It’s an all too familiar 2020 story. But for this new-to-Tyro customer, a critical business problem kickstarted a thriving new way of working within weeks. See how Cherie Lyden and her team kept their business running: delivering tasty treats to customers across New South Wales, all while seeing through the opportunity to expand operations.
Wholegreen Bakery is an award-winning gluten-free bakery based in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. Customer favourites include delicious croisstants, bread – baked in five different varieties, and of course the many sweet treats on offer – fresh lemon meringues, eclairs and salted caramel chocolate tarts to name a few, all gluten-free.
With business at their first venue going well, in March 2020 they took the plunge and opened a second venue in the Sydney CBD.
Open for business in a ghost town
“We had just opened our second store, a café, in the CBD. We’d been open for 2 weeks, and then COVID,” said Cherie. “All of a sudden… the CBD went dead,” and the business had to shut its doors and consolidate back at their main site in Waverley.
What they did next
Keeping jobs was the aim of the game for Cherie, who leads a tightknit crew united by a love of great food. “We basically had to pivot in order for the business to survive, in order to keep the staff employed.”
Pivoting online
While more people were spending time locally and hitting the cafés when safe to do so, Cherie saw the opportunity to jump into online orders and delivery, fast.
“We were already doing wholesale, and we continued to do our wholesale deliveries. So, we had to very quickly change our website to include deliveries (and) home deliveries.”
“Tyro were pretty open to ‘Okay, what do you need to happen? How can we make it integrate into your website currently?’ And it was our own website. It was something we were doing from scratch.”
Ready within a week
It took little time to get Cherie’s custom website ready for online orders.
“It really was an exchange of a few emails, and within a week we were able to have our online ordering system ready to go, because of Tyro.”
“We were really lucky with the integration. Because we hadn’t been with Tyro for very long, prior. And for us, it was the best move that we made prior to COVID.
…it came together really well in the end, and we haven’t looked back.”
Happy with ordering online
“It’s immediate, so we’re not chasing money, there’s no delay. And as soon as the payment’s received, the order’s confirmed. So, they get a confirmation email, and we get the confirmation order emailed to us immediately. It’s such a quick, quick process, and it makes it really easy, because lots of people order online these days. So really quite happy with ordering online.”
Increase in business
As Cherie tells it, they’ve seen an “absolute” increase in business both in Waverley and beyond. They’ve gone from an eastern suburbs of Sydney business to an almost-CBD business to a fully-fledged state-wide business, made possible by going online.
“We deliver all over New South Wales. So, it’s really opened up for us, it’s become a huge part of our revenue, doing these deliveries to customers all over New South Wales.”
While you’re here…
We love hearing inspiring stories from the businesses that work with us. Whether it’s a new innovation you’re proud of, or you’ve overcome a challenge or diversified to meet a customer need, we’d like to hear your story: https://www.tyro.com/tell-your-story/
How about you?
If you have a vision for going online, maybe you’ve built a website and are inspired by Cherie’s expansion story, contact us directly on 1300 00 TYRO (8976) between Mon-Fri 8:30am-5.30pm (Sydney time) or click through to our visitor contact form and we’ll get back to you:
https://www.tyro.com/get-started/.
You don’t even need a website to get into online payments and ordering. Like Cherie, you could end up heading in brand new directions.
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