Restaurant operator invests $10,000 in a coffee shop
SUSAN Chen has been operating the Ming Feng Restaurant in the Capital City for the past 10 years and now she is expanding the business with a new coffee shop which is set to open next week.
Ms Chen said she loved baking cakes and pastries and had a small display at the restaurant but felt the space wasn’t enough for her cakes.
“So I decided to open a small café where I could display and sell my cakes and coffee. This space at Joske St has been available for some time so I decided to invest in this coffee shop.
“It’s called Lava Café and we have local coffee and our special cakes that will be available for customers,” she said.
Ms Chen has spent more than $10,000 in the new establishment and will be employing three people at the café.
“We will have two baristas and one other girl who will help with the baking. I wanted to open the place this week but we had a few minor touches to be completed and so now we plan to open next week Tuesday,” she said.
She said the space was ideal for the business because it had a kitchen at the back of the café where they could bake.
They had to do some renovation to the space, bring in new furniture and the coffee machines which completed the set up.
“I brought the coffee machines and other equipment from China but the furniture here are locally made,” she said.
She did acknowledge the presence of other coffee shops and cafes in the city but said she was confident her café would become popular among her customers.
“There are coffee shops here and I know people can buy coffee from anywhere they want but my coffee shop will give them option to buy cakes and pastries that are made from our own recipes which they would not find anywhere else,” she said.
Meanwhile business at their restaurant (Ming Feng) was really good the past 10 years however after COVID things had slowed down a bit.