The Secret to One of Sydney’s Best New Restaurants Is Free-flowing Drinks… and Data

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.

This year, Zeller launched the inaugural Zeller Regional Small Business Grant , offering four regional Australian businesses a share in $10,000 to equip them with the technology, resources, and funding they need to succeed. Meet this year’s winners and learn how they will be using the money to grow their businesses. New point-of-sale hardware for a bakery in Warrnambool, Victoria. William Jane has been a baker for eighteen years. After doing an apprenticeship under the late Piero Brunetti – the founder and namesake of Melbourne’s iconic cake shop – William cut his teeth in bakeries across London, Chennai, and Byron Bay, before returning home and opening his business,  Jane Dough , in Warrnambool. Filling a gap in the market, the artisan baker quickly won the hearts of locals with a core range of doughnuts, pastries, and sourdough breads. Initially a wholesale-only business, the COVID-19 pandemic led William to add a retail arm, which has been increasingly gaining momentum since its 2020 launch. Despite having diversified the business, the rising cost of goods has put a significant strain on the bakery for the best part of the last two years. “We used to buy butter sheets for $200 a box, they’re now $350. And we’re constantly getting hit with 15-25% increases on the cost of flour,” says William, “It’s been way more challenging than the pandemic.” Thanks to the Zeller Regional Small Business Grant, the bakery will be able to upgrade its outdated point-of-sale hardware for the front and back of house, “Our current POS terminal is so old we can’t load the software onto it properly,” says William, “The grant will help us pay for a new tablet for the counter and for the staff at the back, as well as some new signage and awnings.” A water tank for a gin distillery in Foster, Victoria. By day, Jane Searle and Lisa Branch are teachers in Melbourne. By night, they’re gin distillers in the small Gippsland town of Foster. What started as a fun idea discussed over dinner, evolved, officially, into  South Gippsland Gin Co . in November 2023. “Before this, our only experience with gin was drinking it!” laughs Jane. “But we're both pretty driven, so we did some research and bought all the materials we needed, and just started playing around with recipes, infusing different botanicals into each run,” she explains. Since then, they’ve honed their craft, and now offer a range of four gins, each named after their favourite places in Wilsons Promontory. The women operate the boutique distillery from Lisa’s property in Foster, and have plans to open a gin school and a cellar door, but there are a few upgrades that need to happen first. “Each run of gin takes about 230 litres of filtered water,” explains Jane, “But the old dairy where we are operating from doesn’t have filtered water. At the moment, we either have to transport it from my house, which is a ten-minute drive away, or buy bottled water.” The Zeller Regional Small Business Grant will allow them to buy a rainwater tank and filter their water on-site. “That will be a game changer,” says Jane. A tech upgrade for a nursery in Gresford, New South Wales. Noel Jupp opened  Riverdene Nursery  in 1956, and has never looked back. The now 90-year-old continues to work seven days a week, sowing seed and propagating stock alongside his daughter Rosemary, who joined the family venture 34 years ago. The long-running success of the business can largely be attributed to Noel’s encyclopaedic knowledge of plants and his unwavering work ethic. “He's got a remarkable ability to recognise species,” says Rosemary, “and he used to put in a 16-hour day”. Over the years, the nursery has carved a niche for itself, catering to land care organisations or local councils that require native plants adapted to specific climates and growing conditions. While Noel is still very active in the business, his deteriorating health has forced him to slow down, and as a result, Rosemary is looking to improve efficiency in other areas: “Once upon a time, Noel would have wandered around and made a mental note of what stock was getting low,” shes says, “But now, we’re writing paper lists and then inputting them into an inventory system. It’s not efficient.” Thanks to the Zeller Regional Small Business Grant, they intend on purchasing an iPad which the staff can use to input the data directly while walking around the nursery. “It would just remove those extra unnecessary steps, and allow me to focus on other areas of the business,” Rosemary explains. A dining room refurbishment in Northcliffe, Western Australia. If you’re walking the Bibbulmun Track or riding the Munda Biddi Trail through the southwestern shire of Manjimup, there’s a chance you’ll stumble through the small town of Northcliffe, where Penelope Wood runs her restaurant – Naughty Noodle Bar. “We're a real end-of-the-line kind of place” she says, “It’s big forest country. We have luscious soils and we benefit from that coastal climate,” she explains. A climate that allows her to sustain her restaurant primarily using home-grown produce. Opened in 2021, Naughty Noodle Bar, caters mainly to the tourist trade, serving up a variety of fresh and seasonal meals, all cooked by Penelope. However, dwindling accommodation in the area combined with poor weather means that customers can be few and far between during the winter months. To bring in more revenue, Penelope has diversified her offering, opening up a bed and breakfast as well as a small antiques shop, but she’s seen a steady decline in the demand for antiques, which she attributes to online competition. Having been awarded the Zeller Regional Small Business Grant, Penelope intends to redecorate the room she was using as a shop into a more spacious dining room. “Having the budget at a time of year when income is really limited, is a huge help. It means I can take this opportunity to redo the space, and get it ready for the busier trading period over summer.” Zeller is here to support Australian businesses. Zeller is a Melbourne-based financial services company that gives Australians the tools they need to run and grow their businesses. From EFTPOS to accounts, cards, and invoicing, our tools are designed to make financial management simple and affordable, so that you can focus on what you do best. If you’d like to learn how Zeller can keep more money in your business,  find out more here  or  speak to a member of our Sales Team  today. Sign up to Zeller’s newsletter and follow us on   Facebook   and   Instagram   to find out when applications open for the Zeller Regional Small Business Grant 2025.

