High costs force beloved Templestowe cafe to close for good

A well-loved cafe in Templestowe has decided to close it’s doors for good, after tough economic conditions hurt the family business.

A beloved cafe in Melbourne’s north east is reluctantly closing its doors for good, after playing a part in pioneering the plant-based food movement.

Power Plant Vegan Cafe in Templestowe has been a fixture of the northern suburbs for the past seven years, but the owners announced earlier this week that they were shutting up shop indefinitely.

Business owner Johanna Maguire said the cafe was a long-held dream of hers as she was passionate about making plant-based food accessible to more people.

“There wasn't anything vegan or plant-based anywhere near here, so it was a dream for us to open something that was really pretty much relegated to Fitzroy,’’ she said,

“It was doing very, very well and people were very receptive to it, vegans and non vegans alike.”

But since the pandemic and with the rising cost of living, she said it wasn’t possible to keep the business running any longer.

“It’s a mixture of people not having the money to spend to go out and they're so used to not (going out) that it’s something that they’re not missing so much anymore’’ she said.

“We just haven't had as many customers as we need to really make it possible, plus all our costs have gone up.”

Despite the hard decision to close, Ms Maguire said the cafe had a strong base of loyal regulars who loved the food and the venue.

“People do love us, we’ve got a very dedicated fan base … we've been really proud of what we’ve achieved in terms of bringing something different to Templestowe,” she said.

“We realised a dream and that was because we had really supportive customers and staff … I will miss everybody.”

After the cafe announced their closing date of March 12, tributes flowed on social media as locals shared their gratitude and dismay at the news.

“Your absolutely beautiful food and friendly faces will be very missed, I have been a customer since the day you opened and have brought many non-vegans who were absolutely amazed with your incredible creations,” one person said.

“This is very sad, I’ve loved coming to your cafe from the very beginning and was a great local vegan place without needing to go very far, I’ll miss so much about your cafe,” another person said.