Since employing Lightspeed Insights, Corretto has been empowered to consistently make profit-boosting decisions, backed up by data.

Cost-effective rosters

“We were able to use Insights to create more informed rosters,” says Kurtis.

With Lightspeed Insights, it’s easy to track the flow of daily sales, especially during unpredictable periods like covid. This allowed the team at Corretto to pinpoint busy hours and schedule staff accordingly – creating an informed, optimised and cost-effective roster

“We used Insights to understand when we had dollars coming in and how we could create a more informed roster of when we actually needed people based on when the money was coming through,” explains Kurtis.

Insights was particularly invaluable for Corretto to understand if it was profitable for certain staff to work on a Sunday by comparing their Sunday surcharge against staff wages. 

“We’ve got a Sunday surcharge and it’s so interesting to see the data,” comments Kurtis. 

“On a busy Sunday we’ll pull a report, as casual staff are expensive on a Sunday – it’s nice to see if the surcharge is making a difference, or if you need to cut back hours because you’re not making any money because it’s costing too much to operate – it’s invaluable.”

Understand what’s selling

During Covid restrictions, Kurtis and the team used data from their POS to understand what was selling and what wasn’t, so they could craft a popular, profitable takeaway menu.

“We went through three different menus during lockdown because we’d look at the insights to understand what wasn’t going ok,” explains Kurtis.

“We created snack packs based on what items were really selling… and that went off because we could see what people were eating.”

For Corretto, having the opportunity to really understand what products their customers love, rather than basing their assumptions on an educated guess was invaluable for the business. Now they can pull reports on their best selling menu items to create dishes that most appeal to their customer base. 

“For the managers, it’s so important to be able to pull the different reports. We work off such tiny margins that it gives them the platform to do their job to the best of their ability. They can see the gp, the sales, the stock, everything is there – everything the manager needs to do in their role, they can pull from these reports.” 

How tech innovation supports business growth

Corretto has been utilising Lightspeed for over 10 years – in that time, the hospitality industry has evolved immeasurably. From ordering to payments and customer expectations, life for hospo owners is drastically different to what it was in 2012.

Kurtis believes that Lightspeed’s constant innovation has supported Corretto as the hospitality industry has evolved. 

“A really interesting thing about Lightspeed is the evolution, there’s constantly new innovations and features popping up,” comments Kurtis. 

“Some of the older programs don’t work as well anymore, Lightspeed has innovated where other POS companies haven’t. A lot of the other systems have become very stagnant and they’re not looking at the way businesses are running, the industry is very different to what it was 5-10 years ago.” 

Lightspeed has innovated where other POS companies haven’t.”