Gnocchi Gnocchi Brothers delivering the goods during COVID-19

SOUTH-EAST Queensland’s Gnocchi Gnocchi Brothers restaurant group has effectively used eCommerce solutions in order to adapt quickly to restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 virus.

Gnocchi Gnocchi Brothers, with locations at Paddington, South Bank and Southport was established by Ben Cleary-Corradini and Theo Roduner, who built their business up from a two-person market stall in Brisbane serving fresh handmade gnocchi.

Many Australian bricks-and-mortar businesses have pivoted to eCommerce in order to boost their sales according to new figures revealed by Australian eCommerce payments provider, Eway.

In the six-week period following the announcement of restrictions on the retail and hospitality sectors, Eway saw a 369% increase in applications from the hospitality sector, a 380% increase from groceries and supermarkets, and a 233% increase from beer, wine and liquor merchants.

These increases were compared to the six week period prior to the announcement of the restrictions in late March.

“When the COVID-19 restrictions came in we had to close our dining operations, which constituted about 50 per cent of our revenue,” Ben said.

“We had to look for other ways to continue to operate and keep as many staff on as possible.

“We had already spent a lot of effort increasing our current online experience for customers and took the opportunity to launch our own home delivery service utilising Eway’s all-in-one payments solution.

“As well as clawing back some of the lost revenue and improving our margins with the takeaway side of our business, importantly it has meant we’ve been able to reassign some staff and hang on to some of those jobs.”

Ben said that Gnocchi Gnocchi Brothers has seen great results by becoming takeaway focused and being able to serve the community and their loyal customers that wanted to support them.

The business also successfully uses other third party home delivery providers but has been able to take back some control in the customer relations stakes.

“We took advantage of the fact that we had staff we didn’t want to let go and decided we should put our own staff on the road, deliver to neighbouring suburbs and provide a better experience to our customers,” Ben said.

The business was already using Eway with their main site, but with the introduction of the restrictions in late March, they set-up a special home delivery platform using Eway functionality to further manage the home delivery transactions, and provide a smooth ordering experience.

“Eway provides us with a low-cost option to transact online,” Ben said. “Eway pays more quickly compared to some other platforms and this has been critical in keeping the cash flow going.”

Gnocchi Gnocchi Brothers is looking forward to dining restrictions being lifted more before welcoming back diners in-store but is making the most of the situation in the meantime, with eCommerce forming a major part of their operations.

Since launching in 1998, Eway has become the dominant player in the Australian eCommerce space, processing more than 1 in 4 transactions in the market for businesses both large and small.

Eway seamlessly integrates with hundreds of leading eCommerce shopping cart platforms and a network of custom integration development partners, providing a competitive advantage for any business that wants to grow through accepting digital payments.

If you are interested in exploring eCommerce payment solutions for your business, get in touch with one of our payment experts here.