The Good Place, owned by James McGovern, cafe expands from Sunshine Coast to Beef Capital

A company from the Sunshine Coast is opening a cafe in Rockhampton, with a tasty menu on offer for all dietary preferences.

A new cafe has opened in Rockhampton and it all came about after a joke exchange between friends on social media.

James McGovern is the founder and owner of wholefoods cafe company, The Good Place.

Since opening its first cafe in 2020, his company has spread to three locations in the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and Sydney - and now a fourth with Rockhampton.

The expansion up to the Beef Capital happened quickly through a series of random events.

Friends of Mr McGovern, who were his very first customers at his first cafe, had moved from the Sunshine Coast to Yeppoon, and shared a photo at a new cafe there.

They joked between each other that he should open a cafe in Central Queensland.

Looking to expand the company anyway, Mr McGovern visited the area and checked out another site in Rockhampton which didn’t end up working out.

Real estate agent, Robyn Bentley from Pat O’Driscoll Real Estate, showed him around town and took him to Dingles for a coffee and afterwards they went for a walk down to the newly opened Wellness on William and Gnomes Cafe business collective.

Mr McGovern fell in love with the venue and they got in touch with the owner.

After getting to chatting, he offered to lease it off owner Victoria MacLean - even though it wasn’t even on the market.

Mr McGovern extended his quick trip for a few more days and everything fell into place.

Next thing he knew, he had the keys.

“I sussed it out and then by the weekend we already had signage, organised a painter,” he said.

“And on Monday I went in and met with the executive team and said ‘hey we are opening a site in Rocky in two and a half weeks’.

“It’s all been a whirlwind but it has all come off the back of a funny Instagram message from our friend.”

The motto and values of the company are based on sustainability.

“We’re wholefood based, gluten free, we care about where our food comes from, we use as many local producers where possible, as much direct from farmers as possible,” Mr McGovern said.

Part of the team is executive chef Nicole Stevenson who was on reality television show Masterchef in season nine in 2017.

Nicole Stevenson in a scene from MasterChef. Supplied by Channel 10.

Ms Stevenson has been busy devising a menu for the new cafe.

“Our model stays the same regardless of our area, we want consistency within our menu,” she said.

“But this one has been a little bit different given the suppliers based in our local area and the history of this building.

“I am catering the menu a little bit different here so it does homage to the passion of the old owners, Michael Powell’s, passion with vegetarian food.”

They also hope to host more events with the community.

“Something else we do at all of our other venues is facilitate community clean ups, everyone has a coffee and then we go out and clean, say the river, and everyone comes back and we have breakfast… We do a lot of initiatives like that,” she said.

“Even though we are from the Sunny Coast we really want to build up the community and be engaged and be active.”