• Case Studies

How Maroochydore’s Market Bistro Serves Up Success With Zeller

5 min. read01.04.2025
By Team Zeller
About this Merchant
TypeRestaurant
Locations1
Where? Maroochydore, QLD

Learn how Zeller can support your business.

Contact Sales

When Luke Stringer told people he was opening a new restaurant in an area surrounded by construction sites in the early days of COVID-19, people thought he was crazy.

But fast forward four years and his modern Australian bistro brainchild is now a Sunshine Coast favourite, recognised by Delicious magazine as one of Queensland’s top steakhouses.

We sat down with Luke to learn about the journey he’s been on with Market Bistro, and how Zeller has helped play a small but important role in that journey.

Zeller Terminal 2 at Market Bistro, Maroochydore

Two hospitality veterans combine forces.

When COVID forced Luke to return back to Australia from Indonesia, where he’d been running Mason, Fishbone Local and The Back Room for The Brett Hospitality Group, a chance conversation with famed Sunshine Coast restauranteur Tony Kelly paved the way for a future collaboration between the two industry stalwarts.

"After long stints in high-profile venues in Melbourne and Brisbane, I moved to Indonesia to run some great fine dining restaurants over there” explains Luke. “But when COVID hit, I came back to Australia, and, being friends with Tony [Kelly] on Facebook, he saw that I was on the Sunshine Coast. He asked me to come on board to manage one of his other restaurants, Spero Greek.”

“Within a short period of time we realised we were compatible and we wanted to do more together and he mentioned he wanted to open a bistro. As luck would have it, I actually had a bistro concept that I'd worked on a couple of years ago. So I showed him the idea I’d been working on and he said ‘Exactly that’. So we got to work to make it a reality.”

Market Bistro, Maroochydore

Elevating dining in Maroochydore.

Opting for local produce wherever possible, Market Bistro’s menu can best be described as a modern Australian take on a quintessential European-style bistro, specialising in woodfired steaks, fresh seafood, and house-made pasta. The vibe is casual yet stylish, elegant yet unpretentious.

Staying true to classic bistro style, the restaurant doesn’t close between lunch and dinner, so guests can drop in anytime for a steak, caviar, crayfish, or a hearty bowl of pasta. The restaurant seats between 120 and 140 patrons and boasts a loyal clientele who return time and again.

"The community has really embraced us and we’ve seen many of our regulars grow with us. First the wife is pregnant, then they’re in with a baby, then the baby is running around the restaurant.

“I honestly hope in my heart that Market Bistro is the sort of venue that's still there in 20 or 30 years' time, because it feels like it could be. I want to see it become that reliable inner-city style institution where people go there, then their kids go there and so on. It’s very rewarding to grow with the community.”

Customer making payment with AMEX card on Zeller Terminal 2

Ditching the ‘big 4’, switching to Zeller.

After starting out with a traditional ‘big 4’ bank for EFTPOS payments, Market Bistro switched to Zeller competitor Tyro, but their widely-publicised outage in 2021 caused the business to reconsider its options.

"Initially, we were with National Australia Bank. Back in the day, everyone went with a bank because that’s just what you did,” Luke explains.

“But then new options popped up, like Tyro. This opened the door for people to stop going with banks by default. But when Tyro went down for three-weeks, we lost confidence in them and temporarily went back to using NAB.”

“As a restaurant where 90% of transactions are through EFTPOS terminals, you need to know that if something goes offline, it’ll come back quickly. That’s where Zeller has really excelled for us. Their uptime and the ease of tipping within the Zeller system has been fantastic."

Zeller Terminal transaction

Zeller – Australia's most reliable EFTPOS.

With built in WiFi and SIM connectivity, Zeller Terminal boasts industry-leading uptime, plus:

  • Fast nightly settlement to Zeller Transaction Account

  • Built-in option for zero-cost EFTPOS

  • Seamless tipping and digital receipts

  • Integrate with Xero and 600+ point-of-sale platforms

  • Low rates, no lock-in contract or monthly rental fees

Learn more

Reaching a tipping point.

The move to tableside payments has been excellent for both restaurants and customers as it speeds up the process considerably, but a poorly-integrated tipping process meant diners were tipping a lot less. Thankfully, Zeller’s tipping function solved this problem seamlessly.

