Toowoomba’s Emerge Cafe reopens on Railway Street

It’s all systems go down at the Engine Room on Railway Street once more with Emerge Cafe now calling the beloved space home.

It’s all systems go down at the Engine Room on Railway Street once more with Emerge Cafe now calling the beloved space home.

The social enterprise had called Station Street home for two and a half years before making the move to the larger, more customer friendly space opposite the Railway Station in order to provide more disadvantages youth the chance to turn their lives around.

Tyreece Hiles at Emerge Cafe. Emerge Cafe has opened in its new home in Railway St. Picture: Nev Madsen

Emerge CEO Jen Shaw said she hoped the new location would bring more customers through the door, which meant more opportunities to reach more of Toowoomba’s at risk youth.

“Station Street was a great place for us to start out but as we’ve grown we’ve realised it’s time to find a larger cafe and when the opportunity came up to rent the building here where the Engine Room used to be, we knew it was the perfect place to call home,” she said.

“We definitely have some big shoes to fill because the Engine Room was a very popular place to come in for a coffee and a meal, but I think we’ll be able to meet people’s expectations.

Emerge Cafe has opened in its new home in Railway Street. Picture: Nev Madsen.

“One of our main priorities at Emerge is customer satisfaction. We place a lot of emphasis on our employees when if comes to customer experience and always making customers feel one hundred per cent happy with their experience.

“So we’ve been really grateful to everyone who’s come in over the weekend and been patient with us while we’ve worked things out in the new space. It’s taken all of us a little bit of getting used to but I think we’re on track now and we’re ready to deliver the fantastic quality food and coffee our regular customers know us for.”

Jen Shaw, CEO of Emerge Cafe. The cafe has opened in its new home in Railway St. Picture: Nev Madsen

With 15 young people currently employed at the Cafe, Ms Shaw was hopeful Emerge would be able to take on several more employees over the coming months as the cafe continues to grow and progress.

“We certainly needed all hands on deck this weekend, we were so busy it was insane so we will definitely be looking for more staff over the next couple of months so anyone out there wanting to gain some hospitality experience or just get started in the workforce should drop their resume down,” she said.

Now open Tuesdays, the cafe operates six days a week (closed Monday) and is offering all of the old menu favourites plus a couple of new dishes.

“We will also be opening up a grab and go window out the front,” Ms Shaw said.

“Making coffee runs and lunch breaks that bit easier.”