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Melbourne Cafe Weather

I’ll confess, I am baffled at the weather recently. And here I am, a proper Melburnian. Or is part of being from Melbourne being constantly surprised by the weather, even when you shouldn’t be? Is that part of the fun? That’s kind of meta. Long story made very short: the cafe needs better windows. Like, …

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Profitable Profiteroles

Growing a business is never easy, and it’s particularly complicated when your stock in trade is artisanal baked goods. There are only so many hands that can craft the stock, so there are only so many units you can sell, and thus only so much money to be made. As far as I can see, …

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Sweet Site Success

Today’s tip for starting up a successful cafe business: choose the right building. This is one area in which I’m happy to say that I was wise enough to take my own advice. I refused to settle for anything less (or more) than what I had in mind, and I haven’t once regretted sticking to …

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Inhospitable

If I’d known in advance just how much blood, sweat and tears – not to mention smashed ceramics – would go into running a cafe, I probably wouldn’t have touched it with a ten foot pole. I certainly wouldn’t have gone into it with such blind enthusiasm; I’ll tell you that much. I would have …

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Never-Ending Improvements

It seems like the work here at the cafe is never done, and I’m not even talking about getting the chai mousse parfaits out of the test kitchen and onto the menu. I’m talking about major works and renovations – it’s not the parking lot getting revised or the upstairs nook being transformed into boutique …

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Grande Opportunity

What’s that? You think navigating the real estate market is hard? You think running a business is hard? Try doing both at the same time, then get back to me.  If I may say so myself, I’m impressively calm about all this. It must be all those special coffee shots I’ve been knocking back. Apparently, …

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Secret Plumbers Business

My wife thinks I’m a conspiracy nut. She’s wrong. She’s so ignorant of all the things that are really going on in the world; the hidden agendas of the powers that be and all the obvious signs which surround us.  I think they’re so obvious! They’re right in front of our eyes, but for most …

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The Rising Cat

Well, I called it. I called it, months ago, saying that Tabby Crawshaw was going to become one of the most lucrative channels on Me-Straw, and no one believed me. “Cute cat videos are a random occurrence!” they chided. “They cannot be harnessed, for they are intangible and nebulous!” Maybe not their exact words, but …

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Balustrade Innovation… Again

They just keep trying to introduce innovation to into the balustrade market, and they keep failing. It’s getting to the point where Lizard’s Lair is going to have a weekly segment dedicated to glass stair balustrades and people who think they can do the job of commercial glazing, and it’ll just be their little corner …

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A Sensitive Sole

Overall, from a business-wide perspective, the opening went well. We had a whole crowd flooding in, which I think means that we set up shop in the right place. No disasters. Some really nice comments on the feedback cards, a few really good constructive suggestions and nothing purely negative. Although I, personally, am going to …

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