The Safe Hands Initiative Story

Helping hospo is something dear to our hearts. When COVID-19 reared its head we saw an opportunity to help. This is the story of why we initiated the Safe Hands Initiative and what it achieved.

The Problem

In March 2020, The COVID-19 pandemic became very real for all of us. Before then, the news of another virus overseas could have been like any other of the outbreaks that never made it to our shores - but this time was different and it turned dire very quickly.

Borders started shutting and plans for lockdowns quickly came into place. The biggest thing in our minds was the effect that this would have on our beloved and very people-centric hospitality industry.

First came the lockdowns, with all New Zealand hospo not allowed to trade while Australia was limited to only takeaway and delivery. Then there would be ongoing discussions and easing on some items ‘Ahem, beer’ becoming essential, the need for contactless payment, contact tracing, a squillion tonnes of highly sought after hand sanitiser, and the problem of the “Covid pen” for those of us using pen and paper at the door to gather punters’ details.

What could we do to assist?

Immediately we met to discuss what we could do to help. Aside from the fact that if hospo venues don’t operate, we don’t operate, our company ethos is being “Here for Hospo” and it was time to really live it. We knew the income from mobile ordering would only be a small % of normal trade and that the NZ industry had lost weeks of revenue from complete close down.

We already had our “On Hold” plan in place to ensure our customers could stop paying straight away until they were ready again. We also had a solution that could help during restrictions - our mobile ordering app, Regulr - providing contactless ordering and payment (click and collect).

We had also planned to launch our brand new order screen app, Paperless. The timing was weirdly too perfect as it reduces the number of physical dockets passed around as well as providing customers using older PoS systems a way to trade if they don’t have compatible printers.

We chose the name Safe Hands Initiative, then whipped up a website in a day; our plan - to offer Regulr and Paperless for free during restriction for any hospo operator on any Bustle base plan (from $29 p/m).

How did that help?

We set the plan into motion and added the Safe Hands Initiative add on to our subscriptions. The first uptake was from hospitality venues considered essential - so  customers who could pivot into delivering those goods were among the first to jump on. Australia was also able to offer takeaway and delivery options so a few keen punters took the opportunity and added Regulr and Paperless for free.

Then New Zealand was out of lockdown and things got a little crazy for us here at Bustle. Our sales gurus, Corey and Ashley were inundated with interest in Bustle and our Safe Hands Initiative offer. We soldiered through support going nuts with hundreds of our customers keen to use our technology to help recoup the losses of lockdowns.

From an original 300 customers putting their plans on hold, we had most of them return and 600 sign up to the Safe Hands Initiative. We went from 50 active Regulr customers to 570 and we’ve had over 70,000 people download the Regulr app. 150 new Bustle customers signed up in the first few weeks to take advantage of our offer and got their doors back open. All in all we helped 350 new customers get set up with Bustle and Safe Hands Initiative from March 2020 to End of June 2020.

Almost 2 million in turnover went through Regulr during this time and we’ve loved watching our customers turn things around, sending them monthly updates in our Bustle newsletter - the Bustle “What’s what” (sign up for it on our Blog homepage).

As New Zealand returns to normal levels of turnover, we wave goodbye to Safe Hands Initiative NZ and focus our energies on supporting Australia. For our NZ customers we thank everyone for choosing us as their hospo software partner, from our oldest customers to those who only jumped on board for the duration.

If you’re looking for a change or need a new point of sale solution, Corey and Ashley would love to chat with you - and know that you’re in safe hands.

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