General News
23 February, 2023
Gold and Grain bids farewell to Dunolly
A popular Dunolly eatery worth its weight in gold will serve diners one last time tomorrow before closing its doors — with the current owners hopeful someone will take the business on. After cooking for the community for four years, the Gold and...
A popular Dunolly eatery worth its weight in gold will serve diners one last time tomorrow before closing its doors — with the current owners hopeful someone will take the business on.
After cooking for the community for four years, the Gold and Grain Cafe’s mother-daughter duo, Georgine Meade and Linda Crumpton, have made the hard decision to close the restaurant with the property now up for sale.
“I run it with my mum and she’s retiring. The cafe is part of her house and she wants to move to something smaller, easier to look after and not work anymore — she just needs the peace and quiet,” Ms Crumpton said.
“Mum’s also just had her birthday, she turned 71 and she did say that she wanted to retire at 70 so she’s already done an extra year.
“The business has been better than ever and it’s a bit crazy to close, it feels kind of weird but it’s time for a new chapter.”
On the market since October last year, Ms Crumpton is hoping that the cafe is able to serve the people of Dunolly and surrounds through new ownership.
“We did not want to have to close. The plan was that someone would buy the place and take over so it would stay open,” she said.
“I’m pretty sure someone will buy it but it’s a bit of a shame that it hasn’t sold already. The real estate agent’s confident that it shouldn’t make much difference that we’re closing, it should still sell.
“Let’s hope someone does come along because it’ll be good for the town. I really, really hope someone comes and buys it so it stays where it is and continues to grow — that would be ideal.”
Good memories abound, Ms Crumpton said she’s enjoyed working at the cafe and is appreciative of the community’s support.
“We have a lot of regular customers and everyone’s very disappointed, they’ve said they’ll miss us,” she said.
“For me personally, it’s special because we built this place — we put in the doorways, did everything in the kitchen and created space for it to be a cafe and it’s all gone really well.”