BEULAH Cafe owners hope the business will find new owners to provide a takeaway service for the town.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Tony and Lee George have run the cafe for more than 13 years, but closed this month.
Mr George said it was a difficult decision, but it was time to move on.
“We run a farm and my wife works at the bank. Running the cafe was seven days a week of 8am to 8pm work – we needed to have a life,” he said.
“Some people have said good on us; others haven’t been quite as complimentary.
“It was just me and my wife for most of it. We did have some other staff towards the end.”
Mr George said he and his wife had tried to sell the business.
“We’ve been trying for three years now but have had no buyers,” he said. “We’ve had people look through it but that was it.”
Mr George said remaining profitable was not an issue.
“I wouldn’t call it thriving, but it was still making money.
“We’ve definitely had a decline in population though so that doesn’t help.”
Mr George said the cafe was the only takeaway shop in town, and he would love to see someone take on the business. The family has since started an agricultural spreading service.
“It was a pre-existing business – Clayton and Rory Shannon had it and owned it,” Mr George said.
“When they took Moore Bulk Haulage in Horsham they put it on the market, and we’ve bought it and continued it on.”
Yarriambiack shire mayor Graeme Massey said it was always disappointing to see businesses close.
“It's out of our hands a little bit. Like all shires we try to promote the idea of affordable housing and the opportunity to start up or run a business,” he said.
“Those opportunities are still there, but it can be tough.
“I know for certain in Warracknabeal for example, with the idea of running a family business, the hours you have to put in to make it work are astronomical.
“The population really isn’t there to sustain hours they have to operate.”
Despite this, Cr Massey said he hoped people took up opportunities in Beulah and in Hopetoun, after the Bon Bon Cafe closed in the latter town last week.
“Anecdotally there seems to be an increase in people moving through the shire with Silo Art Trail,” he said.
“It’s an opportunity for people to say, ‘I can run a small business for a few years – there’s an opportunity to make a good living’.”
