LUKE Tonkin’s nose for entrepreneurial pursuits made an impression on his wife-to-be when the pair were teenagers growing up in Taree.
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‘‘He was selling 50 cent chocolates out of the janitor’s shed at school at 17, undercutting the canteen and making a tidy profit,’’ laughs Odette Tonkin.
Now with three children under the age of five, the childhood sweethearts’ days of unencumbered, free-wheeling innocence are a memory.
But fun and flexibility is still high on their priority list when it comes to business. Fourteen months ago they bought the Wickham Motorcycle Cafe in Throsby Street and have made small but winning changes. ‘‘It was losing money ... so we bought it and closed down to do renovations,’’ Luke says.
By giving it a lick of paint, installing horizontal scaffolding to ‘‘bring the roof down’’ and plucking the vintage bikes from the floor and mounting them on shelves, the couple have brought warmth to the cavernous warehouse.
This month they are staging Mother’s Group Madness, when any group of five mums or more who enjoy a beverage between 9am and noon from Monday to Wednesday will receive a cake tasting plate gratis.
‘‘It’s not what people usually expect from a cafe [with our name], but our spot is a real favourite with mothers’ groups, most days we have prams packing the car park,’’ says Odette.
The cafe also has plenty of room indoors for prams to manoeuvre as well as high chairs, change tables and a ‘‘Pee Wee’’ kids’ corner that keeps kids entertained and parents equally happy.
The move to appeal to a broader market came to Luke, he says, when he was mowing the lawn: ‘‘I had a vision of who we actually need to attract during the week and who is around, and it’s not motorbike riders because they are at work paying for their hobbies.’’
Adds Odette: ‘‘We know how hard it is as parents, we love going out for breakfast and lunch and there really aren’t a lot of places to go where kids can run around.’’
Child friendliness aside, the couple have strived to create a ‘‘destination cafe’’ for all.
Beyond the tasty menu, they sell T-shirts and gourmet condiments and have a free photo booth, with a scooter providing the seat. ‘‘It is such an eclectic group who do come now, people think we’re a motorcycle cafe ... but really we get a small percentage of bikers here for joyrides on the weekend,’’ says Odette.
‘‘It’s funny, sometimes you see an old biker sitting next to a breast-feeding mum who’s next to a young guy with tatts sitting next to a tradie.’’
Luke studied software engineering at the University of Newcastle, while Odette completed a communications degree then worked in radio and print media. Luke worked in Sydney for six years then travelled Australia ‘‘learning other people’s businesses while installing software’’.
In 2006, a somewhat comical situation prompted Luke to start his online business All Things Stainless.
‘‘My dad made a stainless steel dance pole as a joke for a friend and when they didn’t want it I put it on eBay,’’ he says.
With the dance pole fitness revolution in full swing, Luke sold 750 poles in 12 months before deciding to do something ‘‘more legitimate’’.
With All Things Stainless catering to DIY home renovators and tradies, Luke’s next moneyspinner was renovating a haul of Kombis he sold to backpackers before he and Odette travelled around Australia for 10 months in their own camper van. In 2009 they moved to the Hunter to raise their family and when the Wickham business came up for sale it was a good fit.
At the back of the cafe, coffee aficionado Luke keeps an eye on the floor from his office, from where he operates All Things Stainless.
While the cafe is open seven days, the couple have been able to find a work/life balance by hiring manager Matthew Ward and a good team. ‘‘We try not to take things too seriously, to have fun and not look at our books everyday, maybe over a period,’’ Luke says. ‘‘We still sometimes think ‘Hmmm, is this what we should be doing’,’’ adds Odette, ‘‘but it’s good fun and we think we are young enough and in a good position to do it now.’’
IN a subtle shift from motorcycles to cars, the NRMA is turning to Novocastrian firm Write For Impact to rev up its communication efforts.
Founded by communications coach Greg Crowther and his business partner Dr Patricia Gillard, a former professor of communication at Newcastle university, Write For Impact has accumulated a swag of local and national clients since launching in 2013.
The company provides business writing coaching to companies in financial services, education, mining and professional services.
It offers an online, step-by-step learning program and acts as a kind of mentor to encourage companies to gain essential knowledge of business writing and grammar.
Mr Crowther estimates 95per cent of business communication is done by email, and that the average person is confronted with 15,000 words each day. Ergo, Write for Impact teaches businesses to use as few words as possible to better sell their brand.
It’s the second time the NRMA has engaged Write for Impact, with the initial work relating to online content and the new gig relating to both online and face-to-face assistance.
NRMA group capability manager Tom Cornish said the firm delivered ‘‘pragmatic, job-specific skills’’.