"Tipping became difficult when people stopped signing at the table and started just pressing a keypad – it got lost. It’s just awkward to stand there after someone’s spent $500 and ask for a tip. A lot of tips were missed because of that – not because people didn’t want to tip but because they forgot or they felt like pressing the bank keypad was going to extend the awkwardness.”

“I saw another restaurant using Zeller’s tipping function and thought, ‘Why aren’t we doing that?’ The NAB terminal we were using didn’t have that functionality. You had to awkwardly ask, ‘Would you like to leave a tip?’ which no waiter wants to do, especially not the business owner.”

Zeller Terminal 2 at Market Bistro, Maroochydore

“Since switching to Zeller and using the tipping function, we’ve noticed a massive uplift in tips, at least 20-25%. It’s been amazing for my team, many of whom are career waiters. I’m in my 50s, and several of my key employees are too. We’ve been doing this for a living for years, and it’s nice to be rewarded for what we do."

"Another phenomenal feature is the ease of splitting bills. We often get tables of 12 who want to split the bill at the end of the night, which can be a nightmare. Zeller makes it simple. You just key in the total amount, divide by the number of people, and take payments. It’s seamless."

Luke also highlights the intuitive nature of the Zeller Dashboard, which makes it simple to track transactions and manage payments. "I’m not super tech-savvy, but it’s simple to log in and find what I need. That level of simplicity is invaluable."

Ready to switch to Zeller?

Learn more

Community, Comedy, and Not Commbank: The Winning Mix for this Darwin Bar

When the opportunity came up for husband-and-wife team, Briant and Monica, to take over a bar in Darwin City, they seized it, signing the contracts and opening the doors all within the same week. Discover how fostering a community and creating an efficient tech stack helped them get a stellar start. Holding down full-time government jobs in international marketing and law enforcement, Monica and Briant weren’t exactly planning on the career change that came their way in September, 2023. They were familiar faces at  The Last Supper , a bar and restaurant in Darwin City, where Briant had been running a comedy club on Friday nights. Monica had also become known for her  Pasta Parties  — a side hustle teaching people how to make fresh pasta. So, when the owner of The Last Supper decided it was time to sell, the couple were the perfect prospects. “When the owner approached us, our first thought was, why would we want a bar? That's a terrible idea,” laughs Monica. But, buoyed by the fact that their comedy and pasta class events were already attracting good numbers, they decided to take up the challenge. “We signed the paperwork on Monday, paid the money on Tuesday, got the keys on Wednesday and opened on Thursday,” explains Monica, “We hit the ground running,” says Briant. In just three days, Monica and Briant needed to get set up with a solution for taking payments and managing their money. Their natural first step was to open a  business bank account  with Commbank. “They really messed us around,” says Monica, “We had to go into a branch, we waited an hour for an interview, and then they wanted all this paperwork,” she continues, “We were already customers of theirs, and we simply wanted an account to deposit money into. They just couldn’t make it happen in time.” That’s when they researched their options and found  Zeller . “Monica literally just jumped online, and opened a  Zeller Transaction Account ,” says Briant. They bought  Zeller Terminals , and set themselves up with virtual  debit cards  on their phones straight away. “Setting up Zeller was very easy. We were able to provide all the company paperwork once we were already up and running. It was just so easy. So then we thought, well, why change?” Since then, they have continued to use Zeller as their primary financial management tool, incorporating a  Zeller Savings Account  to earn interest on idle funds,  Zeller App  to monitor sales when they’re not on site, and  Zeller Virtual Terminal  to take deposits for large bookings. The benefit of launching a business in today’s age means being able to build a tech stack with all the latest innovations, rather than dealing with incumbent solutions. From day one, Monica and Briant have sought to “work smarter not harder”, integrating a number of other platforms into the business. “As well as Zeller, we use  TryBooking  for our events,  Wix , for our website and to manage reservations,  Swift POS  is our point-of-sale, and soon I’ll use it for managing our takeaway orders too. Plus we use  Harvest  for time tracking,  Deputy  for rostering, and  Xero  for accounting,” explains Monica. Using technology to keep their operations efficient, has given Monica and Briant more time back in their day to work on the strategic aspects of the business. “A lot of what we do is about building community and connection,” Briant says, “Events are a big part of our business.” Indeed,  The Last Supper’s ‘What’s On ’ page offers an impressive line up, with no less than 46 events running over the last three months of the year: from comedy and karaoke nights to painting and cooking classes, gastronomic-themed parties, reading clubs, concerts, and more. “At the events, we walk around and talk to our customers. It’s quirky, it’s inviting. People love coming here and hanging out,” Briant says, “Some people who came in on the weekend for one of our Pasta Parties ended up making friends and stayed here for eight hours!” Briant laughs. By building a strong local following, Monica and Briant have avoided being reliant on the seasonal tourist trade that dictates the success of many hospitality venues in Darwin. “We thrived through the wet season, when the tourists weren't here,” says Briant. But the popularity of their events didn’t just happen overnight: Monica’s carefully defined marketing strategy has been instrumental in keeping people coming back. “We do a lot of paid socials. We've got an e-mail database that we've built up through events and through our website. We're very active on our Google Business Profile and that helps our SEO. And we’re part of a number of organisations, such as Tourism Top End and Hospitality NT,” explains Monica. While Monica and Briant have harnessed a variety of modern tools to help alleviate their workload and speed up operational tasks, it hasn’t resulted in a hands-off approach. On the contrary, it has enabled them to be even more hands-on in the areas that matter the most: getting to know their customers, building a community, and creating experiences that serve them again and again. Having just celebrated the anniversary of their first year in business, you can rest-assured, their last supper it most certainly isn’t.

