‘They will disappear’: Desperate pleas to save coffee cart in affluent Sydney suburb
An affluent suburb in Sydney’s north is at loggerheads with its local council over a decision to scrap a five-year-old coffee cart.
A small business owner’s humble coffee cart, which has supplied warm beverages to locals for five years, is being removed after a Sydney council “drew a line” on its outdoor dining rules.
The owner of Morgan’s Kirribilli and adjacent cafe San Antonio Sourdough Bakery, Tony Morgan, opened his restaurant on Friday knowing he wasn’t allowed to have his adored coffee machine outside.
Mr Morgan and his staff have served more than 150,000 hot drinks from his two-metre long coffee cart setup, which sits within his leased bay outside his Mediterranean-inspired seafood restaurant.
Prior to installing it, the small business owner called the council for advice and never had an issue with it until late last year when someone made a complaint, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Ever since, Mr Morgan has felt like he battled a “war” to keep it, before losing his fight in an 11th hour bid on Thursday when the council ordered him to remove it.
As the coffee cart was situated on council land which was leased by the restaurant owner, Mr Morgan is required to abide by the Outdoor Dining and Goods on Footpath Policy.
But now, the council has moved to update that policy to include the recommendation that “food (and) beverage production is not permissible in Outdoor Dining areas”.
This rule change was listed in a new report, which was debated in a North Sydney Council meeting on Monday night.
Eager to support the business, Independent Councillor Jilly Gibson was the only councillor who didn’t vote to approve the policy update, insisting such rules would be detrimental to small businesses.
Currently on holiday in Italy, Councillor Gibson conveyed how the European coffee culture brought communities together in the same way Mr Morgan’s coffee cart did for the affluent Sydney suburb of Kirribilli.
“Our small businesses help make up the atmosphere of our village and that’s the atmosphere that our residents love and treasure,” she said.
“I’m over in Rome at the moment and it’s wonderful seeing how relaxed they are over here towards outdoor dining.
“You will find there’s no rigidity in what you can use your outdoor rented dining space for. There’s a relaxation which creates an amazing atmosphere and of course, enhances tourism.”
She also added how Morgan’s Kirribilli had a “difficult internal layout” which is why the coffee cart was brought outside to begin with.
“There’s actually no space in there to have a coffee machine, and so people actually really liked sitting there on the weekends and ordering their coffee from the barista who is working at the coffee cart.”
Councillor Gibson continued her five-minute speech by discussing how a dramatic change like limiting outdoor food and beverage experiences could put financial pressure on small businesses.
“All those visitors that are over in The Rocks, I often see them walking over to Kirribilli. Now we want to provide more incentive for those people to actually walk over to Kirribilli to spend some time there, spend some money in our village, which helps to support our small businesses,” she said.
“If we don’t support these businesses, they will disappear, and in Kirribilli already we’ve had three or four small businesses disappear recently and the for lease signs have been up for several years and no one’s taking up those options again.”
However, Councillor Gibson’s plea and a community petition weren’t enough to override the health and safety concerns expressed by council members.
While Cammeraygal Ward Councillor Ian Mutton – who is a councillor for the same ward as Councillor Gibson – was sympathetic towards small businesses, he said a small business operating space wasn’t a justification for “permanent infrastructure on council land”.
“As much as I sympathise for small businesses and as much as I understand the problem for this particular operator, he has chosen to operate on council space, and he didn’t have the right to do that,” Councillor Mutton said.
“There comes a time when a line needs to be drawn. This is it. Later the policy might be worthy of being revisited.”
Deputy Mayor Godfrey Santer also made some comments, saying while he is a strong believer in boosting tourism and alfresco dining, he feared such outdoor facilities would hinder pedestrians.
Mayor Zoe Baker also held concerns for outdoor coffee carts, and said the amendments to the Outdoor Dining and Goods on Footpath Policy were “sensible” and “careful”.
“These businesses are permitted to have outdoor dining, they’re permitted to lease parts of the footpaths and I think Councillor Santa is right,” she said.
“There would be all sorts of unintended consequences in that anyone could have a small cart and place it anywhere which may actually result in greater competition to those impermanent locations who have the access to outdoor dining.”
While Mr Morgan has acquired a quote to install his coffee machine inside, Councillor Gibson said in a Facebook video she will not stop rallying for small businesses, with the “coffee cart saga (to) continue”.
“Good morning from Rome! I’m sitting over here having a coffee and thinking about the coffee dilemma we have in Kirribilli with the coffee cart. I’m very disappointed that the motion didn’t go through to just explore options so that Tony could keep his coffee cart there,” she said.
“Residents need to understand that the cart sits on his leased space. He is leasing that space from North Sydney Council and I don’t see that it affects anyone.
“We either support our small businesses and help them (or) we either listen to our residents when they petition … I am very disappointed that Tony will now have to properly remove the coffee cart and this will affect his business.”
News.com.au has contacted Mr Morgan for comment.