THE BRIDGE Café in Cavendish is a business success story about a couple of locals, with no previous experience, who had a go.

Well known and much loved, born and bred couple, Vicki Schleter and Nick Menzel, have what you call the “X Factor” in business acumen.

They’ve developed Bridge Café to become the local “one stop shop” for your basic needs, friendly banter, great coffee and good home cooked food, where you cannot walk past the vanilla slice or to-die-for home-made sausage rolls.

Sadly, after eight years, they are hanging up their aprons, having recently sold.

The ride over the last eight years has been a blast hosting long-time loyalist locals, busloads of tourists, truckies, bikers, car clubs, cyclist groups and anyone else driving past.

The Bridge Café was rebuilt from a tiny milk bar that was closed after a car, not for the first time, lost control negotiating the bend on the Henty Highway and ploughed into the building.

All that remained was a façade with a house at the back overlooking the Wannon River.

Drew up plans on a white board

Nick and Vicki have come a long way since they drew up a “business plan” on a white board in their home, when the Cavendish General Store, the only other shop in town, closed down.

“We thought (the Cavendish community) has just got to have a shop,” Nick said.

Nick and Vicki bought the property and from the white board to an architecturally commissioned design and two years of negotiation with council, eventually became what is now the “Bridge Café”.

“We had literally no idea what we were doing,” Vicki said.

“We’d never made burgers before or anything like that.”

Not one single customer

“When we first opened, we didn’t have a single customer and we used to watch cars driving past and we would be willing them to stop.”

“It was only a couple of months before it took off and it was full-on seven days per week, 6am until 8pm,” Nick said.

“By the end of the first year we had six casual employees, as well as the two of us working full time.

“We put a lot of the success of our loyal customer base to being clean and hardworking, that’s it.”

The rustic appeal of the building also boasts an outdoor dining area under the cover of a colonial style veranda, supported by posts replicating the pylons of the trestle railway bridge, that was built in 1915, still standing just behind the shop.

It’s a beautiful spot for a break, with gum trees lining the banks and the Settlers’ Walk winding along to the historical cemetery (circa 1850).

As settlement grew in Cavendish (originally called Wilton) from the early to mid-nineteenth century, transport companies Hoyles and Cobb and Co Coaches provide services for anyone wishing to visit the larger towns of Hamilton and Balmoral.

Commercial enterprise began to flourish and opportunities availed to serve passing travellers on the Henty Highway, linking the Wimmera with Portland, as well as traffic between Melbourne and Adelaide.

The location of Bridge Café remains uniquely opportune with the largest customer base coming from the Wimmera.

“It is still the longest stretch between towns in Victoria and a lot of people come from Horsham to visit health services in Hamilton and this is their one chance to stop for coffee along the way,” Nick said.

Time to sell

But speaking of their decision to sell, “we felt it was time, the business is thriving and we really just need to take a break.”

“Our last day is going to be a sad day, a lot of people have been stopping by to say thanks and to wish us well,” Vicki said.

“The absolute highlight of the last eight years has been the people,” Vicki said.

“Everyone that comes through our door, the regulars and blow-ins, they’re our family.

“We’ve been relationship counsellors, mental health support, nutritionists, Nick’s even been asked to give a bit of animal welfare advice.

“We’ve been a lifeline to farmers who come in everyday for cake and coffee, just so as they can chat to someone at least once a day.”

We will miss the friendships

Likewise, Nick said it’s the friendships he’s made while serving behind the counter that he will miss.

Whilst Nick will take time off to go fishing, Vicki wants to make up for lost time with family.

New owners Shane and Susan Northam are only too aware of the big shoes they have to fill, but with the help of Nick and Vicki transition through February, they will be well and truly prepared to take over.

Both are very accomplished in previous careers with Shane running two barber shops in New South Wales and Queensland and Susan as a Registered Nurse.

They decided to make the move all the way from Armidale, NSW, after a family meeting with their two daughters, Eva ,11, and Mae, 10, and it was the girls, Shane said, Mae in particular, that expressed strong interest in running a café.

“We had both worked in hospitality in our youth and we were ready for a change and when we started looking at businesses to buy, Bridge Café just leapt off the page,” Shane said.

“We’ve done this for our girls and it is a good time in their lives to make the move.

“We are still open seven days per week and the girls have been helping on the weekends too - Mae has always had an interest in cooking – but they’ve both been running their little feet off and they absolutely love it.”

New owners welcomed

With a couple of weeks already under their belt, they said they cannot believe how friendly people have been towards their family.

“People have been coming in, just to introduce themselves to us,” Susan said.

“We noticed after crossing the border from New South into Victoria, that people just started waving to us,” Shane said.

“We thought there must be an accident or something up ahead, but no, people (on this side of the border) are just friendly.”

Nick and Vicki have every faith that Shane and Susan will be just fine and said they have landed on their feet already.

“They’ll be fine – they’ll be old hands in no time,” Vicki said.

“Nick and Vicki have just been so kind and helpful, they have the patience of saints in helping us learn the ropes and we have a couple of casuals on staff also, Brooke and Erin,” Susan said.

“We cannot believe how perfect everything is, we sit on the deck in the evening and take in the view of the Wannon River and just can’t believe how lucky we are,” Shane said.

Shane and Susan take over full operation of Bridge Café on March 1.