Tim and Carmel Brady’s dream comes true as their recently opened store Pelicans in Port Fairy gains success over summer

Two former coffee roasters have come out of retirement to pursue their greatest passion - opening up their very own coffee and speciality chocolate store in Port Fairy.

Tim and Carmel Brady's new shop Pelican has had a successful start with chocolate sales over Christmas. Picture: Jack Colantuono.

A dream has come true for a married couple who have come out of retirement and opened a coffee and signature chocolate store on Sackville St in Port Fairy.

Tim and Carmel Brady, who first started mobile coffee vans in Perth and used to run Piccolo Coffee Roasters on Raglan Parade in Warrnambool, are excited to start their new journey with a fresh new coffee store named Pelicans.

The pair decided they “better do it now” if they were going to open a new store.

The shop had its grand opening on December 1, and business is already booming.

“This opportunity came up and we thought we would give it a go — it builds up slowly but we had a good lead up to Christmas in the chocolate shop with hampers, gifts and people liking the selection of chocolates we have available,” Mrs Brady said.

“The coffee and the ice cream that we serve has really bounced things up too.”

Mr and Mrs Brady retired from coffee roasting six years ago but were inspired to continue their passion when they decided it was time to open up the business with the addition of specialty chocolates.

Owner Carmel Brady and her employee Milly Graham were busy filling coffee orders on a Friday morning. Picture: Jack Colantuono

“I kind of always fancied myself as a little old lady in a lolly shop,” Mrs Brady said.

“We fell into the coffee business back in 1993 amongst the first to probably do mobile coffee in Australia along with our friend in Warrnambool.

“Coffee and chocolate are such a perfect blend — it’s a dream come true.

“Tim loved the roasting — it’s a cross between a science and an art of roasting the beans — and we were able to see that through to selling the beans.

“There’s a lot of similarities between coffee and chocolate — they both grow in equatorial regions around the world, they both grow on trees and drying in the sun.”

The couple had played with the idea for a while, and always visited coffee and chocolate shops when they were travelling around which gave them the encouragement.

“I suppose it all just came together one day,” Mrs Brady said.

Mrs Brady also said they were “very lucky” to be in small community like Port Fairy that was supportive, with a lot of tourists and visitors in the town who were always looking for something “new and different”.

“I think this really compliments what’s already available in Port Fairy and the district,” she said.