This month our Chief Caffeinator and Happiness Creator Ant was featured in Focus magazine as part of their Men In Business special feature...
Here's what he had to say:
Describe how you got started in your business?
I haven’t always been a barista, but after arriving in Port Macquarie from Hobart I soon found myself working behind a coffee machine, and loved it!
It wasn’t too long before my wife Lusanna expanded our business Meg+Me and moved into a new space that allowed me to open my own espresso bar.
We didn’t see the concept at first, but a good friend suggested we create a small hole in the wall style espresso bar and after a bit of creative thinking, Meg+Me Espresso was born back in January 2014!
What are your business's greatest assets?
Definitely the community we have created. Without our customers, both regular and those who only pop by every now and then, it wouldn’t matter how good our coffee was, how much fun we have, we wouldn’t be anything without them!
What are the biggest changes you have seen in your industry?
The rise in popularity of milk alternatives. We started off with two dairy options plus a soy based milk, whereas now, nearly 10 years on we offer at least 6 other dairy alternatives on any given day!
What does a typical day at work look like for you?
My day starts at 4:45am when I ride to work on my pushbike and begin preparing for an onslaught of customers from 6am. We have a regular crowd, including some mad keen cyclists, families who I’ve seen go from couples to full on families, some of whom even work with me casually on weekends now.
I’ve been known to be MIA at times, but you’ll generally find me out the front chatting with the customers… that really is half the fun!
Pop by the Espresso Bar from 6 am daily to grab yourself one of Ant's famous coffees - and a chat of course!
