Square celebrates nine Aussie businesses honoured in The Square 50

Today, Square announced the winners for its second edition of The Square 50, an annual awards program dedicated to championing businesses that are changing the entrepreneurial game in their respective fields. Businesses were nominated for their innovation, growth, sustainability efforts, community impact, and experience curation.

After thousands of nominations worldwide, 50 businesses were selected from around the world with nine from Australia. Those local honourees were:

• Brooki Bakehouse, the viral Fortitude Valley based that’s expanding its cookie delivery business with in-store experiences;
• Sorrento Pizzeria which brings authentic Napoletana pizza to Empire Bay on NSW’s Central Coast;
• Rocky Ridge Brewing, a Margaret River-based microbrewery with a focus on sustainability;
• ILZA, a rapidly growing Japanese restaurant and café based in Melbourne;
• Little Lagos a Sydney restaurant building a community centred around good Nigerian food;
• The Keep, a remote, boutique couples retreat in North East Tasmania;
• Pasta’bah, a paddock-to-plate and regenerative farming champion, as well as a pasta restaurant and retailer in the Northern Rivers of NSW;
• Floating Sauna, a business giving travellers the experience of going straight from a wood-fired sauna to a cold plunge in Tasmania’s Lake Derby, and;
• Simply Stunnin’ Hair, a Melbourne-based hair salon that offers community haircuts for anyone in need.

The full Square 50 class of 2024 can be seen here.

For Australia’s contingent of Square 50 honourees, the reaction was positive after a hard year.

Sorrento Pizzeria in Empire Bay in New South Wales was awarded for the authentic experience it gives its diners. Owner and head chef, Elia ‘Luigi’ Eliopoulou (left, below), says “winning Square 50 means everything to me. I gave up my marketing career a few years ago to pour my soul into honouring our families century old tradition started in Naples by my nonna. I feel that decision is more than vindicated with this award. My late mother Stella was the inspiration for Sorrento and taught me everything I know about resilience, traditional Napoletana pizza, and the importance of building community - this award is for her.”

Abbey Shepherd (below), the owner of Simply Stunnin’ hairdressers in Melbourne, was awarded for her community spirit. Abbey says that “winning the Square 50 feels like being handed a golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory! It’s a delightful affirmation of our hard work and dedication, and it energises us to keep pushing boundaries and striving for excellence.” The award, she says, “is like a boost of motivation that inspires us to dream even bigger and continue making a positive impact. It’s a celebration of passion, perseverance, and the power of community!”

Brooki Bakehouse was praised for its innovation and constantly evolving its business model to stay relevant and resilient. On her win, Brooke Saward (below), owner, says that “innovation is the name of the game for us and winning Square 50 is reward for all our hard work. From creating FOMO moments, like the launch of our now famous Almond Croissant cookie, to growing our brand awareness organically with a marketing budget of $0, our humble bakery has boomed. We now operate from a commercial kitchen and ship cookies to seven countries internationally, but it feels like we’re only just getting started.”

Nigel Reeves (below), owner of Floating Sauna on Lake Derby, says that he hopes being recognised among the Square 50 “will prove that any business, even one right at the bottom of the southern hemisphere, can make an impact.” Reeves’ business was commended for the experience it’s curated for customers. “I built the sauna by hand, with my dog and a cordless drill, and used the delays caused by COVID to fine-tune the product to make sure it was ready for when people were ready and able to get back into nature,” Reeves said. “And while experiencing the sauna is a major draw, we had to make sure the customer experience leading into discovering and booking a slot on the sauna was fine-tuned, that’s why working with partners like Square has been so important to us.”

“Small businesses around the world have had to navigate challenging economic environments over the past year and we’re delighted to shine a light on their innovation, drive, commitment and leadership,” says Colin Birney, Head of Business Development at Square in Australia. “And while every business is a winner to us, I’m particularly excited that we have nine businesses from Down Under represented across all categories for the Square 50. These are businesses that others in Australia can look to for inspiration.”

About Square

Square makes commerce and financial services easy and accessible with its integrated ecosystem of solutions. Square offers purpose-built software to run complex restaurant, retail, and professional services operations, versatile e-commerce tools, embedded financial services and banking products, buy now, pay later functionality through Afterpay, staff management and payroll capabilities, and much more – all of which work together to save sellers time and effort. Millions of sellers across the globe trust Square to power their business and help them thrive in the economy. For more information, visit www.squareup.com.