Gather and Feast Caboolture reopens after one-month closure

After a month of closed doors, the owner of a popular cafe has decided it’s time to reopen even though she knows “there’s no money in it”, but the reason for her decision is truly heartwarming.

A MONTH after closing her doors as coronavirus restrictions hit, the owner of a beloved cafe is reopening even though “there’s no money in it” so she can be there for her community.

Candice Kiss marked the third birthday of her Caboolture cafe Gather and Feast on March 24 by closing its doors, with the intention of coming back evenutally, just a few days after eateries were forced to do takeaway only.

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Candice Kiss, owner of Gather and Feast at Caboolture, is reaching out to essential workers. Picture: Supplied

They reopened again on Saturday and will trade on Thursday, Friday and Saturday with plans to deliver free lunches to vulnerable schoolchildren and $10 meals to essential workers.

“We’re going to do delivery to essential workers at the high schools, primary schools and medical centres,” she said.

“While we’re at the schools, we thought we might throw together a heap of basic lunch boxes for the vulnerable children who don’t necessarily get lunch.”

The announcement of the cafe reopening had more than 200 likes on social media and Ms Kiss said it was important to have a presence in the community during the pandemic, even though takings were down about 95 per cent.

“Not for us to make money because there is no money in it at the moment, just to keep relationships strong with people,” she said.

“When we opened on Saturday it was so good to see our customers again, they were the ones who were asking me if I was OK, and it has been pretty hard.

“It’s been really lovely to see the reactions, and all the thankyous. Yeah, it’s worth it.”

She said now was the time to build relationships with customers so they came back after the restrictions lift – especially as people changed their habits.

“It won’t matter that they’ve got a coffee machine at home now, they’ll come back when all this is over for the experience, not just the cup of coffee,” she said.

Ms Kiss, who also owns Annie Lane on Bribie Island, said Gather and Feast especially had grown from a small shop to where it was now – with 5504 followers on Facebook.

Families can now enjoy a brunch box takeaway from Gather and Feast. Picture: Supplied

“We’ve had the same customers since the day we opened that we do now. We could probably call a lot of them friends, and we know about their families and their lives,” she said.

“We became a community in ourselves to rely on each other … if we left them in the lurch now, we would be doing them a disservice.”

The cafe is selling takeaway coffees and food, treats and healthy salads from the cabinet and boxed brunches for families to enjoy at home.

“There’s all these little flowers and treats – we give them a treat for breakfast, tides them over to morning tea,” she said.

Ms Kiss also has plans to sell “high tea in a box” for Mother’s Day, with tea for one for mothers in isolation and options with more for families to enjoy together.