Perron Café runs on train time at Tampere station – every order happens in minutes

At Tampere railway station, a coffee break does not begin when the customer has time. It begins when the train is about to leave – or even before the train has reached the station. Perron Café is built for exactly that moment, and the same service reaches meetings and events around the station. Solmio-kassa runs in the background.

Meet Perron Café

"The station's fastest coffee, soft drinks and savoury bites." That is how Perron Café describes itself, and it is a bold promise in a place where customers are on their way to a meeting, home or the next train. Many of them know exactly how many minutes they have left.

The menu is made for people passing through: morning coffee, soft drinks, food to go and the day's döner, whose smell points the way to the counter from across the hall.

But the café does not only serve the station hall. Nearby meeting rooms order their refreshments from Perron Café, and catering orders are delivered to events around Tampere. The café is run by owner Tiina, whose priority is that customers get something good, fast – whether they are on a train, at the counter or at a meeting table.

Discover Perron Café →

The person behind it

Tiina, owner. At a station café, service is measured in seconds, but for Tiina speed alone is not enough. Customers should get an answer to their question and find their favourite, and staff should never have to choose between being quick and being friendly.

"Here the customer is not waiting for us, they are waiting for a train. Our job is to make sure they never have to choose between coffee and catching it."

Where they started

When Perron Café opened its new café, opening day had to work straight away. The rush follows the trains: after a quiet moment, ten customers can arrive at once, all wanting to know what is on offer and what it costs.

At the same time, sales were growing beyond the counter. Meeting refreshments were ordered by phone and email, and catering sales had to be recorded separately afterwards. Tiina knew what she did not want: a pile of separate devices and programs whose numbers would be combined by hand every evening.

What they wanted to improve

• Customers see the offer before they reach the counter.
• Travellers can order from the train and pick up a ready order.
• Meeting refreshments are ordered online without phone and email back-and-forth.
• Catering sales go into the same system as counter sales.
• All sales move to accounting without manual work.

Why Solmio

One requirement came first: a single setup that works from the very first morning and covers every way Perron Café sells. Solmio delivered everything from the counter to accounting from one place, so nobody had to find out whether the systems would talk to each other.

At the station, the café gained four ways to shop. Coffee and food are prepared at the counter, a small purchase goes through self-service, and passengers can order and pay on their own phone before the train even reaches the station. The order starts from a link on the perron.cafe website or a QR code in the café's ads and social media. When the train stops, the order is waiting at the counter.

People booking nearby meeting rooms order coffee and savoury bites for their meeting from the catering web shop. For catering jobs, Solmio One all-in-one terminals go along, with till, payment and receipt in one device. Sales appear straight away in the same reports as the café's own sales.

The first morning

On opening morning, the morning train was as busy as ever. The first customer had no idea the café had opened that same day – and did not need to. They saw the offer on the screen, paid and made their train.

Behind the counter, nobody had to call support in the middle of the rush or write orders on paper. When a new team member forgot how to do something on the till, they asked Ailo and kept serving.

By the evening, the day's sales were already in Netvisor. Nobody had to move numbers by hand before heading home.

What changed day to day

Customers no longer need to ask what the café sells. The screens show it from the station hall, and the team spends its time on service instead of repeating the price list. Meeting refreshments arrive from the web shop as ready orders with the time, quantities and delivery location.

From the reports, Tiina can see at a glance which products move in the morning, when the rush begins and how much of the sales come from trains, meetings or catering.

• 4 ways to buy at the station — counter, self-service, QR order from the train and the meeting refreshments web shop
• 0 receipts moved by hand — sales flow to Netvisor automatically, catering jobs included
• 1 view — all sales by product, time and channel
• Replacement device — sales continue while a device is serviced

"Solmio-kassa solved our needs as one complete setup. The rollout was smooth and communication worked from the start."

Tiina | Owner, Perron Café

When you visit Perron Café

If you only have a few minutes, take the day's döner onto the train – it is the café's best-known dish. Arriving in Tampere by train? Order on the way through perron.cafe or scan the QR code in a Perron Café ad, and your coffee will be waiting when you step onto the platform.

Hosting a meeting near the station? Order refreshments online in advance, and they will be on the table before the first participant arrives. For larger events, Perron Café also caters elsewhere in Tampere.

Tampere railway station, Rautatienkatu 27, 33100 Tampere · perron.cafe →

Advice for other business owners

"Think about your customer's timetable before your menu. Everything we do is built around the fact that people have a train to catch."

Where Solmio fits in

• Solmio-kassa at the counter
• Self-service checkout
• QR ordering straight from the train, via the website link or a QR code in an ad
• Catering web shop for meeting rooms
• Solmio One all-in-one terminals for catering
• Digital menu and offer screens
• Reporting
• Netvisor integration
• Ailo supporting staff
• Replacement devices

Similar needs in your café? Let's look at what the solution could look like together. Book a meeting →

Point of sale for cafés