Muzz Buzz offers reward for missing Darwin coffee shop

NATIONAL drive-through coffee franchise Muzz Buzz is on the hunt for a shop in Darwin that went missing in the middle of the night, offering up a gift hamper for its return

Owners of Crave NT Rod Cole and Kimdelia Cole stand in front of their portable cafe. The Coles removed their cafe from Darwin Airport Entertainment Precinct via crane following lease conflicts. Picture: Keri Megelus

NATIONAL drive-through coffee franchise Muzz Buzz is on the hunt for a shop in Darwin that went missing in the middle of the night, offering up a gift hamper for its return.

Company spokesman Tony Dawe said they were desperately trying to recover a Muzz Buzz building that disappeared from it’s site at the Darwin Airport Central.

After leaving the Muzz Buzz chain and reopening the shop as Crave NT, former franchisees Kimdelia and Rod Cole decided to remove the building following a conflict with the company over the lease.

They took it to an unknown location under the cover of darkness on August 26.

Muzz Buzz recently advertised they would reward anyone who provided information about the shop’s current whereabouts with a coffee gift hamper.

However Mrs Cole said she and her husband had every right to “take what was theirs”.

“We’ve paid for this building - it’s ours,” she said.

“They can’t take it - it’s completely illegal for them to do that.”

Mr Dawe said the building design’s was under the company’s trademark and couldn’t be used for anything except operating a Muzz Buzz.

“This company started 14 years ago with two people and we grown through a lot of hard work over a long period of time and what these rouges have done is taken 14 years of recipes and HR manuals and intellectual property and literally stuck it on the back of a truck and run away with it,” he said.

“That’s theft and these people won’t get away with it.”

Darwin resident Cheisi Bakaric looks for the missing Muzz Buzz store. Muzz Buzz headquarters is offering a reward for anyone who has information on its whereabouts. Picture: Keri Megelus

Mr Dawe said the company was pursuing legal action against the Darwin couple and had not been impressed by they framed the situation in the A Current Affair segment that aired on Tuesday night.

“It seems they’re trying to win the battle for hearts and minds by setting us up as the big corporate bully but we’re not,” he said.

“They’re going to A Current Affair and trying to win this in the court of public opinion rather than the court of law but we’re actually very positive for Muzz Buzz in the Territory.

“We’ve got a number of franchising inquiries that we’re pursuing right now and we’re hoping to develop more stores in the NT in the not to distant future.”