A new generation of beauty and hair professionals are forging their own paths, choosing to work independently rather than seek traditional employment. It’s a shift driven by new technology, social media, and a growing number of specialised co-working spaces. We spoke with Brisbane-based hairdresser Alandra Flatley and Melbourne-based skin and beauty therapist Emily Keane about their decision to go freelance, and how they're using technology, like Zeller, to streamline the transition. On first impressions,  Level 10, The Studio , in Brisbane’s inner suburb of Teneriffe, looks like a regular – albeit beautiful – hair salon. Clients sip lattes with a view out to the river while the team around them cuts, colours, and blow dries. What you don’t notice, however, is that most of the stylists are running their own business. This collaborative work environment, made up of freelancers, contractors, and a handful of employees, represents a significant shift away from traditional top-down business models, and one that is being embraced across the hair and beauty industry. The future looks good. “It’s the way of the future”, says  Alandra Flatley , a hair stylist who has been working from the space since November. After being employed in a salon for 17 years, she decided to go out on her own in early 2023 . “I just wanted more freedom and more flexibility,” she says. “I was keen to get out of that traditional environment and work somewhere where I could see the clients I wanted to see, work the hours I wanted to work, and be able to earn more.” Not ten years ago, this idea might have been a radical one, but with hair and beauty professionals now able to amass a network of followers (and potential clients) on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, and rent rooms or chairs within specialised workspaces – the barriers to entry aren’t what they used to be. Service over sales. For Emily Keane, a Melbourne-based skin and beauty therapist specialising in holistic skincare, the decision to become a sole trader was an ethical one. “When I was working for different spas and skin clinics, I wasn’t able to be authentic and fully care for the client,” she explains, “there was a huge amount of pressure on sales… we were told to get customers in for as many treatments as possible as often as possible, and then upsell any sort of products that would work for them… the sentiment was, ‘no matter what treatment they are getting, there's always something to sell them’. Which I just don’t agree with,” Emily says. It came down to the choice to either pivot into beauty education or open her own salon. She chose the latter. After leaving full-time employment, Emily launched  Cared for Skin & Body  from her rental in Caulfield North. “I really expected there to be way more roadblocks… but it just all kind of happened very quickly,” she says. “I can create my own rules and tailor everything to the client, rather than making them fit the box that suits the business.” – Emily Keane New tech tipping the balance. Indeed, both Alandra and Emily are amongst a cohort of first-time business owners who are benefitting from the latest tools and technology available to help them get set up. “Technology is affording so many more opportunities and giving people so much more freedom,” says Alandra, “We’ve got keyless entry into the co-working space, everything can be digitally locked, and there’s so much support now with companies like  Zeller  for managing your finances,  Hnry  for filing your taxes,  Timely  for booking appointments…” she explains. Emily, who also uses Zeller and Timely, agrees, “It's a lot easier now. Services are way more accessible for everyday people who aren’t tech wizards or have studied business. There's a lot of guidance within the companies as well, and a lot of support, so you don't need to be an expert in everything… You can give it all a go and you learn very quickly.” Flawless financial management. When it came to managing their finances, these digital natives were both quick to choose Zeller, citing the ease of creating an account online and the ability to manage their funds all in one place as motivating factors. “I also loved the fact that the  EFTPOS terminal  was such a good price and that I got a bank account and a debit card attached to it,” says Alandra, “Plus the  Zeller Savings Account  has such a good interest rate. So I started putting my tax and GST money in there each week.” Emily agrees, “A lot of what I needed was integrated within just the one tool which has been really important to me. I can do everything primarily through Zeller, including putting money away for tax and savings. It's very easy to keep my finances organised and see what's happening within the business,” she explains. As for accepting payments, Zeller’s range of solutions has also helped give them the flexibility they need for their modern businesses. For Alandra, accepting payments on her smartphone with  Tap to Pay  has given her one less device to charge (or forget at home!), while for Emily, it’s facilitated taking payment on the go when she does product drop-offs at her clients’ houses. Additionally, Zeller’s  online invoicing  solution has meant Alandra can charge the salon when they need help with extra clients, and  Zeller Virtual Terminal  lets Emily send payment links to customers who wish to pre-pay for their appointments or buy gift vouchers. The beauty of being able to accept all their payments and have their money settled nightly into their Zeller Account, means that they get a clear overview of their incoming and outgoing funds. “It shows me more in-depth information on where my money is coming from. I can track my sales and see what days are more popular,” says Emily. “Sometimes I might want to try a specific product but I'll wait until I see my cash flow for the week on  Zeller App  before deciding whether or not I should hold off on the order,” says Alandra. Everybody wins. Armed with modern apps like Zeller, these fiercely independent businesses are able to function efficiently and affordably – which in turn, reduces the pressure on bookings and sales. Both women agree: a lot more income can be generated by working alone. But it’s the clients who are the real winners. “Some people just want to come in and relax. It's a special treat. They don't want to be sold a bunch of stuff or be pressured to rebook at the end. They should be able to just enjoy that experience,” explains Emily. Similarly, Alandra believes that having independent stylists creates more accountability: “If you’re employed, you’re getting paid no matter what. But I know I’d prefer to have my hair cut by someone who really wants to be there, rather than someone who is just showing up for work.” By doing away with outdated sales tactics and sidestepping operational barriers thanks to new technology, these entrepreneurs are taking a modern and refreshing approach to business. And it’s reaping benefits for both them, and their customers.