Entrepreneur takes over four premises, pledges new cafe for deserving suburb

Updated a month ago by Hamish Geale

It's going to be a big Christmas for Roop Navdeep Singh and his team.

In addition to running Launnie Care Services and two Tassie Dhaba restaurants (plus a third on the way), Mr Singh has recently acquired four existing hospitality businesses.

His team has taken over Trevallyn's Neighbourhood Cafe (formerly Cafe Culture) and begun to make the place their own.

They will soon add woodfired pizza to the menu.

Mr Singh is also in the process of taking over the Quadrant Mall's Sri Lankan restaurant Salt & Chilli, and Newstead's Nepalese-inspired Tasmandu, which will retain the same menus.

Both owners are staying on for six weeks to ensure a smooth transition.

Mr Singh has also acquired Ravenswood's Eastside Pizza, and has big plans for the empty shopfront beside it.

"We are thinking to utilise it for a cafe," he said.

"People in Ravenswood have never had a chance to have a fine dining cafe or restaurant there, it's always takeaway shops.

"We don't want to be a competitor to anyone, but we think they deserve that. They deserve to have a nice cafe in that area for the locals so they can come and enjoy it - especially for the old people if they can't drive far away, at least they can come and enjoy their coffees outside, inside, and have that nice ambience in there."

Mr Singh's investment comes at a time when reduced household disposable income is making life difficult for cafes and restaurants, and is even more remarkable given he never set out to work in hospitality.

Nevertheless, he's determined to see it through.

"I'm still giving my 100 per cent to the NDIS because that's my priority, that's where I belong to, but this venture gives us satisfaction and gives us that relationship with our employees," he said.

"It's not a very profitable business, but we're trying to make it work.

"In my experience most people lose their hope after one restaurant or one cafe because it's not easy to run, it's true.

"Unless you have five you're not seeing the profit - you have to use binoculars to see the profit."

He said a good team was crucial to being successful in business.

"You can't do everything alone ... it has to be teamwork," he said.

"We have a great team.

"We're looking at individuals' skills and where we can use them, we're not fixated on one thing or 'someone has to work in the kitchen no matter what' - if the person's not made for the kitchen, put them somewhere else."