From In-Store To Online: How Lune Croissanterie Embraced A New World Of Ordering

The team at Lune Croissanterie are masters of their craft. With outposts in Melbourne and Brisbane, Lune creates fresh, deliciously exquisite croissants that come in a variety of sweet and savoury flavours. After initially starting as a wholesale business, Lune opened the doors to its first store in 2013. And the rest, as they say, is history. 

In their own words:

Lune is unique; designed to inspire a commitment to precision in each exquisite detail during every stage of the croissant-making process. Lune is not a shop, nor is it a factory. It is a celebration of the creation, complexity and ultimate enjoyment of a croissant.

Like many businesses, Lune had to quickly pivot its offerings to weather the storm of the Covid pandemic. And while selling online was never part of their plan – the new channel was a roaring success and completely shifted the way they operate. 

We spoke with Ryan Butler, GM of Lune, about how the successful croissanterie was forced to reassess its business model, embrace online ordering and the importance of remaining agile.

1. From in-store to online: a journey through Covid
2. The importance of remaining agile
3. A helping hand from tech

From in-store to online: a journey through Covid

In a pre-Covid world, Lune never considered selling its products online. The in-store experience was paramount for them, and online ordering and delivery were never on the agenda, as its existing business model was so successful.

Enter Covid. 

“We had to make changes to a business model that we didn’t think would require any change,” explains Butler.   

“There was uncertainty everywhere. The only model that made sense was to go online and deliver your product – it became the way of the world.”

And, like countless other businesses around Australia, the team at Lune embarked on a mission to turn their crossanterie into an online store as quickly as possible. 

This was a proud moment for Lune, particularly for the Melbourne stores where lockdowns were the most prevalent. Not only did pivoting to online ordering and delivery help them ride out the restrictions, but it also allowed them to keep hold of all their staff. 

“We were elated with the outcomes as a company and how we handled it, not only from a business perspective but from a staffing and human perspective – essentially keeping the lights on at home for our staff,” comments Butler.

Online and delivery proved to be such a success for Lune during Covid that they’re always ready at a moment’s notice to fire it up again.

“Post-lockdown, we have been genuinely overwhelmed by the in-store response and volume of people who are coming down to our locations.”

The importance of remaining agile

The Covid pandemic has led to a seismic shift in customer expectations.

“The way people access hospitality and their favourite products has changed forever,” explains Butler.

As a result, it’s imperative for businesses to embrace these changes, like Lune, rather than reverting back to the pre-Covid ways of operating. In essence, agility and flexibility are paramount for businesses to grow and succeed. 

And, despite how exhausting and stressful the pandemic was, Lune achieved enormous success with their online orders, which made them realise the untapped potential for their business.

“Moving to an online model helped us understand how our business had the flexibility that we didn’t realise it had, and it opened up more creative thinking for us as a business.”

Adapting its business model to incorporate online ordering and delivery has not only opened up an extra revenue stream for Lune but it’s also broadened its horizons to appeal to a new cohort of customers.  

“Access to Lune has been broadened. There are more ways to get your hands on Lune Croissanterie,” comments Butler.

A helping hand from tech

Lune utilises Lightspeed’s inventory management tools to improve the accuracy of their stock orders and stocktakes and establish consistent quality between stores and states. This ensures each store has enough stock for both online and in-store sales and that inventory costs are managed correctly.

The process of crafting their croissants usually involves a three-day production process, which means they need to work around five days in advance – from an ordering, costing and planning perspective. 

“We’ve used Lightspeed to place orders and get stock in. Then, through recipe creation, we can access each ingredient that makes up a recipe to get a really good idea of how much stock it’s taking and how much it’s costing us to make those products,” explains Butler.

“The stock is then decremented from our inventory, as we sell those products in store. As a result, the stocktaking process through Lightspeed has become a really engrained and easy part of what we do.” 

Having their inventory, stocktakes and sales data all linked within Lightspeed makes planning and ordering for the coming weeks and months easier while also reducing their wastage. 

“We’re able to get accurate data which then informs what we’re ordering into the next month…then we start to get a clearer picture [of what we need to produce].” 

For Lune, data and insights are instrumental when it comes to planning, managing inventory costs and ensuring the correct amount of stock or products are available for both in-store and online customers. These insights empower the teams at Lune to effectively manage their ordering and production processes -cutting costs and boosting efficiency for the whole business.

“I could have shed a tear when we made the switch [to Lightspeed]. I just think the back end of Lightspeed is one of the most intuitive operating systems I can imagine – it makes sense, and it’s easy.”