Seaside expansion paid with fish and chips
A seaside favourite serving tourists and locals for more than 15 years has saved $500,000 with Bartercard in a recent $3 million renovation.
Bartercard has played a key role in the multi-million dollar renovation of the Equinox, an iconic restaurant and takeaway located in one of WA’s top tourist spots.
The $3 million refurbishment included $500,000 in Bartercard interest-free trade dollars, funding the main builder, Big Ben Builders and nearly all sub-contractors. Bartercard gave owners Peter Gordon and Dave Ebert the financial confidence for the significant spend, which has become the biggest building project funded by Bartercard in the South West.
The refurbishment of the Equinox, overlooking the famous Busselton Jetty, includes a fully expanded, 200 seat restaurant, an all-year-round alfresco dining and beer garden, plus a second commercial kitchen servicing a takeaway area.
Peter and Dave have been Bartercard members for 14 years and a year ago entered their first partnership build using trade dollars with the refurbishment of Stilts Restaurant. “We put our toe in the water with Stilts and the refurbishment was a great success with a number of local tradies coming on board with Bartercard. The next obvious step was to use trade dollars with the Equinox refurbishment,” Peter said.
“We find there’s a good mix of tourists and locals who use Bartercard seven days a week, so we know that the trade dollars we use, we quickly and easily get back in sales. Tourists come to town, jump on the Bartercard app to see where they can eat and both of our venues top the list, meaning we have a steady flow of Bartercard customers.”
He added that the ongoing help from Bartercard which sourced contractors and trades for the construction made it all possible.
Overlooking the white sand beach, Equinox is a hot spot for relaxing lunches within Busselton’s vibrant tourist strip. The venue fills out at sunset, and beach-lovers can pick up a hearty burger or a seafood basket to go.
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April 27th 2017
