How Zeller solved Decoy Cafe‘s Downtime Issues

Meet the local Melbourne business accelerating its cash flow through Zeller. Visitors come from all over the world to uncover clues, solve puzzles, and reveal the mysteries hidden behind the many doors of Rush Escape Game . From humble beginnings, Rush has grown into a destination for families, friends, and colleagues alike. Despite being thrown a curveball that effectively shut down its entire operation last year, mere weeks after opening a second location in Melbourne’s inner east, the team has big growth plans for 2021. General Manager Aaron Taylor is Rush’s first and longest-standing employee. Although too competitive for escape games himself, he loves watching customers’ “Ah-ha!” moments. In a world that is becoming more and more physically disconnected, Taylor’s passion for bringing people together is contagious. We sat down with Taylor to find out more about how Rush has emerged from a global crisis stronger than ever, and why Zeller is the trusted solution to help grow the business. Escape experiences are a pretty niche industry – how did you get here? Funny story, before this I worked in event operations in the Whitsundays. I was living in paradise, but never got to experience it because I was working all the time. Then, seven years ago, I moved to Melbourne on a whim – for a girl. Spoiler alert, that worked out. I had never heard of escape rooms, but I found the job for Rush and applied. When I interviewed, the first rooms weren’t even done. It was just me, the director, and his wife sitting around a half-finished foyer. The interview was wild, they didn’t know if the idea would take off, and could hardly promise me 10 hours of work a week. I decided to roll the dice, and here we are. Tell us a bit about Rush – what goes into running escape room experiences, and what makes Rush special? I think first and foremost that it’s Melbourne that makes Rush unique. We fit so well with the culture of this city, and I believe our early success stemmed from the people here and their willingness to try something new. As far as what goes into it, without sounding too cliche, it’s a lot of love. Everything is designed by our team, university students, nerds, and aspiring artists. Within our industry, many companies outsource the design and construction of rooms – but Rush remains true to developing from the ground up. We love that our rooms are designed by our staff. It allows us to maintain and upgrade rooms at the drop of a hat, which helps in an industry with ever-increasing expectations around experiences. It’s a key differentiator, and one of the reasons why I believe we’ve got the best escape rooms in Melbourne. What kind of people do you get through the doors? We get businesses using us for training or recruitment, families who come every month, bucks parties, goodbye get-togethers, and – my all-time favourite – those who just say, “We were bored and have never done this before”. It’s a real mixed bag. The great thing about our industry is that it is a little like Groundhog Day. Every two hours, a new group of customers walk through the door and go through the exact same rooms. You’d think that would make it boring, but it is wild. People are so different, they think and react individually. Our purpose is simple: we’re here to entertain, excite, and help people escape their everyday lives. The best thing about it is we normally see everyone on a great day, people are in good moods and we get to help them create memories. How did COVID-19 affect your business operations? We were horribly affected by the lockdowns – our entire business model is built around experiences and entertainment in person. We were one of the first to be shut down, and it stayed that way from May till November 2020. We’d also just opened our newest venue in Hawthorn, and our first room had been a viral sensation – it was booked out five months in advance. Once the lockdowns hit, we had to issue refunds and vouchers totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. We spent most of the year trying to find other ways to make money – some successful, others not – but our main goal was to keep everyone engaged and do what we could to support the mental health of our staff. This was very important to us as most of our employees are university students living away from home, many became very isolated through lockdown. In the end we did what we could for our staff and thankfully we were able to pull through and now we are just excited to have customers back in our rooms. How does your business manage cash flow,  is it stressful? Stressful when you don’t have it. However, we’re fortunately entering a post-COVID growth period. We also have a third venue in the pipeline and are already looking for venues four and five. To fund these new games, we need to have a healthy balance between cash flow and reinvestment. We’ve had some nasty surprises with cash flow. Our previous EFTPOS provider threw us a curveball when we had a large corporate client book multiple rooms in-person – transactions of that size would typically be done online, in advance. Instead of simply holding the transaction amount to ensure there were funds for a chargeback, in the event one was requested, our provider decided to lock our account and halted one entire arm of our cash flow across both venues which caused issues with payroll. We were even told incoming payments would be suspended, meaning our customers couldn’t make bookings. That