The future of Cafe Latte remains rock-solid, owner Aaron Wright says, although he admitted navigating the aftermath of the fire which gutted the business in April has been 'extremely tough' for both him and wife Emma.
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The Wrights are still operating out of their temporary premises at Orange's Uniting Church and have worked tirelessly to keep Cafe Latte alive, but the prospect of returning to their previous property on Summer Street remains uncertain.
Internal demolition is set to begin on the building soon before insurance assessments can be conducted but despite the stress that process brings, the Wrights will continue rebuilding Cafe Latte regardless of where it's located long-term.
We will continue trading as Cafe Latte, we've been doing it for 12 years now and we love doing it.
- Cafe Latte owner Aaron Wright
They've periodically offered expanded food service in the last two months and expect to return to a full menu next week, with more signage set to be set up as they continue to offer both dine-in and takeaway options for customers.
"A lot of people have still been saying they weren't aware we were doing meals again now but we are and we've expanded our menu a bit more, we'll slowly add more to get back to our full menu the next few weeks," Mr Wright said.
"Whether we go back into the same building will depend on the time it takes for it to be back at an occupancy state, but once the damage has been assessed we'll be able to make some decisions on our movements going forward.
"We're still operating at Uniting Church and we'll be forever grateful for the support they've given us. We are missing the passing trade though, especially on weekends with tourists because they tend to stick to the main street.
"So I'd encourage everyone to duck off into the side streets because there's probably a lot of businesses they don't know about, not just ours either."
Mr Wright also once again thanked the Orange community for their support, particularly considering the devastating blaze came not long after disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It's really helped to keep us going, we're nowhere near where we were beforehand in terms of sales and it is still very stressful, but it's helped us to stay positive and keep going," he said.
"Our three kids have more or less grown up in the business and they don't speak about it but I think it's affecting them more they've said, but having a place for them to go after school and on weekends has helped our family through it all.
"I can't lie, it's been extremely hard mentally and emotionally. Financially too, I thought COVID-19 might be the end of retail but everyone rallied then bang, the fire. It was a bit like being hit by a train to be honest.
"But we're staying positive, we'll keep going and hopefully in the next three or four weeks there'll be some real action and we can keep moving forward.
"One silver lining is that our catering business is going well.'
Cafe Latte operates from 5am-5pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and between 5-9.30am on Wednesdays. In the school holidays, hours will extend to include Wednesday lunch and the cafe is also open until around 2pm on Saturdays.
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