BendigoWeekly www.bendigoweekly.com.au
issue 1073 friday, june 8, 2018
fresh brew Cafes move into a new era
By Sharon kemp
knitting yarn: Alysha Elliott means business. Photo: ANDREW PERRYMAN
Spotlight on world knit in public This Saturday is World Knit in Public Day and Spotlight has partnered with local knitting enthusiasts to encourage Bendigo locals to knit for a cause. Kangaroo Flat Uniting Church group are knitting experts and will be in store for the day, knitting garments and blankets to contribute to Red Nose’s Treasured Babies program. The Red Nose Treasured Babies program
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donates garments and blankets to families who have been impacted by the death of a child, from 14 weeks to 32 weeks old. The Bendigo community is encouraged to go to the Spotlight store to create garments to donate to a family in need. It all happens at Spotlight Bendigo, 6 Marong Rd, Ironbark from 9am to 5pm on Saturday.
40km/h zones ahead – Page 3
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NEW ownership is an unlikely marketing call for three Bendigo cafes in one of the city’s most popular coffee precincts, but it has been necessary to convince customers the businesses are setting up for a new era. Renewed energy has replaced the confusion and negativity that accompanied the very public ending of a group of linked holding companies that a year ago owned and operated all three cafes, only to sell all three in the past seven months to separate buyers, in order to pay creditors. Now, the proprietors of Bath Lane Cafe and the Green Olive Cafe in Bath Lane, and Finders Keepers around the corner in Mitchell Street, are working to draw people back to the coffee and shopping precinct below the landmark Bendigo and Adelaide Bank building. They also want to reinforce the fact that all three cafes have new owners, despite concerns raised by some customers that this was not the case. The three cafes also share a common desire to reconnect to the wider precinct and to draw people back. Finders Keepers manager Maurizio Biasi said he visited neighbouring businesses every day to invite proprietors and employees in to test the buzz in the cafe he is trying to create. “We want to let people know we are accountable and we want to make the business better,” he said.
Mr Biasi, who has made a career in hospitality, was asked by the cafe’s new Melbourne-based owners to return and reinvigorate the business, after the venue was forced to close for several months following the sale. It reopened only five weeks ago. “What I am trying to do is to be relevant to the surrounding businesses and community,” Mr Biasi said, add-
We want to let people know we are accountable ing that buying from local suppliers as much as possible was part of the return plans. He said front of house and kitchen staff had been supportive of the new owners. “We want to feel like we are part of (the reinvigoration),” Mr Biasi said. All the cafes have retained an element of customer connection through the familiar faces of staff, many of whom have been reemployed or employed by another cafe in the precinct.
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