Want to Turn Tables 73% Faster? Introducing Zeller Bill at Table.

Picture this. It’s a busy Friday night and you have a growing line of hungry diners waiting to be seated. You look around the restaurant and can see several tables that have finished their meals and are now trying to catch the eye of a waiter to make the inevitable ‘May we please have the bill?’ gesture. From that point on, a series of steps will typically take place. The waiter will: 1. Head to the POS, print the bill and place it in a billholder 2. Take it to the table for the diners to give it a once over 3. Once the diners have signalled their approval, head back to the POS 4. Return to the table with an EFTPOS machine 5. Process the payment at the table That's five lengthy steps in a best case scenario where the restaurant is already taking payment tableside. If not, it’s even lengthier. This bill-time bottleneck has been slowing table turnover down for years, but thankfully our newest feature Bill at Table is here to change the restaurant payment process for good. What is Bill at Table? Zeller Bill at Table enables you to present your diners with digital, itemised bills displayed on Zeller Terminal's large-format screen, and then accept payment tableside instantly. It helps you to turn tables up to 73% faster from bill request to out-the-door, provide a streamlined diner experience and ultimately increase revenue by seating more tables. Bill at Table works seamlessly with Impos and Tevalis point-of-sale, and makes the checkout process smoother and more rewarding for everyone involved. How does Zeller Bill at Table work? Once enabled, using Bill at Table is simple: Choose a table: On your Zeller Terminal , select the table in your venue from the list. Present the digital bill: Show the itemised bill to your diners on-screen. Process the payment: Diners can pay with their card or mobile device, and even add a tip or split the bill amongst their group. Offer a receipt: If requested, provide the diner with a printed or digital receipt. The diner can also scan the QR code on-screen to download the receipt to their device. This straightforward process combines billing and payment into one step, cutting down wait times and improving the overall experience. What are the benefits of Bill at Table? Bill at Table significantly cuts down the time taken to turn tables at the end of the meal . In fact, restaurants who have implemented Zeller Bill at Table have seen table turnover time slashed by as much as 73% , ultimately enabling them to serve up to three additional tables in every sitting. Take tips tableside with Pay at Table. By using Bill at Table and Pay at Table , patrons are more likely to leave a tip than if they head up to the counter to pay, because as Ben Hickey from The Roosevelt in Potts Point said, “When they get up to pay, the magic is gone”. With the tipping prompt built seamlessly into Zeller Terminal, wait staff don't have to ask the awkward question, ‘Would you like to leave a tip?’ – the system prompts it instead. How to get started with Zeller Bill at Table. Bringing Zeller Bill at Table into your restaurant is easy: Check compatibility: Make sure your venue uses Impos or Tevalis point-of-sale, and that it’s integrated with Zeller. We’ll be bringing Bill at Table to many other POS very soon. If you’d like to see it integrated with yours, please let us know at feedback@myzeller.com Chat with our sales team: They’ll guide you through the steps to getting Bill at Table up and running in your business. Train your staff: Guide your team through the simple process to ensure a smooth implementation. By enabling Bill at Table, your restaurant can improve efficiency and enhance the billing experience for both staff and diners. It’s one of those little things that add up to make a big difference. Say goodbye to frustrated diners and sub-optimal table turnover. Say hello to Zeller Bill at Table.

