Higher Ground

DineSmart

Help DineSmart2018 fight homelessness this Christmas

Cafés and restaurants can now sign up for DineSmart 2018, a campaign that sees venues ask diners to leave a small donation to fight homelessness on their bill. Since 2003, the annual DineSmart campaign has seen restauranteurs partner with their diners in the lead up to Christmas to raise funds and support their local community. Together, DineSmart and its partners have helped StreetSmart raise more than $5 million for 569 grassroots homeless organisations, sparking a number of innovative projects that are leading local responses to homelessness.
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Square One Coffee Roasters thinks outside the box

Square One Coffee Roasters is committed to customer growth by delivering education that’s more visual than theoretical, and more personable than automated. Square One Coffee Roaster’s Head Roaster Elika Rowell visits customers once a week – not just to ensure they’re upholding best coffee practices, but to create a common connection with baristas. “We want to remove the idea that roasters sit on a pedestal, and only roast behind the scenes. We want to get out in front of our customers and be available to share our knowledge in a way that’s more direct and personable than a phone call or email,” Elika says.
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Dressed to impress: making café design memorable

Australia is known for its coffee quality, but our café design is equally idolised around the world. We explore what it takes to be memorable, and whether money really talks. Some of Australia’s most impressive café experiences are not because they serve the latest Cup of Excellence-winning coffee, or Instagram-worthy smashed avos and smoothie bowls, but because of their impressive design. In Melbourne, there’s Brother Baba Budan with its iconic chairs stuck to the ceiling, Au79 with no expense spared on the gold trimmings, St Ali with its casual industrial look, Higher Ground’s massive hotel-like attraction in an ex-power station, and in Sydney the Grounds of Alexandria revolutionised what a café space could be, complete with flower market, roastery, and wedding reception. Jacqui Senior, Senior Associate and Hospitality Sector Leader at Woods Bagot in Sydney, knows what it takes to stand out from the crowd. She was involved in Campos Coffee’s award-winning Barangaroo site in Sydney and says in this instance, it was the location that inspired the café’s now-iconic jewelry box shape.
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