would have shut us down again, right as we were trying to recover from the lockdowns. As a rapidly expanding business, the risk of a merchant services provider being able to shut down our cash flow for multiple venues – with no clear guidance as to why – is just too high. It sounds like it’s a crucial time for your business – what stood out about Zeller? We’re all about trying to keep things local. Part of what drew us to Zeller is the fact it’s a Melbourne-based business, with local support, as well as the competitive and transparent pricing. I’ve learned that cash flow and people are the two biggest barriers to success. If you can find a way to solve these issues early and well, your journey will be much smoother. We’re a company that believes in simplicity and timely management of our funds, so Zeller’s fast settlement removes stress and keeps things straightforward. What were you using before Zeller Terminal? We were using Square. The terminals were clunky – we needed to use a tablet to connect to Wi-Fi, and were constantly needing to troubleshoot. Square looked sloppy and unprofessional for us. The Zeller Terminal is simple and looks more like a traditional terminal, though with a nice touch screen upgrade. The terminal also connects directly to Wi-Fi, so there’s no middle step. It’s just so straightforward. Although in-person purchases only make up around 10 to 15 percent of our total transactions, these transactions are critical and very time-sensitive. Zeller Terminal supports us to meet this need with quick and reliable processing. How easily did your team adapt Zeller Terminal into their daily routine? The process of shifting to Zeller was straightforward. I gave all of our managers a five-minute lesson, then staff were shown how to use the terminal once during a shift. That’s all there was to it. Simple, straightforward, and with zero interruption. What excites you about the future with Zeller? We’re excited to use the Zeller Mastercard. Our current bank has issued a Mastercard for each venue, however, these cards are in the names of our managers. As people are promoted, move venues, or leave the business, we need to go through a large amount of paperwork. If we could securely link cards to specific venues, rather than one manager, we’d save a lot of time. We’re also excited to see how Zeller will grow in the coming months. We’re already planning how to leverage upcoming features, and looking forward to downsizing our operational stack so that Zeller is our one-stop shop. Finally, do you have any advice for other business owners considering changing providers? Make the switch, quickly. For us, it’s all about finding the right merchant services solution so we don’t have to worry about it. Zeller just works, and, because of this, we can focus on doing what we do best: providing immersive experiences. Put another way, Zeller is a distraction-free solution to a core business need. It takes almost no time to understand the system, create logins and get it going. We spent weeks assessing if we should switch, and within minutes knew we had made the right choice. With Zeller, the transaction process has been simplified and the downtime issues we experienced with Square are gone. I just haven’t had to think about it since we made the switch. Learn more about how Zeller Terminal can help your business grow with an integrated payments solution that gives you fast access to your funds. By sharing your details with us, we may contact you from time to time. We promise we won’t bug you — and you can unsubscribe from communications at any time.

Smart social media marketing drew a two-hour-long line on opening day. The rest is history. Since Fluent first opened doors in 2020, the streetwear store has become a mecca for sneakerheads. Collectors travel from all over to see the rare sneakers on display, while the feature wall – adorned with the latest Yeezies, Jordans, Nikes, and more – entices passers-by to step inside and grab their first pair of kicks. The strength and size of Fluent's newfound customer base is a testament to the hard work that's gone on behind the scenes. Owners Logan and Esha began working on their business plan just under 18 months ago, while working as cleaners. After finishing the night shift at 8 AM, the couple would jump straight into business planning. Since then, they've juggled the creation of Fluent’s first website, two store openings, and become first-time parents. We spoke to Logan and Esha about sneaker culture, the risk and reward of starting a business, and the benefits of selling in-person versus online. When did your love for sneakers begin? Logan: I’ve always been a fan of basketball, and the culture that comes with it – the style, the fashion. I had a few pairs of basketball shoes as a kid, but they were always hand-me-downs from my older brothers. I never actually got a fresh pair for myself. Then I moved to Australia, started getting my own money, and started collecting. Esha: Then, from 2016 to 2019, we did a bit of traveling in America, Canada, and Europe. In each country that we went to, we made a point to find the best, hidden sneaker stores. It became a passion, and we starting thinking we’d like to create something similar at home – because we believe there’s a market for it. When we returned from our most recent trip, we started listing and selling our own collection of sneakers on Instagram – the sneakers we had collected during our travels. We really, really wanted to hold on to those