Belaroma closes cafe to focus on specialty coffee

Belaroma has shut the doors on its popular Manly Vale cafe to focus on specialty coffee.

Belaroma has closed its on-site cafe.

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Boutique Manly Vale coffee roaster Belaroma closed its cafe last week, with 13 employees losing their jobs.

Staff were told at a meeting of the company’s intentions.

The cafe opened in 2006 and CEO Tim Jones said that it had been a tough decision to close it and lose 13 people.

“We have 15 staff and all but two have been let go,” he said.

“It has been an extremely difficult decision to make, as a number of our staff have been with us for a long time.”

Belaroma’s cafe was a popular haunt with northern beaches locals.

Mr Jones said that the company had given its staff generous payouts, along with job search support including interview coaching and updating CVs.

“We are also helping staff look for jobs through our cafe network,” he said.

“I believe that two employees have already found new jobs.”

The cafe would be renovated into a specialty coffee centre, Mr Jones said.

“We want to bring the focus back to our core business, so we can position ourselves at the forefront of specialty coffee. It is going to be challenging, but exciting and interesting.”

Belaroma will focus on its core business, specialty coffee.

Mr Jones said that the two cafe staff who had stayed on would be upskilled as in-house specialist coffee trainers.

Belaroma’s new-look facility is scheduled to reopen in the spring and will sell takeaway coffees, to the public. The retail online store is unaffected by the closure.

Mr Jones said that Gusto, the kiosk at South Curl Curl Surf Life Saving Club, was no longer part of the business.

“It is a stand-alone business,” he said.