New cafe redefines homestyle coffee and eats

A new Bundaberg cafe is winning hearts and taste buds with its homemade cakes, scones, and locally roasted coffee.

Jibba Jabba Coffees recently opened its third cafe, expanding into Bundaberg with a new site at Sugarland Shoppingtown.

Jibba Jabba Coffees recently opened its third cafe, expanding into Bundaberg with a new site at Sugarland Shoppingtown.

The growing brand began with two coffee vans, to now include locations in Kallangur, Brendale and Bundaberg, where it has taken over the former Muffin Break site and officially began trading on May 13.

Owners Alan and Ashley Gates said food had always been a big part of their family life and that passion naturally evolved into hospitality.

“My wife and I have seven children and have been together for 17 years,” Alan said this week.
“I was a chef when I was younger so have always had a keen interest in hospitality and our whole family love food and meal times “together so it kind of just went hand-in-hand in owning something in that industry.”

Jibba Jabba Coffees recently opened its third cafe, expanding into Bundaberg with a new site at Sugarland Shoppingtown.

Jibba Jabba’s move into cafes was sparked by a disappointing dessert at another venue, which inspired the couple to do things differently.

“After starting in the vans we were out for lunch with friends and family and I ordered a piece of cake and it was the most dry and frozen bought-in cake I had ever eaten.
“So my wife said ‘why don’t we do a cafe with homestyle cooked foods?’.
“Then one thing led to another and we opened the first cafe,” he said.

Although now based in North Brisbane, the family previously lived in Bundaberg and said they were excited to return with a permanent presence in the region.

The name Jibba Jabba was a fun choice they discovered already existed but wasn’t being used, so they adapted it to their own brand identity.

“It was an existing concept that had not been used and we liked the name so we branded into the colours and design it is today to stand out from everything else.”

Jibba Jabba Coffees recently opened its third cafe, expanding into Bundaberg with a new site at Sugarland Shoppingtown.

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“Cause who doesn’t love a coffee and a jibba jabba with mates,” they said.

Jibba Jabba Coffees offers Brisbane-roasted specialty coffee, Australian-made syrups, and housemade cakes, muffins, scones, and slices. The emphasis is on homestyle cooking, with many customers praising the quality and freshness.

“Definitely our plain and date scones have been super popular as we sold 6-7 batches of them on our opening day.
“A lot of feedback from the customers is that it is hard to find a homemade scone anymore that’s not bought in.”

The early response from locals has been overwhelmingly positive, with strong community support and feedback.
While most challenges came during the fit-out stage, Alan and Ashley said their team played a key role in the smooth launch.

“The support from the staff has been crucial to our success.
“There was some bugs in the system as there always is when opening and they just took it in their stride and continued the great service working around the issues,” they said.

While the business licence initially appeared to be short-term, the next financial year’s renewal has already been completed.
The Sugarland cafe is intended to be a long-term fixture.

“This one is our permanent location,” they said.

Jibba Jabba Coffees recently opened its third cafe, expanding into Bundaberg with a new site at Sugarland Shoppingtown.

Looking ahead, the Jibba Jabba team hopes to continue expanding while staying true to their warm and welcoming style.

“We hope that our customers take away a sense of warmth and satisfaction from visiting us.
“To brighten a customer’s day through coffee and food is something we love doing,” they said.

“As long as the customers want us around we will continue to grow. Additional locations are definitely on the cards.”

They also encouraged locals to follow Jibba Jabba Coffees on social media to keep up with new menu additions and fun food ideas.

“We just like people to follow us on social media as we are always doing something fun and exciting with our menus and food,” they said.