Payment solutions for small businesses

Tierra Bulk Foods

Juan Lozano and Elena Pastor’s Spanish roots revolve around food. Juan’s grandmother was an olive oil merchant. Elena’s family worked in fields with almond and olive trees. Ending up in the food industry was a consequence of their heritage. Through Tierra Bulk Foods, they’re able to share the Mediterranean cuisine and lifestyle in Australia.

Fulfilling a need and providing an experience

Juan and Elena enjoy visiting local markets. When they moved to Australia, they noticed something was missing while browsing. Even with the wide variety of offerings, you weren’t able to find locally sourced dry goods like beans, grains, seeds and spices. They saw this as an opportunity and Tierra Bulk Foods emerged.

The couple started with fewer than 10 products and have grown to carrying 220 with more to come. This was the result of putting their customers first. Juan expressed one of their key philosophies: ‘We’d never say no to a customer. We’d say we’ll have it in mind. So after a few times of people asking for certain things, we’d bring it to the market.’

This left customers feeling heard. Not only did their inventory grow, but they started to attend more markets and eventually opened a storefront. They chose Square to fulfil their payment processing needs both at the markets and in their retail shop.

‘The perfect size.’

They knew from the beginning they would need a payment processor: ‘Nowadays where card payments are over 70% of your sales, it was something that we needed.’

Initially they looked into more traditional options. They explored some bank systems, but ‘It got very complicated. It was uncomfortable and big.’ Size was an important factor because they only had so much room to work with at markets. ‘We had a small stall when we first started, so we needed something small. The Square Reader was the perfect size.’

The sleek design of the Square Reader was easy to transport. They could pull it out and connect to their phones instantly to start making sales.

Hear how Juan and Elena grew their business with Square Payments

‘We needed something that could be used in the markets, and that’s where Square was very easy … You could have something that didn’t need no connection – it was basically with your Wi-Fi [that] you could use it. So you could have an extra phone and it was practical.’

Learn more about payments

‘It works without any issues.’

Square Reader was their go-to when first going to markets. Once their business grew, they incorporated Square Terminal. ‘With Square giving us the option of having multiple locations at the same time, it helped us grow because you could have two terminals in two different locations at the same time, and it actually works without any issues.’

Square Terminal allowed them to have the same portability they appreciated with Square Reader. ‘It’s easy to handle and move around.’ This allowed Square Terminal to become their go-to for markets, and Square Reader for their storefront. Plus, with the integrated software across devices, they were able to track their sales with Square Dashboard.

The data they received from the Dashboard allowed them to plan ahead. They were able to know at what point of the day more customers were coming and when to bring someone else in to work. Juan said, ‘All the data Square provides is very useful. It gives you the chance to go back in time and understand what happened in certain moments of your history.’

‘Don’t lose freshness.’

Tierra Bulk Foods has had its share of challenges. When they first began it was during the 2019 bushfires. Floods followed. Then there was COVID-19. The beginning was rough, to say the least, but it brought more of a sense of community. People understood the importance of locally grown products and communities.

That’s one thing Juan and Elena take pride in is trying to make sure their products are directly sourced, so they can share that information with their customers. They also want to make their community feel welcomed, from listening to their feedback to the atmosphere they provide.

A piece of wisdom Juan shared about tackling challenges is, ‘Don’t lose freshness. Treat yourself and your goods the same way.’ They plan to continue doing what they do well and work on the area they can improve in going into the future. As they’ve done all along.