Nick Cloete, founder of Kounta POS, began his hospitality journey at the age of 18 as an aspiring chef.
After a few years of hands-on kitchen experience, Cloete became tired of the inefficiencies that seemed to plague daily operations. Mistakes seemed unavoidable and order errors were commonplace. In an attempt to solve the problems faced by so many in the hospo industry, Cloete left his job as a chef to work for hospitality tech instead.
Legacy Point of Sale
From chef to tech Cloete began working with Legacy Point of Sale software. Like his time in the kitchen, it didn’t take him long to realise the limitations legacy POS also faced. It was clunky, time consuming and failed to address the real-life pain points that hospitality businesses deal with on a daily basis.
“Even though this software had been developed over the past 20 years it couldn’t cater to the requirements of today’s online, mobile, and connected world” — Nick Cloete, CEO of Kounta POS.
Unwilling to accept the status quo, Cloete decided to leave the world of Legacy POS behind and create his own cloud-based point of sale system.
And so, Kounta was born.
Kounta – revolutionising the world of POS
Cloete quickly assembled a small team of masterminds, all of whom had two things in common: a passion for hospitality and a knack for tech.
Their objective? Build a POS system that tackles the challenges and pain points, however big or small, of running a hospo business.
And they did.
Orders, payments, reporting, end of day reconciliation, inventory, recipe costing, margin control, marketing… all of these (and more) can now be controlled in one centralised POS system. Finally giving owners and staff more control.
Cloete and his team also wanted to ensure Kounta embraced every aspect of hospitality and this desire translated into one simple vision: the art of possibility.
With this vision in mind Kounta hit milestone after milestone for 8 years. Not only did they build a POS that embodied the art of possibility they also became a prominent name for hospitality POS in Australia, expanded into APAC, grew their team and landed a quirky office (complete with an espresso bar and gelato stand) in the heart of Sydney.
Kounta becomes Lightspeed
Fast forward to 2019 and Kounta was still doing exactly what it had set out to do – evolve its POS system to address real life issues and offer solutions for changing times and trends. And other businesses were taking note – namely a global company, Lightspeed.
Lightspeed recognised Kounta’s achievements, talent and (just as importantly) values. Interested in knowing more, Lightspeeds’ team flew down from Montreal to sunny Sydney.
Lightspeed and Kounta were the perfect match – not only did their business values align, so did their vision for a new era of POS systems: to help hospitality and retail businesses grow and flourish through the use of technology.
Cloete could really see his vision for the industry he cherished reflected in Lightspeed’s own values and ambitions. So, late last year he agreed to the acquisition and Kounta began transitioning to Lightspeed.
While Kounta’s name and logo may have changed, their team and dream are still very much the same. The only difference? They now have the backing of a global company, listed in the New York Stock Exchange, making the realm of possibility that much bigger.
Try Lightspeed at no cost for 30 days
This month Kounta officially becomes Lightspeed! To celebrate this monumental moment, Kounta (now Lightspeed) are offering all new customers a 30-day free trial with no commitments.
Try out their Point of Sale platform and see what the fuss is all about!
