The Kingsborough precinct was one of its biggest drawcards to Eighty/Twenty. Photo: Michelle Rowe.
The popular Braddon wholefoods cafe is this week opening a second outlet in Kingston’s Kingsborough Village after a surge in home-delivery orders from the inner-south.When it officially opens this Saturday (12 September), Eighty/Twenty The Cafe will join The Warehouse Roast Tap Brew taproom and wine bar, and Axis Roasters espresso bar in the emerging community precinct between The Causeway and Parbery Street.
Eighty/Twenty manager Aakash Shah said the new outlet is a third of the size of the Braddon restaurant, but will keep the same healthy eating ethos and all-day menu.
“When COVID-19 happened, everybody was a bit scared and had to find new ways of doing business. We still had our staff and families to support, so we tried new delivery methods and it worked very well. We figured out we had a strong customer base in Kingston through the delivery orders, so we started thinking about opening up there.”
Coffees and smoothies make a good start to the day at Eighty/Twenty The Cafe. Photo: Supplied.
Mr Shah said the village atmosphere of the Kingsborough precinct was one of its biggest drawcards. The cafe has 12 seats indoors and 40 in the pretty courtyard shared by local business people and residents, for coffee, snacks or lunch.
He believed that maintaining strong ties with the community had helped Eighty/Twenty weather the storm.
“COVID did affect us but we made changes. We started kerbside pickups, online orders and deliveries, and opened a grocery shop in the Braddon restaurant,” he says.
“We were selling everything from milk to bread to fruit and vegetables, and the community supported us very well. We made sure we were not charging them anything extra – we sold the bread for the same price as we bought it from Sonoma, the milk even cheaper than the supermarket.
“It was our way of staying connected to our customers and when things went back to normal, everybody started coming back to us because we were still connected.”
Mr Shah said the new Kingston café would provide a solid offering to residents in Canberra’s inner-south, while the Braddon restaurant could continue to service its many customers in the north.
Paninis, salads, pastas and more are on the menu at the new Eighty/Twenty Cafe. Photo: Michelle Rowe.
All-day meals on the launch menu include vegan buckwheat waffles and chia and oat porridge, paninis and salads, grilled barramundi with cherry tomato, asparagus, fennel, turnip dill salad and kale pesto, and a ‘super salad’ with quinoa, brown rice, avocado, spinach, carrot, beetroot, apple, cauliflower, goji berries and mixed seeds and nuts.
Eighty/Twenty will be open from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm Thursday to Saturday, and 6:00 am to 4:00 pm Monday to Wednesday.
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