CAFÉ SCENE

Hobby Lane’s La Marzocco Linea PB faces the street, drawing in wandering coffee drinkers.

HOBBY LANE

4/43 Blackwood Street, Mitchelton, Queensland, 4053 Open seven days 6:30am to 12pm (07) 3355 7990

When chef Peter Shaw took over a delicatessen in Michelton, Queensland in 2010, he envisioned turning it into a destination where he and others can practise their passion for food and hospitality. Thus, Hobby Lane was born.

“I always wanted the café to be a success for all. Our goal isn’t just money, it’s the popularity of the café, enjoyment of our customers, and happiness of our staff,” Peter says.

“It’s a really nice place to work, with a good dose of humour and people have stayed a long time with me due to that. I’m proud that it’s a place where people want to work and customers want to come.”

Over time, Peter shifted the venue’s focus from being a dedicated deli to a full café. Two years ago, he remodelled the store so its coffee machine – a white three-group La Marzocco Linea PB – was up front and in full view from the street.

“The coffee machine was deep within the store. Our food was doing really well, but I really wanted the quality coffee we were doing to be reflected in the numbers,” Peter says.

“We focus on keeping it simple, with really nice shots and milk, combined with speed and lovely customer service.”

The renovation led to a boom in sales. Hobby Lane serves the Woolloomooloo blend from Toby’s Estate Coffee Roasters, a “blend that suits the customer”.

“We tried a few of their other blends and are really happy with Woolloomooloo. It’s a big mouthful of body and flavour with distinct flavours of spice, cocoa, and caramel,” Peter says.

“We do a strong number of kilos per week and there’s not really room for a second person, so it requires a genuine gun of a barista.” 64 beanscenemag.com.au

While coronavirus-related restrictions have hit the food part of the business, the coffee section is carrying the weight. Peter estimates that Hobby Lane’s coffee usage is up by almost 50 per cent.

“Our streetscape is very attractive for coffee. It’s open and airy, so people have the correct perception they can get a coffee without entering a closed environment and keep social distance,” Peter says.

“Our overall business is down, but the model is smaller, so it’s still effective. I’m also working less myself, so I can keep giving people shifts. Investing in the takeaway side of things is also quite exciting.”

Hobby Lane has filled its front cabinet with handmade quiches, chicken pies, pastries, salads, and granola cups – something new to the café. A takeaway menu of breakfast favourites, like Breaky To-Go Rolls and Smoked Salmon, is also on offer.

Peter looks forward to sit-down service returning to Hobby Lane, so he and his kitchen team can put their creativity back on display. One of Hobby Lane’s standout dishes is a spelt crepe served with coconut, ricotta, a yuzu curd, toasted almonds, lemon balm, basil sugar, and ruby grapefruit.

“It’s a play on lemon crepes if you like, but with healthier flour,” Peter says. “It’s a bit feminine, very visual, and doesn’t fill you up too much. You walk away going ‘that was delicious and a little bit of fun.’”

VENEZIANO COFFEE CANBERRA

2/131 Lysaght Street, Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, 2911 Open Monday to Friday 8:30am to 2pm 0400 843 579

After a decade of operating in Australia’s capital, Veneziano Coffee Roasters finally opened the doors to its Canberra headquarters in April.

The space features a “pseudo training studio cellar door” and offers beans and equipment for home use. With initial plans to launch a full suite of barista training classes, the Veneziano team had to rethink its offering to comply with social distancing rules amidst the COVID-19 outbreak.

“Opening our doors now was important to us to show the Canberra market and our wholesale family that we’re still here and give them the confidence that we will be on the other side of COVID-19 too,” says Craig Dickson, Managing Director of Veneziano.

“We also know people are now, more than ever, making coffee at home, and we have the beans, equipment, and advice to help them get their home coffee set-up established.”

The venue’s retail wall contains a full range of coffee beans and micro lots, plus

ROWENA CORNER STORE

44 Rowena Parade, Richmond, Victoria, 3121 Open seven days 8am to 2pm (03) 9421 3262

Food and culture have always been at the core of Rowena Corner Store. Owner Con Coustas says the ‘recipe’ of the café is a “hefty serving of traditional Mediterranean all the home brewing equipment Veneziano recommends for customers to make a barista quality cup.

Veneziano has implemented pick up, drive by, and same-day delivery for the Australian Capital Territory and surrounding suburbs to get supplies to the people who need them during lockdown.

