New cafe gets down to basics
GOOD food, good coffee, friendly service and a rebrand is the recipe for the new operator of the Woodlands Village cafe at Deeragun.
Long- time restaurant manager Joshua Wood has taken on a lease for the premises at the Woolworths- anchored shopping centre, calling his venture Bak 2 Basics.
Mr Wood said they were not associated with the previous business owner and wanted to make a fresh start.
“I have been working in restaurants in Townsville as an employee and manager for the past eight years and thought this was a good opportunity for the future so I have taken the leap,” Mr Wood said.
He has employed a manager, Michelle Glanz, and will continue to work as a manager for a fast food operator while he also looks to establish the new venture.
Bak 2 Basics opened.
“It’s starting to come along. It will probably take us six months to get a good trade going but already a lot of the regulars who used to come in are coming back,” Mr Wood said.
As the name suggests, they will serve basic meals. Breakfast and lunch menus include has just burgers and fish and chips. Mr Wood said they had some ideas for getting the business moving, such as loyalty cards, and would have a Mother’s Day promotion with free coffees for mums on May 14.
A spokesman for the Woodlands centre owners, Michael Kopittke, said they were pleased to have a new cafe and restaurant operator, while a podiatrist would also open at the centre soon.
“We are starting to see some green shoots in the market place,” Mr Kopittke said.
Sentinel bought the Woodlands Village Shopping Centre for $ 11 million in 2015 and continues to be active in the North Queensland property market.
Mr Kopittke said he be- lieved commercial property prices, especially in retail, had held up well in Townsville despite the recent difficulties in the local economy.