Chinchilla institution Dorney’s Cake Shop voted Queensland’s number one cafe

Going up against cafes on the Gold Coast and Airlie Beach, a Chinchilla cafe has been voted the best in Queensland.

Dorney's cake shop have beaten out hundreds of cafes across Queensland to take the top spot.

A 70-year-old Chinchilla cafe has been awarded the state’s best in the Queensland Government’s all the Best program.

The program invited Queenslanders to nominate local businesses, attractions, places to visit, food, and drink, with more than 61,000 votes registered across 15 categories.

Chinchilla’s Dorney’s Cake Shop took the top spot beating out hundreds of cafes across Queensland and finalists Surfers Paradise’s Castaway Coffee Bar, Bowen Hills’ The Coffee Commune and Cannonvale’s Fat Frog.

Dorney's cake shop staff have celebrated after the cafe was awarded the best in Queensland. (Penny Chuter, Courtney Ellis, Rebecca Townsend, Charmayne Cann and Trinity Mitchell)

Owner Courtney Ellis said it was amazing to be voted Queensland’s best.

“It’s super surprising, but it definitely makes me very proud and thankful,” she said

“We have such good regular loyal customers and it comes down to them, because they are the ones’ that voted for us.

“There’s nothing super flashy about us, we just have a good customer base, good staff and it’s all the little things, we do homemade cakes and slices, we make our pies in store, it’s just the simple things.

“Our pies are super popular because we make them ourselves, our cakes and slices are popular. We have a simple menu but it’s really great and I highly recommend our coffee.”

The Dorneys rebuilt and opened the new premises just before war broke out in 1939. It was built in the Tudor revival style which was popular in the 1930s. The Dorney's residence was upstairs. Note the single workshop door.

Ms Ellis said Dorney’s had been a Chinchilla institution for decades and it was great to see the community rally around them.

“Originally Dorney’s cake shop started 70 years ago, it was started a couple of street away in Chinchilla by the Dorney family in 1955,” she said.

“Five and a half years ago my husband and I were looking around wanting to own our own cafe, we both have a long history in hospitality, we fell upon Dorney’s and the rest is history.

“Community is so important, it makes me so proud, we are a small town and a small business and we are going up against places in the city and down the coast and the fact we were able to win something against them is insane to me.

“It shows you that it doesn’t matter how small we are, it’s the people in the town and the spirit of the town, we may be a little town but everyone has huge hearts and the support is such a massive thing.”

Ms Ellis said she hoped the award would bring more tourism to Chinchilla.

“It is amazing not just us but for the whole community we are always finding new ways to get new tourism especially people travelling through,” she said.

“Where we are located not everyone turns off the highway to come into the town centre so hopefully this helps out, it will also help out a lot of other small businesses as well, not just us.

“Thank you to all of our loyal customers who voted.”