Beaudesert is anticipating the return of one of its favourite cafes after Teaspoons and Aprons secured a new location.
Shinade Harper will reopen the cafe at Beaudesert Central between Subway and the doctor’s surgery on a date yet to be announced at time of print.
She was excited to open the cafe’s doors again with several of her key staff including Tanya Townend and Emma Vayne.
The cafe, formerly Desert Oasis, was a mainstay of Beaudesert Fair Shopping Centre for decades.
In an emotional farewell to that chapter of the business, Shinade and her team left Beaudesert Fair on 1 September after their lease was not renewed.
Shinade said 12 months to the day after signing the lease on 1 August 2021, she received notice on 1 August 2022 that her lease would not be renewed.
It spelled the end to a particularly challenging year for Shinade, who had taken on the business 12 months prior after close friend and former cafe owner Karlie Cassidy passed away suddenly in tragic circumstances.
“In our last few minutes of sitting in there, we played the ‘Closing Time’ song that’s usually on at the pub and just felt sadness that Karlie wasn’t coming with us,” she said.
“It’s been very big, but we’re looking forward to the fresh start.”
Shinade and her core team are keeping busy in the interim, taking on food service work and even catering a wedding, enabling Shinade to keep supporting her local suppliers.
She said the outpouring of support from regular cafe customers was overwhelming.
“It’s been really encouraging because we can’t go anywhere without people asking when we’re reopening and telling us which favourite dishes they can’t wait to have again.”
Shinade said there had been strong public interest in what would become of the mural she commissioned Mununjali artist Derek Fogarty to paint in her shopfront window at Beaudesert Fair only this year.
She said she had hoped to donate the art to Council for public display elsewhere, however a glass quality assessment found it was unsafe to move the glass panels.
“I’ve taken lots of photos so we can preserve the mural in that way, and I’d like to really credit Cr Michael Enright who has worked really hard on helping us.”
