Big Rocking Horse cafe at Gumeracha to close after huge power outage

Severe storm damage has left a popular Adelaide Hills business hanging by a thread, with the owner expressing devastation over the decision.

Mell Penno, pictured last July soon after buying The Big Rocking Horse, is devastated she has to close her cafe and let her 16 young employees go. Picture: Dean Martin

The owner of an iconic Adelaide Hills attraction says she will have to let at least sixteen staff go after a severe storm caused extensive damage to the business on Monday night.

The Big Rocking Horse in Gumeracha was hit hard by bad weather, resulting in the cafe losing more than $8000 in stock and power damage to multiple fridges and freezers worth thousands of dollars.

Owner Mell Penno told the Advertiser that the “worst thing about it” was that she now had no way of keeping her 16 staff on the payroll because she could not afford it.

“We have 16 staff that work on rotating rosters in this cafe and I now have to tell them today that they have no jobs,” Ms Penno said.

“Forget about me, I worry about all the young juniors that I’ve trained up here that now don’t have a job and don’t have that income.

“They live locally and they don’t drive but they come to work here on weekends and on the school holiday to earn some money to save up for a car and things like that.

“All that sort of affects me more than any of this loss.”

Ms Penno and her husband took over the business in July last year and said they had spent thousands of dollars building it up.

She said she and her husband purchased 12 fridges and six freezers brand new for the business last year, but a power surge has now “fried” all of them.

“We had the big power surge that came with all the power that went out and its blown fridges and freezers, and we haven’t had power for about 40 hours now,” she said.

The Big Rocking Horse at Gumeracha is a ppopular tourist attraction. Picture: RoyVPhotography

The Big Rocking Horse cafe at Gumeracha has closed for good as a result of Monday ngiht’s storm. Picture: The Big Rocking Horse

“Now everything is gone. We just got a brand new freezer full of Street ice cream last week delivered and fully stocked, nearly $800, all melted now.

“We’ve got a Peters freezer in the gift shop, that’s even bigger than that one and there’s nearly $1500 worth of stock from that all gone, all melted.

“Not to mention all the Fleurieu milk and the Farmers Union Iced Coffees, it’s a huge loss.”

She also said there were a number of upcoming functions and events that now could not go ahead.

When she took over the business last year, Ms Penno said she did not purchase storm insurance cover after she was quoted more than $46,000 per year.

She said she instead decided to spend more than $26,000 to give better access to people with disabilities.

“My justification for not paying that insurance was that I fixed the disability ramp that goes up to the gift shop and all the decking that leads up to it,” she said.

“I would rather spend money on something like that, that can help people to have better access rather than just paying an insurance company for a what if situation.

“The money went to something better in my opinion.”

Despite Ms Penno urging the public not to start a GoFundMe, stating “there’s other people that are worse off than us”, it appears one has been launched on Tuesday morning.

Ms Penno said the business would continue to operate, with other attractions such as the wildlife park and the Big Rocking Horse itself, but the cafe was going to be permanently closed.

SA is still counting the cost after the recent wild weather, when winds in excess of 100km/h saw roofs torn off homes, powerlines pulled down – cutting power to thousands – and trees falling on houses and vehicles.

Power is now back on to most customers as calmer conditions returned, though about 900 in the Adelaide Hills were still without power on Tuesday morning.