The business

Mochì Café is an independent coffee shop in Mansfield town centre, opened in 2026 by owners who wanted something the town didn't have: speciality coffee done properly, matcha, açaí bowls and pastries, in a bright room with green tiles and a dog-friendly welcome. The kind of place that gets filmed on opening day and shared before lunch.

When we first spoke the café was still a shell. Tiles were going up behind the counter, the espresso machine was in its box, and the owners were juggling suppliers, staff and a menu that was still being finalised. The till was one more line on a very long list, and it needed to be the one that didn't slip.

The deadline

Nothing had gone wrong here, because nothing had started. That's the thing about a new opening: there's no old system to complain about, just a date on the wall that everything has to land on at once. Counter, coffee machine, fridges, staff, menu, till.

A till that turns up after the counter is finished means cabling run along the outside, a printer wedged wherever it fits, and a card reader that sits in the way of the hand-off. A till that turns up with a demo menu on it means somebody building drinks on opening morning with a queue watching. Both are avoidable, but only if the EPOS is treated as part of the fit-out rather than something that arrives at the end.

Why Mochì chose Atlas

The owners wanted one person to spec the kit, supply it, fit it and still be the number they rang afterwards, rather than a courier box and a helpline. We're in Mansfield most weeks, so coming in during the build cost them nothing.

What we did

We came in while the room was still a building site and worked out the counter flow first: where orders are taken, where drinks are handed over, where the card reader needs to be so a customer can tap without leaning across the pastries. The kit was specced around that, not the other way round.

On the counter went a Shift4 Dine till with a customer-facing display, so the order shows on the customer's side as it's rung up and mistakes get caught before the milk is steamed. Alongside it a Shift4 handheld for taking payment away from the till, a cash drawer, and a thermal receipt printer positioned where the barista can tear a ticket without turning round.

Then the part that actually takes the time: the menu. We built every drink with sizes, milks, syrups and extras as modifiers, so an oat-milk iced matcha with an extra shot is three taps rather than a conversation at the till. Açaí bowls got their toppings as modifiers too. Staff logins, receipt layout and VAT were set up before the kit was switched on for real.

The day before opening we trained the team on the live menu, not a demo one. Ringing through the drinks they'd actually be making, with the printer and the card reader in their final positions.

Opening day

Mochì opened with the till, display, handheld and printer already in place and already part of the counter. On the morning itself the only thing the team had to learn was the queue. Nobody built a menu, nobody re-ran a cable, and the first card payment went through on the same system that's still there today.

That's what a new-business install should look like. Not a box that arrives in week one, but a counter that's ready on day one.

Published with Mochì Café’s permission. We don’t use customer photographs without asking, and we don’t write quotes on anybody’s behalf.