How Pay at Table with Zeller Terminal Can Boost Your Restaurant Revenue

Our latest payments feature is here and it’s revolutionising the hospitality experience. The payment process is often the Achilles’ heel of many restaurant experiences. How many times have you received the bill, placed your credit card down, and then had to wait another fifteen minutes before being able to finally pay for your meal? Countless. This is because, until now, many restaurants have been hamstrung by a disconnection between their point-of-sale machine and their EFTPOS terminal. The time it takes for a waiter to deliver the bill to the diners, retrieve the payment terminal, return to the table, then round off the table in the POS system , is considerable. Multiply this by the number of tables in the venue and you can easily understand the aforementioned delay. Pay at Table technology is changing that. By centralising the POS and payment process into one device, Pay at Table bridges the gap between tapping or swiping a card, and settling the bill in the system. Read on to understand how this technology works and how it can help turn over tables faster, and ultimately drive revenue for your restaurant. If your restaurant is currently not using a POS system and you value efficiency and improving customer experience, consider exploring the best POS systems for restaurants in Australia . These systems can further streamline your payment process, helping you turn over tables faster and ultimately drive revenue. How does Pay at Table work? Pay at Table is effectively an extension of your POS machine, on your EFTPOS terminal. Waiters pick up Zeller Terminal , view open tables, see total outstanding bills, take payments and close tables — all on one device. Rather than the customer paying at the counter or finalising the bill in the traditional, time-consuming manner, waitstaff can deliver the bill and the mobile payment device, all at the same time. The status of a table is updated in real time and synced across all machines, reducing human error and optimising the whole operation. Benefits of Pay at Table technology 1. Increased efficiency Being able to close a table independently of the POS machine means that the latter isn’t blocked by taking payments, it can instead be used to open and manage tables. Naturally, this reduces foot traffic throughout the venue, eliminates queues, and turns tables over more quickly. Staff are freed up to process orders faster, leading to improved service and ultimately, higher sales. 2. Improved customer satisfaction Leaving customers waiting to pay for their bill can leave a bad taste in the mouth — pun not intended. Zeller Terminal’s Pay at Table functionality makes for a smoother process and offers the added benefit of allowing customers to split the cost by the number of people or by a custom amount . 3. Encourages generous tipping Zeller Terminal comes with a built-in tool which can easily calculate the fair amount for a gratuity and will provide the customer with various tipping options to choose from. Displayed clearly for your customers to review, this feature can increase your server’s tip earnings and erase confusion surrounding tipping protocol. Zeller Terminal makes it as easy as possible to prompt your customers to leave a tip, either as a percentage of the purchase amount or a custom amount. Or, you can switch the functionality off altogether. 4. Helps build a customer relationship When wait staff use Pay at Table, an opportunity is provided to spend more time interacting with the customers, ensuring they’ve had a great dining experience in your establishment. The technology also means you can email digital receipts on the spot. Not only is this handy for your customer’s record-keeping and to reduce costs and waste associated with paper receipts, but it’s a great way to expand your customer database by capturing email addresses. You may be able to use these details to keep in touch with your diners, providing them with up-to-date news and special offers that will keep them coming back to your restaurant. 5. Safer transactions Payment security is front of mind for most consumers these days. By having a mobile payment device available, your customer’s card remains in their possession at all times. This offers them security knowing that no one else has had access to their card details or identity. It can also mean fewer chargebacks for your business to handle. The next generation of payment processing Pay at Table is just one example of the many ways that traditional payments are evolving to keep up with the times. New technology is affording us more flexibility to create industry-specific solutions while emerging trends are changing the way we pay. Get started with Pay at Table today Pay at Table is currently available to use with selected POS systems. Contact our Sales Team to learn more about installing Pay at Table on your Zeller Terminals today. 

What’s the latest?

Fresh resources, offers and updates in your inbox every month, to help your business succeed.