Food wizards of Oz
Innovative cuisine and cafe culture in Melbourne enhance the city’s appeal and help spur tourism and exports.
Stepping into Bibelot Chocolates on Coventry Street in South Melbourne, I am in search of a hot drink after a stroll in the cool breeze. It was spring when I visited, with on-and-off showers and the temperature a brisk 17C, so hot chocolate was just what I needed.
I was told that Bibelot was where I could find some of the best chocolate drinks in town. But apart from that, I was stunned by the variety of eye-catching desserts and the aroma of fresh pastries in the shop run by Andrea Reiss.
“I’ve determined to make this place a sweet destination,” says the store’s 37-year-old chef and owner as her staff present a wooden platter laden with chocolate bonbons, macarons and cakes to Asian journalists visiting Melbourne for Victorian Food and Beverage Trade Week.
“No one will say no to chocolate,” she adds with a sweet smile.
Melbourne, the capital of Victoria state and the second most populous city Down Under, is full of places like Bibelot where visitors can observe the vibrant coffee culture that has emerged over the past five years.
Cafés in Melbourne, say those in the local food and beverage industry, offer everything under one roof — from coffee, teas and chocolates to baked goods and cakes for customers to enjoy for breakfast or lunch. As such, they have become a venue for many people to hang out with family and friends or have a business meeting.
“You can observe coffee culture in Melbourne that reflects the culture of the city itself. It’s that desire to socialise, paired with the genuine appreciation of good food and great coffee,” Ms Reiss tells me.
According to Richard Bolt, Secretary of the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources for Victoria, the 1,600 cafes in Melbourne serve about 3 million cups of coffee every day.
“Coffee culture has grown in Melbourne and become a part of the Melbourne identity over the last five to 10 years,” he tells Asia Focus. The attraction, he says, is not the coffee alone but the café atmosphere, “so many people now meet for business at the cafe and spend time there during weekends. When motorists stop driving, they go to a cafe. It’s a part of life now.
“Interestingly, people are becoming more sophisticated, with coffee machines in their own homes, in Melbourne, the suburbs and the countryside.”
Apart from varieties of coffee — flat white, espresso, cappuccino and latte, with various kinds of milk, including soy milk, many different kinds of locally produced specialty teas are also available at cafes in Melbourne.
“Also, the cafes have a good line of food and the menus are quite varied. It’s really a warm and welcoming experience that people love to have with things that have really high quality,” says Mr Bolt.
Big chains such as Starbucks haven’t had the success they thought they might see in Melbourne, where there is a strong sense of community, he says.
“We like the atmosphere with someone who can remember your coffee order and make you feel at home. It tends to be small businesses rather than big chains. We like to think that our cafe is owned by the people who are serving us, so we don’t like the idea of going to a McDonald’s cafe. We would rather have something that looks unique.”
Trevor Simmons agrees, noting that the coffee café model in Australia is unique. He and his brother run Industry Beans, which sources, roasts and brews specialty coffees in Melbourne.
“Australian hospitality is generally warm and welcoming. We’ve always been a city that loves good food and good coffee,” he tells Asia Focus. “We can have everything happening in the cafe, great personal lunch, coffee, juice and cake. That sounds very normal but it’s quite different.
“In the US, if you want a juice, there’s a juice bar. If you want food, there is a coffee shop or restaurants that normally have coffee. But in Australia, particularly in Melbourne, we tend to do a lot of things under one roof and really make it a community-focused space where everyone is welcome.”
Mr Simmons agrees that Melbourne coffee culture has evolved a lot over the last decade.
“We probably haven’t realised what’s really happening in front of us,” he says. “Melbourne tries to set a standard for what can be — having customers sitting down, relaxing and letting us take care of what they want.
“In Melbourne, the level of coffee culture has really come up. We need to push our limits further and further to the next level.”
BOON FOR BUSINESS
While Australia does not grow coffee, it works with partners to source the beans from countries in Asia and Latin America. Australia then does the processing and export of coffee products, according to Mr Bolt.
