Western Australian-based coffee chain Dome Coffee Australia has announced yet another investment, with a $2 million rebuilding of the Rottnest Island operations on the cards.
The notice comes two months after the group announced the establishment of a new café and offices in the heritage listed Peninsula Hotel in Maylands, which could cost up to $1.8 million according to the City of Bayswater public notice.
The original Rottnest Island Dome will be demolished with the site returned to sand dunes and the new Dome, constructed about 10 metres behind the current site, will be able to cater for about 160 people.
Tourism Minister Sheila McHale said that the Dome group’s plans to redevelop its premises are part of an anticipated total private business investment of $70 million over the next two years on Rottnest Island.
Dome Coffee’s CEO Nigel Oakey said in an announcement that, continuing the operations on the island required a larger building, better able to respond to the demand from the increasing number of visitors on Rottnest.
The two substantial projects come after control of the group was snared by the Perth-based private equity investor Viburnum Funds from Asia based Navis Capital Partners last February.
Backed by the Wyllie Group, Viburnum purchased a majority stake in Dome through its Viburnum Private Equity Fund No 1 with the balance held by a group of Dome management and staff.
Viburnum’s Marshall Allen and Wyllie Group managing director Melissa Karlson joined the new board of Dome.
Prior to the acquisition, through Wyllie Group’s property holdings, Ms Karlson and Mr Oakey had a long-standing working relationship as property owner and tenant.
Dome has a worldwide presence, notably in the Middle East region.
The group signed an agreement with Bahrain’s Almoayyed International Group in 2005 to facilitate the expansion in the region.
Dome Coffee is also present in the United Arab Emirates and Asia, particularly in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
It was established originally as a specialty coffee roaster and supplier in 1993.
Now operating both the “Dome” and “Cino to Go” brands, the company has more than 80 retail locations with a presence in seven countries.
