Cafe Bocca co-owner Michael De Marte is set to make a few changes within the cafe in addition to opening another two stores over the next few months. Michael says the cafe will become more upmarket to make way for the yet-to-be named cafe he will open next door. The developments coincide with plans to open an espresso bar on St Georges Terrace. The plans have prompted Michael to recruit another head chef to join Damien Grifiths in the Cafe Bocca kitchen.
The first of the developments will be the espresso bar, Rosso Espresso, which will be at 89 St Georges Terrace (on the corner of Howard Street).
“It will be a Milan-style outlet to compete with Cino,” Michael says.
Cino to Go is located just up the road and Michael says, provided all goes well, he has similar expansion plans for the espresso bar.
“We would like to put one on the west end of the terrace and at Adelaide Terrace. But we won’t take on too much at once, you run into trouble then,” he says.
The next few months will also be a busy time for the Shafto Lane operation, with the planned opening of an as-yet-unnamed cafe/bar.
“We are doing a fit out next door, which is 150 square metres. I haven’t come up for a name for it yet but we will sell pizza by the slice and have beer on tap,” Michael says.
“We will make Bocca a little bit more upmarket.
“We will reduce the numbers because if you get a few hundred people in for lunch you start to risk consistency and quality. We will refine it and probably add some linen and next door will be more funkier, faster and more casual.”
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In other news from Shafto Lane, the owners of Kuali Restaurant on Murray have decided to sell.
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The Wembley Hotel lease has been taken over by Peter Mansfield and Kane Mansfield.
