New restaurants and cafes open every day, only to close months later. Here's how to play the long game.
Flinders Lane has one of the most competitive hospitality scenes in the entire country. We asked Woody P and Altius Coffee Brewers, two new venues on this storied strip, how they stand out.
“It’s very important to have industry experience before venturing out on your own,” Hannah Alderton says.
Last year, Alderton and her partner Jarrod Pageot opened their first cafe, Altius Coffee Brewers. Both had spent years behind the coffee machine at Market Lane, learning their craft from the best in the business.
Alderton says having experience smoothed the transition to becoming a cafe owner: “Let the day-to-day running be the easy part, and the learning to start a new business the challenge.”
Opening soon, at the other end of Flinders Lane, is Woody P. The venue was a nightclub in another life. As Melbourne’s dining scene evolved, its owners realised they needed to get with the times or be left behind.
Having never tackled a restaurant before they brought in an expert: Brent Scales, formerly the general manager for Stokehouse City. Scales’ vast experience in the industry gives him a unique insight into what Melbourne diners expect.
So where to start: How do you find real estate, suppliers or even a designer?
“Always try and speak to people within the industry. Hospitality is a close-knit community,” Scales says. “Once you get a contact, ask for anyone else they could recommend.”
This is where having hospitality experience helps. All the people you’ve met over the years working in restaurants, cafes and bars – they are an invaluable resource, your network.
For Alderton and Pageot, having a designer friend came in handy when it came time to fit-out their new cafe.
“A lovely friend of ours, Sarah Trotter from Hearth Studio, put all our ideas together and added a few extra special touches to Altius,” Alderton explains.
Altius is a lean operation, just Alderton and Pageot behind the bar. To cover two sprawling floors, Scales needed to find some more people.
“Staff is the heart and soul of a venue,” Scales says. “Recruit staff members who believe in the brand, who will buy into the concept and take pride in their place of employment.”
The first step was a great chef, who could keep pace with the culinary offerings of Woody P’s neighbours, Supernormal and Chin Chin.
They went with regional with chef Clinton Camillieri. It was unexpected, but inspired. Camillieri earned the Healesville Hotel one hat in 2014 and 2015.
Having a unique concept is vital to the success of any new business.
Scales doesn’t want Woody P to be a place where you need to wait hours for a table. Instead, he wants to leverage the size of the venue to build a place you can just stroll into after work.
Pint-sized Altius took a very different approach, opening at the “quiet end” of the lane.
“It’s a good idea to think laterally,” Alderton says, “Think about what exists in the area, and what developments are in the pipeline and how your business will fit in.”
Realising the area had few options for great coffee, the team behind Altius became the first store to open in The Archway, a new development that now houses 5 & Dime Bagels, T by Luxbite and many other destination venues.