sneakers, but we thought if want to make something, we’re going to have to sell something. So we made the executive decision, and that's what helped us get where we are today. How did you take your first steps into business ownership? Esha: From April 2019, there was a lot of work going on in the background. It was still a hobby at that stage – it wasn’t making enough to be our main income, but it was always something we wanted to make our focus. Our main job was cleaning, and we did night shifts. After finishing at 8 in the morning, we’d have the whole day spare – which is a lot of time to think about how we’re going to kick this off the ground. So, we went from selling on Instagram to setting up our own website. Logan: We figured it would set us apart from other sneaker sellers on Instagram. If you have an online store, you look more authentic. It was the next step in authenticating our brand. I think we only had 20 people on our site the day it launched, but we thought it was amazing – we had 20 people viewing our store! So that's where we started. What made you decide to take the leap from e-commerce to brick-and-mortar? Esha: I was the one who was more reserved and said we couldn’t open a physical store until we have enough revenue, or we have enough clientele. But then the pandemic began, and commercial tenancies seemed more affordable. We already knew that Perth customers like to see you face-to-face, because Logan was out on the road meeting customers all the time, so we looked at what was in our budget. We worked out how many pairs of shoes we needed to sell to afford it, and went for it. If the worst comes to worst, we thought we could just get rid of the car if we had to! Logan: In person, we can show customers the shoes and they can really understand what they’re buying, which helps grow our online presence as well as in-store traffic. It’s also a way to put a face to the brand, and deepen the connection with customers who have been shopping with us since we started. What are you doing to drive foot traffic to your store? Esha: There's always been a couple of things that we envisioned for the store, the two most important being great lighting and a large wall to showcase our shoes. That was one of the attractions for us when we traveled; every store had this amazing sneaker wall. No matter where we set up shop, we really wanted to try and achieve that. So, we built it. Then we teased the launch on Instagram using the wall, and I think it did help in getting customers here. The day we opened the store, we didn’t even have a chance to look outside. So when we pulled the drop sheet and saw the line, it was a rewarding surprise. We didn't check our clocks until two hours later and the line was still going. It was an amazing turnout. Any store owner’s hope is that people turn up when you’re opening, or launching a new product, or anything like that. Logan: Now, everyone who comes to our store can step back and appreciate the sneaker wall. It’s Instagrammable. Customers come in, take a photo and share it on their stories – which helps us grow. How does selling in-store compare to running an online business? Esha: Most customers that buy from you online already know about your products. They already know the price point and the reasons behind it. A brick-and-mortar shop gives us the opportunity to speak with people who don’t. In-store, we’re able to explain the shoes to the customer, which really helps them understand and become educated about why a sneaker costs what it does, and the culture and history of the community. Mums and Dads for example often don’t understand the sneaker game, or why they can be expensive. But when parents come in-store, we can educate them so hopefully they leave with a bit of appreciation about it. They often leave with a pair for themselves, that matches their kids. The customer experience is one of our core values as a small business. How is Zeller helping you provide a great customer experience? Esha: Our first EFTPOS terminal, from another provider, required us to switch apps every time we processed a transaction. It left room for human error. One of the main things we knew we wanted when the business grew was a sleek, user-friendly terminal we could both use, and give to any employees we hire without having to explain difficult processes. Zeller Terminal is ten times easier to use. Ease of use is critical when you're getting a lot of foot traffic. Logan: We recently went to a sneaker convention and found Zeller Terminal helped create a more trustworthy and friendly payment experience for our customers – which we feel is important, especially when you’re dealing with rare sneakers as they’re at an above-average price point. Some other stores were accepting cash or bank transfers, but we were able to continue to accept transactions at the event using Zeller Terminal, without breaking our workflow. And the battery lasted the whole day, which was great as we had no access to power. Do you have any other plans for 2021? Esha: Fluent already stocks Fluent-branded t-shirts, but we’d like to expand the product line. For that, we need to develop a team, find the right materials, and plan for production. The goal is to have a collection underway by the end of the year. That, and making the in-store customer experience as great as it can be. By sharing your details with us, we may contact you from time to time. We promise we won’t bug you — and you can unsubscribe from communications at any time.

