Good as Gold: How Porcupine Village Brings the Gold Rush into the 21st Century
Porcupine Village is a historic gold rush site turned open-air museum, located on 15 acres in the town of Maldon in central Victoria. After laying dormant for 20 years, the site has been reopened and now blends rich, local history with modern hospitality, including the award-winning Golden Nugget Restaurant, accommodation, wellness centre, events space and more.
Business type:
Multi
Customer since:
2025
Location:
Maldon, VIC
Porcupine Village + Lightspeed
Managing multiple points of sale—a restaurant, bar, food truck, marquee events and experiences—required a system that could handle flexible menus, integrate with accounting and hotel software and deliver efficiency across the board.
Their previous POS was confusing for staff, rigid for managers and created frequent errors. Porcupine Village turned to Lightspeed for a solution that could match their scale and ambitions.
We sat down with Amber Gregg to learn how Lightspeed transformed their operations to deliver fast, effortless service across every part of the business.
At a glance
Lightspeed gives Porcupine Village the tools to run a complex, multi-venue operation with ease. With one intuitive platform, the team can:
- Run faster, smoother services with an intuitive POS staff love using
- Process payments seamlessly with integrated tipping and effortless split bills
- Automate inventory and reporting to save time, reduce errors, and stay in control
Less friction, more flow
Running a busy hospitality venue means every second counts. For Amber and the team at Porcupine Village, having a system that makes staff faster and service smoother has been a game-changer.
“I've noticed it's been much more efficient for staff. We've been quicker. We've been able to serve table after table quicker and get orders through.”
With Lightspeed streamlining workflows front to back, the team can focus on what matters most: serving more guests, more efficiently, while keeping the experience relaxed and enjoyable.
Payments that boost tips
“How easy are split payments? Goodness—my goodness.”
Handling payments smoothly is critical for both staff and guests. With Lightspeed Payments fully integrated, the Porcupine Village team can process transactions quickly, accurately, and without hassle.
“The staff are loving the integrated payments. They're loving just pressing a button and that's it. And again, having the tips automatically show up on the (payments) machine is then creating more tips for us.”
Closing the bill is easier than ever, especially when it comes to splitting payments.
“And split payments. Can I just take my hat off to you guys for a moment?
"When you do split payments; oh my God, it's heaven. Hats off, because you can press split for however many times you want to split.”
Automation that saves hours
“We did not realise how much we were doing manually...”
For Porcupine Village, managing stock used to mean endless manual counts and constant checking. With Lightspeed Inventory, automation has replaced the guesswork, saving staff hours of effort.
“We are loving the par levels. So when a certain amount comes under, it sends all the purchase orders…It just makes us able to do more work because things are being done for us in the background where before we'd have to manually scan this to someone and manually count.”
By reducing manual processes and introducing real-time visibility, the team can now trust their stock levels and focus on serving guests.
“The amount of times we had to do stock take when we had our old system to make sure everything was as is, we’re doing stock take a lot less now because everything is just working more efficiently.”
From questions to answers
Clear reporting is essential for Porcupine Village, especially with the owner based in Melbourne and multiple parts of the business to oversee. With Lightspeed Insights, managers can pull up answers in seconds and share scheduled reports across the team.
“My boss…He might pop out with a question, and I'll go into Insights. There's a little help button right at my fingertips. And I just pop that wording in and bam, that's how I find it.”
Pair this with the ability to customise and automate reporting, this means that everyone has the information they need, when they need it.
“The last system would only allow you to schedule something to one email and that was it. So for instance, say if I want something to go to me on a Monday at 7:00, but that same report to go to someone else on a Tuesday at 8:00, that’s easy with Lightspeed, you can do that.”
Sincerity in service
Choosing the right technology is only half the story. For Amber and the team at Porcupine Village, what stood out most was the level of support and genuine investment they felt from Lightspeed.
“The thing I like about Lightspeed is they're very focused on their customers and on what we need.”
That customer-first approach set Lightspeed apart, making it feel less like a transaction and more like a true partnership.
“It doesn't feel like you're trying to get us as a customer because you want our money. It feels like you're very invested in Lightspeed, and how unique everyone is. It didn't just feel like a sale. It felt like we care about you and how we can provide for your business. That's the thing that stood out most to Lightspeed with me.”
A final word from Amber
“If I had to give Lightspeed a big fat word to explain it, it would be that it's just efficient.”