Bakewell’s Busy Bee Cafe closure leaves hardworking small business owner devastated

THE Busy Bee Cafe will shut its doors for good this Friday after more than 45 years in business

Busy Bee Cafe owner Verissimo De Jesus ... ‘This is what we’re living with. Our turnover is not enough to cover the costs’. Picture: Katrina Bridgeford

THE Busy Bee Cafe will shut its doors for good this Friday after more than 45 years in business.

Many Territorians grew up with the cafe and developed a taste for its fabled chips and gravy.

The Bakewell business is the latest to succumb to Darwin’s crippled economy after the NT News last week reported the closure of Territory steel distributor Reomart NT and impending closure of long-time Parap boutique Country Classics in March.

Busy Bee owner Verissimo De Jesus said business conditions were simply too hopeless to continue trading.

“We’re in the middle of a good community, but the community also has no jobs and there is no money to spend,” Mr De Jesus said.

“This is what we’re living with. Our turnover is not enough to cover the costs.”

A visibly devastated Mr De Jesus said the decision to close was “extremely tough”.

“This is a small family business. It is a business that has existed since before the cyclone,” he said.

“The community sees us as an iconic business in Darwin, so to be forced to close for financial reasons is very sad.”

When asked what his family will do next, Mr De Jesus responded with a message for the Territory Government.

“Maybe I can ask the Chief Minister to give me a job so that I can feed my family,” he said.

Mr De Jesus’ message to the community, and to other struggling businesses, was one of hope.

“I wish good luck to everyone that’s still open. I hope they can continue to open to serve the community,” he said.

“Unfortunately we can’t any more because life is going really bad right now. I hope we can come back one day and provide for the community.”

Mr De Jesus, who moved to Darwin in 1993 from Portugal and has worked many jobs to put his 16-year-old daughter through high school, including at the old bakery in Rapid Creek, Darwin Fibreglass and the Northern Immigration Detention Centre, said he was afraid the Territory was no longer a viable place to raise a family.

“I’d really like to stay here, but what we’re going through is really hard,” he said.

“We must think about moving elsewhere – Sydney, Melbourne, where there is more opportunity.”