Meet the all-authentic Italian food truck navigating an expansion during COVID-19. The evolution from popular mobile food truck to permanent bar, deli and cafe seems a natural progression for Bar Positano . After a successful eighteen months serving paninis, cheese boards, and other Italian delights from the bay window of their highly instagrammable van, co-owners Anthony Porra and Luca Andolfo decided to put down stumps in Sydney’s Surry Hills and shift their focus to the sit-down dining experience. Although a sudden citywide lockdown threatened to derail the grand opening of Bar Positano’s new brick-and-mortar location, the duo were quick to adapt. Celebratory spritzes were swapped for takeaway cocktails and the deli was stocked with take-home pasta so locals could dish up their own cure for those holiday cravings. We spoke to Luca and Anthony about the challenges they’ve faced so far, and why now’s the perfect time to bring a slice of the Amalfi Coast to Surry Hills. Tell us a bit about how Bar Positano first started. We first started out in the events industry, providing event hire and styling services for many weddings and other events. A lot of clients use pop-up food and drink vendors for a more casual style, so we decided to add a mobile bar to our offering. Being of Italian heritage, we thought we could offer a unique and authentic food truck, focusing on quality products and service for weddings, private and public events. Then we were in Surry Hills one evening and saw the vacant shop, which had a nice unique style and a sunny corner position. Many Australians travel and love the Italian summer atmosphere, when it comes to alfresco dining and aperitivo. We’ve always wanted to bring that experience to Sydney, and thought this would be a perfect location to test our idea. What was the biggest challenge you faced, establishing a permanent site? Being a food truck, we always tailored our menu based on the event or location we were serving. We also kept to a limited menu, as it is always a challenge working within such a small space! Moving into a physical location made us really think about our target market and demographic, as well as a gap in the market which we wanted to target. It is always challenging establishing a new business in a niche category, as you don’t know whether it will work or not. But we believe in it and really love it ourselves, so we just hope that everyone else does too. How has COVID-19 impacted your business? COVID-19 is a huge challenge to all businesses, but we decided to open up anyway as we wanted the community to see what we have to offer — albeit with a limited menu at the moment. We also sell smallgoods from the deli and pasta, sauces and other Italian products, which are a benefit to locals during lockdown. It’s the right time for us, particularly because we are opening in winter — at a time people normally head off overseas for a summer holiday. Despite the current restrictions, we’re giving customers a feeling of being overseas on holiday, or eating and drinking what they normally would if they were in Italy. We have been lucky enough to receive support from the locals, grabbing something takeaway and supporting our new business. What inspired you to make the switch to Zeller? How are you finding it? What we were looking for was a reliable system that was simple to use in a fast-paced environment. We love that the terminal not only looks good and suits our decor, but it is so simple to use with extremely low rates. The customer service and support is really great, the onboarding simple and straightforward, and the general daily use is so simple and reliable. Really happy we chose Zeller! What have you learned about running a business, with everything going on this year? To really think about our business concept, and how we can still be true to our brand and offering while remaining versatile so we can adapt as situations change.  For instance, instead of sitting down to an antipasti board and Aperol Spritz — which is what we initially envisioned — we decided to advertise takeaway deals on our social profiles and package everything up, including the alcohol, so people can enjoy the same product at home, or wherever they may be. It is so important to stay in touch with the community by communicating on social media, the website, and as best you can in store for anyone who passes by. What’s next for Bar Positano? We are really looking forward to opening our doors and having people sit down and enjoy the space. At the moment it feels like a bit of a tease, as we have only been offering takeaway coffees, panini, and a limited menu from the deli. It will be great to be able to operate at full capacity, for both our customers and staff. Do you have any advice for other business owners at this time? Stay positive, be creative and hang in there! The community is really supportive and tries to support as best they can. Restrictions will eventually lift, so just take it day by day and be flexible with your product, trading hours, and how you operate your business.