Exchange Coffee's outdoor dining revives business
Tucked in the heart of the East End, Tom Roden started Exchange Coffee nine years ago and has been serving up delicious coffee and tasty bites to eat since.
"What I love most is the many long-standing relationships we've developed with our community. Since Exchange's inception, we've watched families grow, kids grow up, students graduate, and entrepreneurs start businesses", says Tom.
With lockdowns and restrictions, the past couple of years have not been easy for Tom and the team at Exchange. When limited outdoor dining options and heavy indoor dining restrictions came into place, Tom turned to the City of Adelaide's Reignite Adelaide parklet initiative to install an outdoor dining space in front of the cafe.
"The temporary parklet was installed in August 2021. At this point in time, indoor dining was heavily restricted which crippled our ability to seat enough guests to trade viably. The parklet enabled us to mitigate this issue and seat people in a safe manner. Essentially, in a few words, it saved us".
"Our parklet has been extremely well received by the community and we've seen a strong rebound in trade from winter 2021 to winter 2022 owing to the additional dining capacity it affords."
In an effort to support city businesses and encourage people to come back to the city, in 2021 the City of Adelaide launched over 20 initiatives, including temporary parklets, as part of Reignite Adelaide.
"I'm very appreciative of the help and support that the CoA has offered since the beginning of the pandemic. Parklets, in particular, are a fabulous initiative since the availability of outdoor dining is just so crucial these days. In the COVID era, people just aren't as comfortable dining indoors as they once were, so additional outdoor seating is integral for the success of hospitality businesses. Additionally, parklets add such wonderful atmosphere to the streetscape and contribute to the vibrancy of the city. This sort of dining is what makes European cities so vibrant and it's lovely to see it right here in Adelaide too".
