Hero Subs in Melbourne, Australia has become the city’s first fast food outlet to accept bitcoin, offering an enticing 50% discount to bitcoin customers until 15th June.
It also plans to introduce an exclusive ‘Bitcoin Sub’ – available only to customers paying with bitcoin at all four of the company’s Melbourne locations.
Hero has teamed up with not just one, but two local payment systems to support its new network. The first is Melbourne’s best-known bitcoin startup CoinJar; the other is fellow digital currency pioneer DC POS.
DC POS, which charges 0.5% commission to receive and store payments, provides an online terminal interface for mobile and desktop devices, and allows merchants to choose one of four preferred wallets or bitcoin-to-fiat processors. Merchants can also elect to keep their funds in bitcoin.
As well as CoinJar, DC POS also interfaces with BitPay, Coinbase and Blockchain.
Reaction to the bitcoin announcement has been positive.
@HeroSubsAU That’s really kind guys, but I’m actually super stoked to spend bitcoin with you, so no voucher needed. See you Monday! @uwenna
– Andrew Powell (@andyjpowell) 30th May 2014
Hero Subs promotes itself as “Spreading Love, the Brooklyn Way” with New York-style gourmet baguette sandwiches. Voting for the official Bitcoin Sub’s fillings and name is already under way on the sandwich shop’s homepage.
Suggested fillings include caribbean jerk chicken, soft shell crab, toasted almonds and smashed avocado. Hero Subs will announce the winner and launch its new sandwich on Wednesday 18th June.
Melbourne on a roll
Melbourne has been leading the way for bitcoin startups and merchant acceptance in Australia. As well as being home to both CoinJar and DC POS, the country’s second city also has a whopping 44 bitcoin and litecoin-accepting businesses listed on Coinmap.org – the highest in the country and neighboring region.
CoinJar is also known for its bitcoin advocacy around its native country. The company publishes a blog called ‘CoinJar Stories‘, with profiles of bitcoin-accepting businesses from Australia and abroad, and the paths they took on their way to enlightenment.