EAGLEBY, Logan City, Australia – Australian-owned Zarraffa’s Coffee has officially opened its doors to a new $20 million national headquarters and bespoke café experience – Kiwanda Café. The new headquarters houses a modern open plan head office space, combined with its multi-million-dollar coffee ‘engine room’ – the Zarraffa’s Roastery – with an expanded warehousing, packaging and distribution hub.
The move has been staged over the past 12 months, relocating from the Gold Coast to Logan Shire, to establish a robust national base for its 90 plus stores across Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia.
Managing Director and Founder of Zarraffa’s Coffee, Kenton Campbell, said it was a well-planned process that will future-proof the needs of the coffee franchise chain for many years to come.
“We were literally bursting at the seams in our previous location and I took the time to find the right destination to house, what has grown into, a considerable operation over the past two decades. The Roastery has the capability of producing 35 tonnes of coffee per week for our stores, with future growth to come.”
Mr Campbell opened the first Zarraffa’s Coffee store in 1996 and has steered the business into a $140 million turnover operation and said it was after ensuring the Zarraffa’s business had the right home that he was able to start thinking about new opportunities.
“It started with the idea of sharing our brand’s history with coffee with customers in a new way that the idea for Kiwanda Café was born.”
Opening its doors this week, Kiwanda is the manifestation of Mr Campbell’s love of coffee, an exciting curation of the company’s knowledge in this space, and a specialty coffee offering like no other; situated adjacent to the Zarraffa’s offices in a voluminous industrial atrium space.
“Kiwanda is Swahili for ‘factory’ and we have always had a café in proximity to our head offices, but we’ve been able to take it a whole step further this time around.”
With seating for ninety diners, Mr Campbell believes Kiwanda will deliver a new coffee and dining experience for Queensland’s south-east, epitomising Zarraffa’s twenty years of specialty coffee know-how with a fresh, bespoke dining experience, designed as a space to discover, explore, share and connect.
Located midway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, Kiwanda has a multi-zoned footprint with its signature fireplace and vaulted, exposed ceilings that take in views of the Zarraffa’s Coffee Roastery through the 4-metre-high glass windows.
Also, enfolding the Kiwanda dining and beverage offering will be a Roastery Tour experience set for opening later this year; designed to educate and inform visitors about the Zarraffa’s Coffee bean-to-cup journey, through a visual and sensory encounter that explores the intricacies of the coffee world.
“Our Tour experience invites visitors to explore and understand the entire coffee journey, from crop to cup. It speaks to our relationships with coffee growing communities across the world, and just what it takes to produce the ‘liquid gold’ we have come to enjoy every day.”
Mr Campbell said that delivering an exceptional coffee product has always been at the core of the Zarraffa’s business and that Kiwanda is an extension of that ethos.
Kiwanda Café is approximately 1,200 sqm, including an Espresso Bar specifically for beverages and light snacks, and the Kiwanda Kitchen and Bar that presents a range of gastronomical offerings and complementary beverages, including the signature Espresso Martini.
“Kiwanda is full 360-degree, specialty coffee immersion that our customers are free to enjoy in their own way; through a simple cup of coffee, a take away snack, or a shared meal, a delightful tipple with workmates or spending time on our tours learning about the coffee-making process.”
Zarraffa’s national base and Kiwanda Café are the anchor tenants of what will become Distillery Road Market (DRM) – a world class destination, focused around peoples’ love of great food experiences and the communal activities food provides, set to open late 2020/ early 2021.
The unveiling of the destination’s name this week, coincides with a call for retailer interest in leasing opportunities that will cover the commercial spectrum: from flagship dine-in restaurants, to fresh produce vendors, night and pop-up market opportunities, a home for events, a wide variety of complimentary retail opportunities and much more.
Mr Campbell, whose property company – Tonken Property Group – also owns and is developing the Distillery Road Market project, believes the time is right for an offering of this nature, located midway along the growth corridor between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
“The alignment and relocation of facilities for Zarraffa’s and the launch of Kiwanda Café also signifies the start of an incredible destinational opportunity within our new home at Distillery Road Market.”
As an American ex-pat Mr Campbell has often joked that he has had to travel to Australia, over a quarter of a century ago, to realise his ‘American Dream’.
“Australia really is the land of opportunity and this particular part of the country is the perfect location to grow business, to foster dreams and deliver experiences like no other.”
“So, I’m continuing with my goal of pursuing opportunities; to bring daily smiles to more of my customers’ faces through a simple cup of coffee, great food and a new hub of shared experiences…this is just the beginning.”
Kiwanda Café is located at 124 Distillery Road, Eagleby QLD 4207.
