KATRINA BRANDON
By KATRINA BRANDON
A CAFE where you feel at home, is the place to be, but sadly on June 29, the Gippstown Café officially closed its doors to the public after five years and eight months of hard work. Cafe operator, Deb Skinner, had decided to retire, so at the start of June, the committee of management put out an expression of interest to operate the cafe. This is still open. Old Gippstown on the other hand will operate as usual; entry tickets are available through the café entrance run by volunteers. “From Wednesday to Friday there is someone in the office, they take the entries. On the weekends, it is part of the agreement of having the cafe that you open the building and as far as I know, is that there will be volunteers on the weekend to let people in,” Ms Skinner said. “The committee management bought all of the equipment because they realised the value of having it there. The next person just has to walk in, put stock in and start trading straight away. You run your business separate from Old Gippstown, working together to promote the cafe and Old Gippstown to visitors and customers; you run it how you want.” The business opportunity includes many catering options such as weddings, birthdays and events, while it also has the reputation that Mrs Skinner has been cultivating with her team for almost six years. Locals have let Ms Skinner know that they are willing to come and show the support for whoever may take over the position in the café out of respect for her. On Friday June 30, Ms Skinner had a last morning tea for her locals and received many thanks, many cards in response to all her hard work over the years. “The most appropriate thing they have said is you’ve actually built a village and that was what it was. It was a community place, everyone today was going table to table because they all knew each other or they hadn’t seen each other in years, it was really just a lovely day. There were maybe up to 100 people there which was amazing,” Ms Skinner said. “That was my intention six years ago. We have owned businesses all our lives; our last one was a hotel. I wanted something where everybody would feel welcome.” Advice from Ms Skinner is “You have got to have passion. You really have to be passionate about hospitality and you really have to like people because there is no point, you could be the greatest cook in the world and if you don’t like people and you don’t cook with love, people know it. You have to have a lot of drive and a lot of energy.” For expression of interest, email Old Gippstown at secretaryoldgippstown@iinet.net.au
