Tomoro Coffee's growing pains

As Tomoro Coffee rapidly expanded across Indonesia and prepared for global growth, teams across multiple departments faced challenges that threatened to slow their momentum. It was clear that their existing ways of operating could no longer keep up with the demands of a scaling business. In response, they set out to address the following challenges:

• Inefficient Operations: Manual processes for complaints, refunds, payments, and data tracking led to delays, errors, and inefficiencies.

• Slow Data Processing: Store opening data, quality reports, and financial tracking relied on spreadsheets and paper-based workflows, limiting visibility and delaying decision-making.

• Cumbersome Communication: Store openings, refunds, and payments required manual follow-ups, creating unnecessary workload and inefficiency.

• Limited Real-Time Visibility: Without a centralized digital system, data was scattered, making it difficult to track performance, ensure accuracy, and derive meaningful insights.

• Imprecise Performance Evaluation: Lack of granular data made it difficult to assess employee and store performance accurately, leading to employee dissatisfaction and low accountability.

Solutions

Digitalizing store openings & operations

Reliant on Google Sheets and manual processes for store openings and operations, data management was fragmented and error-prone. Incomplete store opening data required time-consuming manual confirmations, delaying key activations like POS systems and promo codes, which disrupted operations on launch day. Additionally, daily store processes—including opening, shift handover, and closing—were managed without a structured database, limiting visibility and real-time tracking. The lack of such a database also meant that performance data could only be tracked at store-level, rather than at an individual level.

With Lark Base, store openings and operations are now digitalized, enabling streamlined workflows and data-based decision-making. Standardized Base forms ensure complete and accurate data submission and HQ gets instant automated notifications through Lark chats, keeping everyone aligned on final opening dates. System activations, including POS and promo codes, are now seamlessly managed, eliminating delays and ensuring smooth store launches. Additionally, real-time digital checklists for shift handover and closing have replaced manual tracking, providing the QC team with instant access to operational data. The new system has also boosted employee morale as performance can now be tracked at an individual level, which greatly enhanced equity at the workplace. Together, these improvements created a structured system that enhances efficiency and accountability while enabling the team to maintain high operational standards across all locations.

Centralizing feedback management

With Google Sheets as the main tool for managing customer complaints, the process was tedious and time-consuming, requiring at least two hours daily for data compilation and analysis. The lack of automation forced teams to manually input and cross-reference data, copy-paste complaints into group chats, and chase follow-ups—resulting in delays, overlooked issues, and minimal accountability.

By adopting Lark Base, the feedback process is now fully automated. Complaints submitted are instantly recorded, and relevant members are automatically tagged, eliminating the need for manual cross-referencing. Real-time notifications and reminders ensure every complaint is addressed promptly and a centralized query page enables precise tracking, boosting responsiveness. Additionally, the source of the complaints can now be traced, so teams can implement targeted improvements while driving greater ownership.

Beyond tracking, Lark Base has enabled a proactive approach to complaint management. The operations team now reviews complaint trends monthly and requires stores to submit action plans and execution proof to prevent recurring issues. Weekly quality control and operational meetings further reinforce this data-driven improvement strategy, ensuring long-term service excellence.

Adding transparency to financial records

Customer refunds and partner payments used to be a major headache for both the finance team and the operations team. It's not hard to see why: Refunds were handled through Google Forms and Sheets, which required manual follow-ups, leading to important steps—like processing the refund—being missed. Delays and unhappy customers were the result. Meanwhile, a different team was using Excel to track partner payments, with files saved to team members' own devices. Syncing between teams had to be done manually through chats, making it difficult for everyone to find and access accurate, real-time data.

By adopting Lark Base, financial management has become more transparent and efficient. Refund requests are automatically sent to the finance team upon verification, who can then upload the proof of transfers directly onto the same system. This gives all teams involved full visibility of the process and allows them to precisely track updates for each and every customer. Payment tracking has also been digitalized and secured online, eliminating data loss risks and reducing daily workloads from 1-2 hours to just 30 minutes. Team members can now access payment statuses independently, ensuring faster, more efficient operations and seamless collaboration across departments.

Unifying information and people

The legacy employee management and training system was weighed down by manual processes and scattered documents. Employee information updates required roundabout data transfers, involving the sending of Excel files back and forth to create a master document. The whole process was not only slow, but was also error-prone and difficult to maintain. Similarly, operational documents like SOPs and memos were stored offline or inconsistently organized in Google Drive, making it challenging for team members to find up-to-date information.

Lark Base and Wiki were adopted to tackle these issues. Lark Base is now used for making updates to employee information, which is accessible to all relevant teams, ensuring the most accurate and up-to-date information reaches the right people. On the other hand, Lark Wiki is used as a centralized hub for all operational documents. When HQ needs to make an announcement, everyone knows where to get the latest information and previous updates and resources are just a search away. These improvements have eliminated data inconsistencies, reduced manual work, and ensured seamless access to critical information throughout the whole organization.

Final results

Since adopting Lark, Tomoro Coffee has transformed the way they work:

• Digitalized operations and management with real-time data that is accessible from anywhere.

• Feedback management is centralized and automated, leading to greater employee ownership and higher customer satisfaction.

• Teams across departments can access the same financial data, improving transparency, accuracy, and efficiency.

• Employee information and resources are now centrally managed, keeping team members at all levels informed and aligned.