Business
26 November, 2024
Home is where the heart is for the new face of Normanton cafe
The Bynoe Cafe in Normanton has a new premises and an energised staff.
It is the often-repeated recipe for success in any remote community – encourage young people to go to the cities and gain useful professional skills then return and improve the lives of those at home.
Keama Richardson-Mwinyi and the development of the Bynoe Cafe at Normanton has all the ingredients to explain how this ambition can be achieved.
The 29-year-old has spent almost half her life learning and improving her culinary skills, beginning with a humble school-based Certificate II in hospitality while away at high school in Herberton, which progressed to a completed chef apprenticeship, followed by several years in commercial cooking at mining camps and city hotel chains.
Now Keama is back in the Gulf community operating the Bynoe Cafe, overseeing its growth from a business “experiment” in a renovated shipping container on the outskirts of town to a fully stocked café and coffee shop that is creating jobs, training locals and providing a healthy food alternative for the region.
Keama said after nearly a decade away for schooling, training and work she was ready to return to Normanton at about the time when the COVID pandemic restrictions were lifted.
It had been a challenging time for those working in hospitality – with her role at the Accor hotel chain in Cairns requiring long shifts and few breaks as she catered for several hundred people who were staying in the building after it became a quarantine facility.
Tired from months of endless work, Keama said she began to think back to her childhood in Normanton and the lack of healthy food available to young people and families.
She made contact with Bynoe CACS in Normanton, who had also been discussing plans to renovate a kitchen inside a shipping container on the facility grounds.
That was in 2021, and Keama was soon serving a wide array of dishes, purposely selected because they were different to the pub counter meals most often seen in remote communities, and providing a new healthy alternative.
“We didn’t really know what to expect when we began but we soon had really good support from the community and people were walking across town just to buy food from us,” she told North West Weekly in Normanton.
Growing from strength to strength, the decision was made earlier this year to expand the cafe and relocate to the Bynoe building along the main thoroughfare on Landsborough Street. Following four months of renovations, the cafe moved in last month and now hopes to attract the tourist market next year.
Looking at the menu board – with everything from fresh salads to sandwiches to fruit smoothies and sour pork – Keama said the new business employed five locals, including herself, and she planned for it to become a hub to train young people in hospitality.
“It’s been a really positive experience, and I enjoy providing healthy options, especially for young kids and older people living in the community,” she said.
“It is very satisfying using any of the skills you have learned to help make the lives of those in your community a little better and give people a few more options.
“It brings a smile to my face when I see a school kid walk in and look past the sweets and order a fruit salad instead.”