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The story

Where it started, and how it got here.

A coffee shop, a cleaning company and a burger franchise came first. They taught more about operations, scale and execution than anything since.

The early ventures

20152015 TO 2017

Buzzing Oasis Closed

Coffee shop. Opened with my older brother Sal.

The first business. A proper coffee shop, not a side project. Running hospitality from day one puts you in the deep end fast: staff, suppliers, cash flow, customer experience, and margins tight enough that execution has to be close to perfect every day.

Buzzing Oasis ran for two years. It was a real education in operations and people, and it made one thing clear: the most scalable businesses are not the ones with the highest rent.

2016FOUNDED 2016

Prodigy Cleaning Services Still running

Commercial cleaning. Now Sydney Commercial Clean.

Started during the Buzzing Oasis years, because building one business while running another is just how the pattern goes. It proved the model, built the systems and grew a solid client base across Sydney.

The business has since been rebranded to Sydney Commercial Clean and is owned and run by Sal. I still run the digital side: SEO, the website and the online setup. Its clients include Defence Bank, Kuttabul Branch, in Potts Point.

sydneycommercialclean.com.au

2016CO-FOUNDED 2016

Slide N Shake Exited

American burger franchise. Co-founded with a business partner.

A simple idea: proper American-style sliders and shakes in Sydney. The first store opened in Gordon, NSW, and the concept landed straight away. Sliders and shakes led to full burgers, and demand made franchising the obvious next step.

From one store it grew to six Sydney locations, all run by licensed operators. That is a hands-on education in brand systems, operator relationships and what happens when a concept genuinely resonates with people.

Gordon (the original)
Neutral Bay
Belrose
Haymarket
Willoughby
Chatswood

Slide N Shake, Recommended on Restaurant Guru 2020

CHANNEL 7

Featured on Sunrise.

Slide N Shake was featured in a Sunrise campaign on Channel 7, national reach for a brand built from the ground up in Sydney.

Watch the clip

What those years actually built.

Operational reality. Running a coffee shop and a cleaning business at the same time teaches you how operations work. Real rosters, real margins, real problems at 6 am.

Franchise-level scale. Taking one store to six franchised locations is an education in brand systems, operator relationships and growing something beyond yourself.

Pattern recognition. Every industry has the same underlying problems: finding customers, keeping them, building systems, managing people and staying profitable.

TODAY

What I run now.

The early ventures were the curriculum. This is what sits on top of them.

FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR

CREDENTIALS

Eleven certifications, on file.

Alongside the direct experience: digital marketing, analytics, SEO and web platform certifications. Some are issued under the name Ray Iqbal. Open any one to see the original.