Gold Coast business owners and restaurateurs finding success in new concept dining scene

Gold Coast business owners and chefs are finding success in a new way to open up restaurants — and without putting their capital on the line.

MORE Gold Coast chefs and business owners are creating “pop up” restaurants and cafes in the region as a way to test out a venue concept in an uncertain economy.

Pop up restaurants are smaller cafes or eateries opened inside an established business space, usually with an indefinite or short-term lease, or one-off event repurposing an area.

Local chef Jason Atwal, formerly of QT’s Marketplace, is finding success with his pop up restaurant Betty Wilson’s Dining Room, operating out of Kirra Beach cafe Zephyr Coffee Co.

Mr Atwal hosts regular dinner events for a maximum of 12 people in the cafe space usually left empty at night time.

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Chef Jason Atwal creates dishes he’d like to eat at pop up restaurant Betty Wilson’s like this deconstructed beef Wellington dish. Picture: Jerad Williams

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He said he didn’t have the capital to open his own restaurant, so he approached his regular caffeine pit stop with the idea.

“To be 100 per cent honest, I don’t have the money. This is a good way to do it slowly,” Mr Atwal said.

“I come to this little cafe every day. I basically said (to the owners) ‘how would you feel if I helped you pay your rent?’

“They’re a young couple, they were pretty open to new ideas.

“I wanted to start small and do something on my own, but also to give them a bit of a hand as well.

“It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement. There’s not really anyone doing a small pop up restaurant in a cafe on the Gold Coast.”

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Local chef Jason Atwal hosts a regular pop up restaurant dinner inside Zephyr cafe at Kirra called Betty Wilson's. Picture: Jerad Williams

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Pop up cafe Sacred Taste at Miami’s The LC has an indefinite lease at the vegan marketplace, selling its new age raw cacao drinks and plant-based treats out of a small kitchen and cabinet.

Sacred Taste owner Maz Valcorza said she wasn’t sure how Gold Coasters would respond to the new age cacao bar concept, so a pop up was a way to safeguard their investment.

“We just wanted to check the market,” Ms Valcorza said.

“We wanted to see if the Gold Coast was interested. We’re fully organic, vegan, with new elixirs and tonics that are massive in LA and the health scene but not usually found here.

“Cacao in itself is really new, but people don’t know where it comes from and how to have it in its purest form.

“People have really enjoyed the concept in the three months we’ve been here.”

While Uber Eats and other food delivery apps are taking diners away from restaurants, people seem to love the model of an exclusive, unique dining event.

Betty Wilson’s dinners are a set price of $88 per head for eight courses, and it’s BYO.

“People ask me what food or cuisine do I make? Whatever I like. Whatever good ingredients are out there,” Mr Atwal said.

“Being a chef we like to use our own creativity and create things we like to eat and others enjoy.”