Once social distancing restrictions are lifted, Veneziano Trainer TJ Phillipson will lead a range of classes at the studio. The roaster’s wholesale network will receive ongoing training and coaching, and Barista at Home courses will be available for home brewers.

Modelled after Veneziano’s training room in Richmond, Victoria, the studio is decked out with La Marzocco Linea PBs espresso machines, Victoria Arduino Mythos One and Mythos 2 Gravimetric grinders, Mahlkönig EK43, and Mazzer Robur S grinders, and other new tools and gadgets for students to perfect their skills.

“Our courses are led by some of the best in the business, overseen by former World Barista Champion Pete Licata and well-known barista finalist Jade Jennings,” Craig says.

“Our training studios and courses are a core part of the Veneziano offering and what we believe sets us apart from the rest.”

provincial cooking, add a splash of international goodness, a pinch of modern innovation, and simmer slowly over a warm Richmond flame”.

When stage three lockdowns required Rowena Corner Store to shift its business model, the café found new ways to serve the Richmond community. It has expanded its Mama’s Meals take-home menu, which features a variety of ready-to-go meals, and

Veneziano Coffee Canberra stocks and delivers a wide range of coffees to the ACT.

offers this alongside coffee and pastries from a walk-through window.

“While our 100-seater café is gone, we have changed our focus into grocery and our takeaway business,” Con says. “For us, our kitchen pantry has now been turned into a source of income.”

With the good food comes great coffee. Rowena Corner Store has that covered with the Grinders Coffee Source blend. The Fairtrade and Organic certified blend has a fruity taste when black and cuts through milk with sweet caramel and malt notes.

Like the rest of the Grinders community, Rowena Corner Store has been offered the Grinders Care Kit, which provides customers with tools and tips to help them operate in these uncertain times.

This includes marketing support, social media tips and tricks, the latest information on government stimulus packages, and mental health support. The kit aims to provide cafés with the know-how to start a conversation and keep people connected.

Rowena Corner Store’s motto during the pandemic has been όλοι μαζί, Greek for ‘all together’. Con says this has and will continue to guide the business.

“Our managers are meeting every day to discuss any new government measures, speak with our staff, look at our numbers from the previous day, but also challenging our creativity and innovation,” Con says. beanscenemag.com.au 65

WAVES

181 Avoca Drive, Avoca Beach, New South Wales Open Monday to Friday 6am to 5pm, Saturday and Sunday 6am until close (02) 4382 1882

Waves café in Avoca Beach has not only kept afloat but thrived during lockdown. Co-owner Jay Gilchrist attributes this to an ability to adapt, as well as support from the local community.

“We’ve stayed on top of offering great and consistent coffee and food, and changed the menu to better suit a takeaway theme, with less of a sit-down

BEAR WITH ME

399 Macquarie Street, South Hobart, Tasmania, 7004 Open seven days 8am to 3pm (03) 6223 6665

“Bear with me” is a phrase that comes up often is hospitality, and Alicia Liu and Viv Xiao felt it was the right tongue-in-cheek message to send when they opened their second café.

“We were known for creating Vilicia Coffee [our first café], but going into a residential area and opening up a whole kitchen with food service was relatively new to us,” Alicia says.

“Vilicia is very coffee focused. For our next project, we wanted to offer coffee and food at the same quality. It’s hard to find the perfect balance and it always seems to lean one way or the other.”

For its coffee, Bear With Me features a range of specialty roasters not seen frequently around the island, with Ona Coffee’s The Founder as its house blend.

“Ona is our core offering, but we like to showcase a few other roasters as well – like Marvell Street and Market Lane – for filter and to widen our range,” Alicia says. “We’re very proud of the coffee we’re presenting to Hobart.”

To match this quality on the food side of

Waves in Avoca Beach has improved its performance during the pandemic.

focus,” Jay says.

“My business partner [Kimberly Bridgefoot] has been a big part of the community for a long time, so people want to come in to support her and support us.”

Waves has changed hands and names several times over its decade in business, with locals Jay and Kimberly partnering to take the reins in February. Using their years of experience in hospitality and with the town, Jay says they quickly figured out how to make the café appeal to a wide clientele.

“It’s clean, fresh, somewhat contemporary, and has a good vibe. That’s what people want in a beachside café,” Jay says. “They want to walk into a bright and nice venue

the business, Bear With Me highlights the fresh produce grown in Tasmania.

“We are lucky to be living on this island with all of this produce available to us to showcase to locals as well as visitors and tourists,” Alicia says.

