A Property Development Analyst.+2 years' experience making data-backed site decisions across leasing, translating market and consumer data into commercial property decisions.Founder @ Task UsEnd-to-end automated matchmaking via API coding that connects hospitality owners to specialized, vetted contractors in 3 steps, 30 seconds.
Occasional sections on things I find worth writing down.
Field Notes
Fine Food Australia 2026: A Few Days That Reframed How I Think About Hospitality Tech
Notes from the floor at Fine Food Australia 2026; why the best hospitality operators reach for AI to remove friction rather than chase trends, and what that means for Task-Us.
Task-Us · Sep 2026
Thesis
The Shift in Preference of the Type of Property Held by the Retail Industry
Why Australian retail is moving away from traditional shopping centres toward high-street, pop-up, and mixed-use formats — and how consumer behaviour and policy shape the shift. From the perspective of policymakers, developers, and the consumer. A Melbourne focused study.
An automated system for Melbourne hospitality operators to log property maintenance and facilities jobs in 3 clicks and have them completed. Connects operators directly to vetted contractors and removes friction from service delivery.
Regression model achieving 90%+ accuracy on real-world store performance. Built on 20 demographic and trade-area variables, validated against five new store openings. Used to forecast site viability and inventory strategy for UNIQLO network expansion.
Regression ModellingCorrelation AnalysisDemographicsTrade Area Data
Fine Food Australia 2026: A Few Days That Reframed How I Think About Hospitality Tech
Tamiru Ayoub · Founder, Task-Us · September 2026
Fine Food Australia 2026 has come and gone, and I'm still unpacking everything from the floor. A few days spent inside the structure of some of the best hospitality businesses in the country; and a handful of things stood out that I wanted to put down properly, beyond a quick social post.
The best operators aren't chasing trends; they're removing friction
Walking the floor and sitting in on sessions, the pattern was clear: the operators doing this well aren't reaching for AI and technology because it's fashionable. They're using it to bypass the elbow grease of admin and labour management; rostering, ordering, compliance, the endless low-value work that eats a day; so that time can go back into what actually moves the needle: high-quality guest experiences that bring regulars back through the door, again and again.
That's the real story behind the AI-in-hospitality conversation right now. It's not about novelty. It's about giving good operators their time back.
What great operators actually want from their tools
If there was one thread running through every conversation I had, it's this: great hospitality operators want simplicity and serviceability from the tools they rely on. No fuss, no friction; just things that work, exactly when they're needed.
That's the space Task-Us sits in for maintenance. When something breaks; a fridge, a burst pipe, a wiring fault; the job isn't to make it complicated.
It's fast-paced, energetic, high-quality delivery, so a maintenance issue is never the thing standing between an operator and their next great service.
Learning from the people building the future of the floor
One of the real highlights was the "AI-Powered Venue: Enhancing Teams, Service & Profitability" session, featuring Ron Makins, Bianca Brady, and Fadrian Sudaman; who are building something genuinely special at FlareHQ. Hearing how they're thinking about AI at the venue level was a genuine highlight, and it feels like exactly the kind of software that becomes standard at every great venue before too long.
Big few days, bigger things coming
Between the floor, the sessions, and the Industry Celebration, it was a genuinely energising few days; full of the kind of conversations that remind you why you got into this in the first place.
If you're a hospitality operator and we happened to miss each other at Fine Food Australia this year, I'd love to connect; feel free to reach out.
The Shift in Preference of the Type of Property Held by the Retail Industry
Ayoub Tamiru · BUIL1306, RMIT University · Supervisor: Hyemi Hwang
What this thesis is about
Australia's retail landscape is moving away from the enclosed shopping centres and suburban malls that dominated for decades, toward alternative formats: high-street precincts, roadside stores, pop-up shops, and mixed-use developments that weave retail into residential and recreational life. This thesis examines why that shift is happening, and how consumer behaviour, urban development patterns, and government policy intersect to drive it.
Today's consumers want more than transactional convenience — they're looking for experiential, accessible, and personalised shopping environments.
The problem
The central issue is a misalignment between traditional retail development models and contemporary consumer expectations. Shopping centres were once the pinnacle of retail efficiency, but are increasingly seen as outdated and disconnected from how people actually live and shop. Meanwhile, many retailers, developers, and planners still operate under legacy assumptions that favour conventional formats — producing underperforming retail assets and missed opportunities. Government incentives intended to stimulate retail development are not always aligned with real consumer demand, raising questions about their long-term effectiveness.
Key themes from the literature
Experiential retail. Shopping is extending beyond transactions into entertainment, dining, and social engagement. Shopping centres are evolving into lifestyle destinations, while high-street retail — with its independent tenants, outdoor ambience, and community character — is often better positioned to deliver authenticity.
Mixed-use development and localisation. Developments combining retail with residential, office, and public space are gaining momentum across Australian cities, aligned with planning concepts like the "15-minute city." The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a shift toward shopping locally, with consumers increasingly prioritising convenience and proximity over brand loyalty.
The changing consumer. Australian shoppers have become more value-conscious, convenience-driven, and digitally engaged. Retailers have responded with omnichannel strategies, data-driven personalisation, and sustainability initiatives — though research shows a persistent gap between consumers' stated values and their actual price-sensitive purchasing behaviour.
Government policy. Programs like the Growing Regions Program and the Industry Growth Centres Initiative aim to incentivise retail development in growth areas. But a gap exists between policy intention and on-the-ground reality: restrictive zoning, fragmented planning systems, infrastructure shortfalls, and limited community consultation can blunt the impact of well-meaning incentives.
Theoretical lenses
The research draws on Central Place Theory (Christaller) to explain how retail hubs form hierarchically across urban space; Urban Resilience Theory to frame the value of diverse, integrated retail environments; the Technology Acceptance Model to understand digital retail adoption; and Public Choice Theory as a critical lens on whether government interventions follow market logic or political agendas.
Methodology
The study takes a qualitative, exploratory, cross-sectional approach focused on inner and middle-ring Melbourne. Three Victorian local government areas serve as contrasting case contexts: Whitehorse City Council (suburban), the City of Port Phillip (coastal inner-urban), and the City of Stonnington (high-density lifestyle precincts). The research relies primarily on secondary sources — academic literature, industry reports, and policy documents — and acknowledges limitations including the absence of direct stakeholder interviews and a single point-in-time view.
Why it matters
Bridging academic theory with industry practice, the thesis aims to give retailers, developers, and policymakers a more strategic and responsive framework for retail development — one grounded in how consumer preferences are actually changing, and honest about where policy currently falls short of practice.
This is a summary. The full thesis is available on request.
