Keen Bean on Mary Street changes owners after five years

A popular Gympie cafe successfully rebranded and relaunched during the tight restrictions of the pandemic has come to the end of another era.

Raj Begeda and her daughter Teai. The Keen Bean has changed hands, but Teai will stay on.

A popular Gympie cafe that triumphed through the rise and fall of Covid has changed hands, giving the owner “long overdue” time to spend on herself and her family.

Friday, June 27, was The Keen Bean’s last day under its former owner Raj Begeda who started the cafe in June 2020, just months after Covid-19 first reared its head in Australia.

“It was a really scary time, and some mornings I used to just wake up and think, how can I get through this?” Ms Begeda said.

Like other local businesses, The Keen Bean was subject to tight regulations and regular check-ups during the pandemic.

“We had all these higher up people come in, but thankfully we just did better and better through it all, and I’ve had some really good staff with me,” Ms Begeda said.

The Keen Bean cafe was awarded the Gympie Business Awards runner-up for Food and Agri Business of the Year in 2024.

“The business just wouldn’t have made it without them.”

Ms Begeda’s daughter Teai, who will stay on at The Keen Bean, was instrumental in the business’ success, she said.

Ms Begeda bought the cafe Craft Punk Espresso before rebranding it as The Keen Bean, following a five-year tenure in Murgon where she also owned a business.

“Since day one here I knew that I was in the right place,” she said.

“When I moved to Gympie I was scared, I thought I might not last a long time, but people were so friendly.

“Everybody knows you. You’d go out to get some milk, and you would end up coming home an hour later.

“Gympie’s still got that small town feel, but it’s big enough that you’ve got everything you need.”

Ms Begeda said when her personal life took a turn for the worse, it was the cafe and its community that kept her going.

Raj Begeda (second from left) first started The Keen Bean after she bought cafe Craft Punk Espresso in 2020. L-R: Maddie Shadbolt, Raj Begeda, Kaylene Pettit and Alidiya Averillo. Picture: Josh Preston.

“I always loved coming to work, the cafe was never a problem, it was everything else in my personal life that made me sell the cafe,” Ms Begeda said.

“The last two years has been a struggle, and most times the cafe was actually my escape, my rock. Everybody was so supportive.

She said she cannot thank the community enough for its support, and will remember all their lively chats.

“Some days you did the counseling for them, sometimes they counseled you,” Ms Begeda said.

“I became a local owning the cafe.”

Ms Begeda said some personal circumstances and medical issues left her no choice but to sell the cafe, and that she will now focus on herself and her children.

“Everything I do has to be one hundred per cent, so with the business I hadn’t given my children enough time,” she said.

Ms Begeda said she hoped the new owners Stephen and Nah will continue the same community service, and that they have kept some cooks and staff on.

She wished them the best of luck.

Originally published as Keen Bean on Mary Street changes owners after five years