Beyond Mallala’s infamous seven-road intersection, there’s a fresh new family business serving up a range of great food, delicious coffee, and a good dose of country hospitality.
The Bell family are no strangers to the Mallala community, or the hospitality industry, with parents Brenton and Pat having owned a cafe in Parabanks before bringing Bellies Takeaway to Mallala in 2004. The popular pizza place employed their daughters, Sharna and Tameaka, as well as dozens of juniors over the years, until it closed in 2010 and the premises was leased out to new owners.
But now history will repeat itself, with a swag of grandchildren putting their hands up for junior positions in the family’s new cafe-style business.
“It wasn’t something we ever thought we would do again but on Mother’s Day we had a family roast and Dad raised the question – what will we do if the current lease owners walked away?” Sharna said.
“Four days later it was all systems go and the shop was back in our family’s hands. We had all decided that we wanted to bring it back to life for our kids and the for the community.”
From that point it was all systems go, with each and everyone family member working hard to clean and re-fit the cafe and open it up as place for the community and passers-through to sit and chat over coffee, have a bite to eat, and once again enjoy a famous Bellies pizza!
“The kids learnt so many skills and gave it their all. We had them using staple guns, painting, scrubbing, sanding, patching and a lot of cleaning. They never complained and were all so excited to be involved.
“After blood sweat and tears we opened on Monday 4th of June. All the kids wanted the day off and it turned out we really needed each and every one of them. They all pitched in and have been absolutely amazing and helpful.”
The new Mallala Cafe has already employed around 20 young locals and some more experienced staff to help with the day to day running. It offers both dine in and takeaway options from 7:30am-8pm Monday to Saturday and 8am-8pm on Sundays.
