everything all in order ready for Ang to re-open her café today.
Angela Galloway is thrilled to be back in business with the doors of her new eatery opening today in the main street.
Ang had a dream to open a business in 2019 and, with her then business partner Mandy Dell, the pair opened Ang and Mandy’s cafe in September that year.
But in 2020 the COVID pandemic put paid to the pairs’ plans.
After only being in business for seven months, they had to close the doors in April 2020.
“Nobody knew what was happening or what was going to happen,” Ang recalls.
“We had some staff that were leaving when borders were closing because they wanted to be with family members and yeah we just thought we’ll close for a little bit until things calm down. But we didn’t expect to be closed for this long,” she said.
Ang said as they’d lost the use of the dining room and could only do take away it just wasn’t financially viable for them to stay open.
They’d only been in business for a relatively short time and so were not eligible for any of the government subsidies such as Jobkeeper.
“The plan was to close for a few months and we thought we’d be right.”
She said things with COVID were uncertain for a long time and it would have been hard to re-open and then have to close up the business again if restrictions got worse.
Ang however hung on to the idea that she would re-open and she started saving to be able to once again make her dream a reality.
“I missed the people, the public, the friendly faces you see every day.
“I got that bored I started painting the inside of the house!”
Ang said running the café had given her a real “sense of joy”.
“It was nothing but positive feedback that we got all the time from the café so I kind of miss knowing that I was doing something good for the people in Cobar.”
This time Ang is venturing out on her own.
“I did learn a lot from last time we were open.
“I fully don’t 100 per cent know how to manage a business but I’m just going to have a crack and see how I go,” Ang said.
She does however have four of the original Ang and Mandy’s staff returning to help her. They’ve been working with Ang over the past couple of months getting the shop ready to re-open.
Ang said they will basically have the same menu as before with crib meals to cater for miners, as well as past favourites such as their battered fishthat were popular with locals and visitors.
Ang also has plans for some new menu items including some delicious desserts.
“They might not be there on the first day we open but we’ve got lots of ideas, too many ideas!”
Ang said they have had to shorten their opening hours.
“At the moment we are open from 5am to 2pm. That was our busiest period before so I’ve just done that for now until we get back on our feet, until we get some more staff.”
While the shop may open from 5am to 2pm, for Ang, her day starts at 3am with food prep and will finish around 5pm after the cleaning and bookwork is done.
“I can’t wait to open the doors.
“I’m like a kid at Christmas!”