“It’s two countries working together to have joint competitive advantages,” he says. “What we do here is roasting and blending into different products so we bring a lot more value to the coffee, exporting most coffee blends.”
Industry Beans, for example, sources specialty-grade green beans from key growing regions — from East Africa to Central and Latin America and Asia Pacific.
“We buy coffee through the direct-trade model, which ensures good value for farmers, and premium quality for us,” says Mr Simmons.
“Our flagship Fitzroy site combines a coffee roastery and award-winning café, where visitors can enjoy restaurant-quality food and service, and experience an unparalleled closeness to the roasting process.
“Besides roasting for our Fitzroy café, we also roast for a family of dedicated cafes and restaurants around Australia, making the Industry Beans coffee and brand available to a wide domestic audience.”
Additionally, a new roasting facility is intended to enable Industry Beans to expand its reach globally.
Industry Beans recently opened a satellite café in Melbourne’s central business district under the name Industry Beans Lt Collins. The model was developed to be totally modular and adaptable to any venue, making it ideal for expansion into new markets.
“The way we’ve approached the design and workflow will create an entirely new customer experience with the barista,” explains Mr Simmons. “Similar to the way we’ve redefined interaction with the coffee roasting experience for customers in our Fitzroy café, we’re redefining the barista experience for those at Lt Collins … and hopefully for those farther afield in the near future.
“It’s an exciting time for us, and we’re looking for partners in export markets near and far to make Industry Beans a global brand synonymous with quality and friendly, professional service.
“Melbourne’s specialty coffee culture really has the whole package to offer international markets, and we’re so proud to be pioneering its export to new markets. That’s where we see the next major growth area for Melbourne coffee culture — exports.”
TOURISM PROMOTION
The benefits of promoting Melbourne cafe culture could be far-reaching, similar to what has happened with Australia’s wine and beef industries, according to Mr Bolt.
“What we really export is tourism,” he says. “We encourage people to come to visit us because we have the most wonderful coffee culture. We are now starting to see coffee cafes adopting the Victorian Melbourne model. Our cafes are starting to find their way around the world, mainly to bring people here.
“We’re now trying to [promote cafe culture] in addition to beef and wine. When I travelled overseas 10 years ago, I never thought I would find an Australian coffee maker but now the development is going to be high. When I went to New York three years ago, my wife and I specifically looked for an Australian cafe there because we love New York and we love the different things t hat we produce including coffee.”
Guy Grossi, a renowned Australian chef with Italian roots, has been appointed as an ambassador to promote Italian food outside Italy. He says Melbourne is doing the same thing to encourage people to visit the city.
“As a country with a colonial tradition, Australia is a very young country. Now it’s growing up, becoming very proud of what it is doing, with Melbourne leading the way,” says Mr Grossi, whose family moved to Australia in 1960 from Milan.
“People are coming to Melbourne to see what we do. Food is getting to be one of the things Melbourne is known for. There are some cases where people come here for shopping and then they find they love the food.”
In his 32 years as a chef, Mr Grossi has seen café culture expanding in Melbourne, but he plays down the impact of growing competition from cafes on other types of restaurants.
“I believe that there will always be a niche market for something that is very luxurious and very high end, whether that market is big or not big,” he says. “The good thing about our business is that it has room for everybody in the marketplace.”
“At the moment, a lot of cafés are opening up. As long as it’s a good product, they offer everything, that’s fine. But there is always a marketplace for different types and levels of dining.
“Remember that, even at the high end, the experience needs to be friendly, understanding and nurturing, not a snobby type of experience.”
The wonderful mix of different influences gives Melbourne cuisine a unique identity, he adds.
“So you can have dining with a different type of cooking every day in a week. Also, the main thing is that restaurants in Melbourne have a confidence now that perhaps many years ago they didn’t have, which is confidence in the product they are offering,” he says.
“Melbourne’s specialty coffee culture really has the whole package to offer international markets, and we’re so proud to be pioneering its export to new markets” TREVOR SIMMONS Industry Beans