Coffee-starved Gympie township finally gets a new cafe
A local barista has thrown open the doors to her first cafe in a Gympie township where locals have been without coffee for months
Business
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After working in the hospitality scene at Noosa for 20 years and owning her own mobile coffee wagon for the last four years, a local barista is starting her own new adventure in Cooran.
Kristel Kite is opening the doors to her brand new cafe The Lazy Fox on Saturday, selling delicious cakes, pastries, bagels and, of course, coffee.
Ms Kite said she saw a need for a coffee shop in Cooran as they have not had one for the last few months.
“I just got a bit sick of working for other people and then an opportunity arose and I sort of had a bit of savings there to jump on it,” Ms Kite said.
“I was actually looking for somewhere to live as well and the opportunity came up with a small cafe and then the means to live on site as well so it just worked perfect and here we are.”
The Lazy Fox cafe will open 7am-3pm on Saturdays and Sundays at the moment, but Ms Kite said it will be constantly evolving.
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“So it’s not just how it is today is how it’s going to be forever, a few things will come in, I’ll have local artists putting some things on the walls, I’ve got a local jewellery that I want to stock,” she said.
“We do have a vintage pre-loved boho section in there so it's a little business called Wild Velvet and they make clothes by hand and also have a great eye for that second-hand pre-loved item as well.”
On Sundays the cafe will also have Dhom’s Kitchen’s authentic Thai food from 10am-2pm and the coffee Ms Kite will be using is First Batch from Noosa.
Ms Kite said the town of Cooran has been “super excited” by word of mouth, despite her not promoting it much on social media.
“I think tomorrow it’s going to be a huge day, it's going to be pretty busy I have a big feeling on that,” she said.
“The town is really ready for it because there hasn’t been coffee for a couple of months so I think just for Cooran to have a little meeting place for the community to come and have coffee and chat to one another.”
With smaller country towns becoming more popular for weekend drives, Ms Kite believes the cafe will bring tourists to Cooran who might not have passed through otherwise.
“I think these little country towns have become a destination,” she said.
“We will probably get some bike riders coming through, some motorbike riders, antique shoppers, so I think it will be a nice little stop off for the town.”
Doing all the work by herself, Ms Kite said the process has happened fairly quickly.
“It’s been stressful but exciting,” she said.
As for her other business, My Little Red Wagon, Ms Kite said she will be running it during the week at Pomona as she has a “really beautiful following” there.
“That's my baby My Little Red Wagon, so I'm gonna be a busy girl,” she said.
“I definitely will get some help and put someone in the Red Wagon one day a week just to give me that day off so the wagon will be running as it is.”
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