Popular dishes include the vegan peanut butter tofu bao, a dish Alicia says “if [she] took off the menu, customers would come for [her]”, and an eggs Benedict served with master stock braised ham hock and cider hollandaise on crispy layered potato instead of toast.

While the coronavirus lockdown was a financial hit to Bear With Me, the café was able to translate its seasonally with fresh food and good service. It’s inviting, so they want to come in and want to come back.”

The coffee is another big drawcard. Waves serves the Caramba blend from Danes Specialty Coffee. Jay says the blend is a good match for the various tastes of Avoca Beach.

“People love the blend, so we don’t feel the need to change that,” he says. “They know they can come in and that it’s top notch and consistent.”

Waves’ offering has cast a wide net, with its customers ranging from young families to tradies and the older residents of Avoca Beach. Lately, Waves has highlighted the healthier options on its menu to keep foot traffic moving.

“All people can do to leave the house and be outdoors is exercise. So they’re trying to be healthy, and we’ve got pre-made salads and that kind of thing ready to go,” Jay says.

“There’s not a long of wait time either. Instead, customers can walk in, grab something from the fridge and go.”

Jay says he’s thankful to the citizens of Avoca Beach for their continued support during tough times.

“Being community operated makes all the difference,” he says. “The people of Avoca are there for each other.”

changing menu to takeaway. Its winter menu was planned considering the time it would take customers to bring their food home.

“The first couple of weeks were really hard. It was more mentally draining and challenging than anything else, but we’re in a better position now. We’re still financially impacted, but the team is feeling positive, we’re having fun at work, and we’ve built new relationships with our customers,” Alicia says.

“At the end of the day, it’s about fresh produce, amazing coffee, and customer service. It’s just being presented in a different way.”

Bear With Me brings Ona Coffee and a rotating list of roasters to Tasmania.

SOS CAFÉ

soscafe.nz

Cafés across New Zealand were forced to temporarily close their doors in late March when the government announced four-week Stage 4 lockdown restrictions.

For most of these businesses, this meant mean zero income over April, with many already suffering from reduced business due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Having owned and operated a bar in NZ several decades ago, David Downs says he has an empathy for these business owners, and wanted to find a way to help his local cafés.

“I remember well how difficult it is living in that world, how cash strapped you can be at times, and how difficult it is with staff and other overhead costs,” David says.

“Right before the lockdown, I was sitting in a café in my neighbourhood, thinking about what would happen to these places.”

David approached the owner and asked if he could buy a voucher or pre-pay for future coffee and food, giving them more cash in hand.

“What I quickly realised was these places don’t have the ability to sell vouchers and things online. I thought ‘I could do that for them’,” David says.

After getting several more local businesses onboard, David established SOS Café, an online platform where customers can buy vouchers to their favourite venues, providing them with the funds they needed to get through the lockdown.

“I set it up initially for the cafés, bars, and restaurants around me in my neighbourhood,” David says. “Word of mouth got us through the first few days, then it got shared on social media, and a bit of press interest helped it explode from there.”

The not-for-profit service sees all money – bar credit card fees – go straight to the

David Downs is the Founder of SOS Café.

venues. Customers order a voucher for however much they chose and are given a code to reclaim once the café is back open.

At the time of speaking to BeanScene, David said SOS Café had around 2500 vendors signed up to the service, with thousands of vouchers issued and more than $1.4 million in sales.

“We shuffled out about $100,00 in the last two days to businesses that otherwise wouldn’t be having any revenue at the moment. Some of them received thousands of dollars,” David says.

“It’s getting them cash in their hands now when they need it. The government has put in place some help for small business, particularly around wages, but it doesn’t help for rent, leasing of machinery, and other overhead costs. We want to do anything we can to help them pay those costs when they open the doors and keep trading.”

David says the success of SOS Café shows how deep the connections run between NZ’s cafés and their regulars.

“These are the loyal customers from these little cafés that want to support them,” David says.

“You can tell that a café has got a loyal set of customers, because they’ll put something on their Facebook page and start seeing orders coming through. It really is amazing.”

Despite lockdowns being relaxed in NZ at the end of April, David says he’s seeing and hearing demand for the service to continue running.

“A few companies have asked us if they can keep going, so there could well be a need for SOS Café in the long term,” David says.

“We’re filling a need where businesses need to be able to trade online and get cash up front.”

SOS Café helped NZ small businesses generate revenue during forced closures.