Bye bye, Yum Yum!
End of an era as Peet family calls time
IF you’ve spent any reasonable amount of time in Dubbo, there’s a better than even chance you’ve at some point had at least one lunch, smoko treat or takeaway dinner from the iconic Yum Yum Bar at Orana Mall.
If not, you don’t know what you’ve missed, but missed it you have.
Because last week the muchloved business’ shutters came down for the very last time, bringing to its end a slice of Dubbo history as rich as the Yum Yum Bar’s famous caramel pie – lovingly made by Annabel Peet’s own hand pretty much every working day for more than four decades.
Even on the day we visit – the café’s last in its current incarnation – people with frantic looks on their faces are placing orders for what they fear may be their last little taste of this iconic homecooked heaven.
The Peet family has held the reins of the café since 1984, but Annabel was behind its counter from day dot when the mall slid open its doors for the very first time in 1979.
“I’m the only person left here at the mall who was here the day it opened,” says the feisty matriarch, who worked for original owner Max Heather from that first day as his manager until she and her husband Ron purchased the business five years later.
Their son, Russell, was a tender nine years old at the time. He took the baton from his parents 21 years ago and has continued the family business ever since, ably supported by his mum, his sister Suzanne Roberts, and generations of loyal staff.
Covid restrictions and mask mandates notwithstanding, we found the Peets as customer service focussed on their last day of trade as they have always been, making it difficult to get them standing still together for a photo and an interview amid a constant stream of well-wishers and hungry patrons.
It’s a bittersweet day for Annabel, who has 42 years of memories inexorably tied to the Yum Yum Bar, including many with her husband Ron who died five years ago.
“We’ve had such beautiful staff and beautiful customers – we have people who come here every day for a cuppa and to read the papers, and they’re wondering what they’re going to do,” she says.
“We’ve seen so many staff come through here,” Suzanne adds. “We’ve been through
their births, deaths, marriages, they’ve gone off to university and gone on to have their own careers and family.
“We’ve made friends with customers and they don’t want us to go, but it’s time – time for family.”
Russell’s decision to take a break wasn’t taken lightly, but he has no regrets.
“I love what I do, and it’s quite likely I’ll look at doing something similar maybe on a smaller scale sometime in the future. For now, it’s more about family time.”
Over the years, food tastes may have come and gone and evolved, but one thing has remained constant and is widely acknowledged as underscoring the Yum Yum Bar’s longevity in a mercurial industry. People still hanker for good old-fashioned home-cooked food.
“Mum still does all the homemade cakes and slices, and of course the (caramel) pies,” Russell says. “And we’ve always prided ourselves on the freshness and quality of our food – old fashioned food and service.”
Over the course of the past 42 years, the Peets have seen other businesses come and go through the mall, and have themselves moved locations a couple of times. They’ve been through a healthy handful of centre managers, and have watched the nature of retail wax, wane and shift over the decades.
Annabel in particular has noticed the change.
“Once upon a time, we all knew each other – there was a real sense of community. Now, we barely know who’s who. It was a more personal place before, but times change and that’s fine too.”
Like any family business with a long history, the Yum Yum Bar and the Peets have been through the good times and bad.
“We’ve had droughts and dust and floods – we’ve had our store a foot under water at times – and then the storm in 2001 (which caused extensive damage to the mall) – and now Covid,” says Russell, adding that in fact, the cloud of a global pandemic ultimately held something of a silver lining.
“We were shut for five weeks and that opened my eyes to how much time I haven’t spent with my family.
“It was nice to meet my kids by the time they turned 16,” he jokes, but the serious aspect to the comment is clear.
“It used to be that the only late trade was on Thursday night.
“Saturdays we used to all close at 12, and you’d leave then and go and play cricket. “You had Sundays off to be with family and do things at home or with friends.
“Now we’re open seven days a week, and often for extended hours. It’s just constant.
“And with the costs associated with those long opening hours, that’s why very often you have to be the one standing here yourself.
“It’s time to try to get some of that family time back, and it’s thanks to Covid that I realised how precious that time is,” says Russell, but the last word belongs, as it should, to his mum Annabel.
“There’s more to life than working seven days a week.”