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[title]Melbourne is full of great coffee spots. Still, few have shaped the city’s coffee culture quite like Seven Seeds. With four venues and a dedicated roastery, the business has become a local institution, raising the bar for Melbourne’s coffee scene over the last 18 years.
It all started with co-founders Mark Dundon and Bridget Amor, who met while working at St Ali. In 2003, they opened their first joint venture Brother Baba Budan. Named after the legendary figure who smuggled seven coffee seeds out of Yemen in the 17th century, the hole-in-the-wall espresso bar was a bold move at the time.
Though the concept of a stand-up espresso bar was unfamiliar to Melbourne in the early ‘00s, Brother Baba Budan eventually won over the locals. In the years since, Dundon and Amor have expanded with sibling venues: Seven Seeds Carlton, a dine-in café; Traveller, a CBD narrow espresso bar with a takeaway window; and most recently Suburbia in Fairfield, a bakery café turning out croissants, scrolls, sourdough and more.
Rather than roll out a carbon copy of their original venue, the duo made a conscious decision to give each space its own personality. “All our venues are fairly different,” Amor told Square. “They all have unique vibes and cater to different parts of the city.”
With each venue offering something distinct, Dundon and Amor rely on a few key tools from Square to provide guidance. Using Square’s tracking features, they’re able to see what’s resonating with customers and adjust accordingly. “We’re opening later at Brother, just because of a trend with people staying out and being able to drink coffee a little later,” says Dundon.
Their operational setup has evolved too. As the business grew – and traditional cash registers became a thing of the past – they needed a more flexible solution. That’s where Square came in. “Square is obviously a lot more streamlined, a lot faster, a lot easier for multiple staff to use,” says Amor.
Running two small-scale espresso bars means speed is everything – so the team uses the iPad-powered Square Stand to enter orders quickly and keep the lines moving. But Square isn’t just for tap-and-go service – it also powers their larger venues.
“We’ve got a couple of fast-paced espresso bars, we’ve got one venue with a floor plan and a full kitchen, we’ve got one venue that just offers retail coffee and within that our retail offering of our coffee changes. So to be able to control that from the head office of coffees on, coffees off, from venues to have food on, food off, Square is just very easy for us to use,” says Amor.
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