Launceston cafe Bread and Butter plot US expansion

Opportunities and obstacles have seen the bakery-cafe move and expand across the city, and owners Olivia and Rob Morrison will soon open their third shopfront in Northern Tasmania.

But there's something bigger brewing - Bread and Butter is going international.

The Morrisons will travel to the US in April to lay the groundwork for a bakery-cafe in Los Angeles, where they hope to set up multiple businesses similar to those established in Launceston.

MOST READ: Cesar Penuela to remain in Launceston

"We'll set it up over a year - we're not going to rush into it," Ms Morrison said.

"LA's so big so eventually I think it'll be a multi-venue city. We'll have somewhere out near the beach near Santa Monica and then probably in Hollywood inland as well."

The ambitious plan has been bubbling away since early 2020, when the Morrisons visited Costa Rica, and later Los Angeles, to learn about coffee production.

"It seems illogical but it has a lot of parallels with Tasmania - California especially, their passion for produce and local ingredients," Ms Morrison said.

"I think our bakery model will work well in their market, and also it's a good lifestyle ... we can be living an endless summer rotating between Tasmania and Los Angeles."

In the meantime, the Morrisons' focus is on transforming the former Kai-Zen Japanese restaurant into a cafe and bake shop.

They had planned to return to their original headquarters - which were demolished as part of the new St Lukes Health development - but delays to the $27 million, eight-storey building led to a change of plans.

The new site is smaller than the warehouse, but its Cimitiere Street location and proximity to the Launceston Harvest Market, where Mrs Morrison began Tasmanian Butter Co seven years ago, evokes the same feeling of a homecoming.

Renovations including a new counter, kitchen and bench seating are well under way ahead of its opening on December 1.

READ MORE: Launceston houses sitting on market for longer

"This model here that we're putting on Cimitiere Street is sort of a test model of what we'll build over there [LA] to start with," Ms Morrison said.

"This spot just came up by accident about [six] weeks ago so we jumped on it and thought it'd be a good spot to be back with all of our regulars over this side of town.

"It's a good opportunity to capture that market and also the Harvest Market on a Saturday, it'll be great to have that connection again."

Originally from New Zealand via Sydney, Ms Morrison was working in IT when she began handmaking butter for Tasmanian Butter Co.

The demands of Bread and Butter's bakery - which now churns through 220 kilograms a week - soon saw production moved to Meander Valley Dairy's factory in Kings Meadows.

A purpose-built factory could be on the cards in the future.

"The plan is to set up a manufacturing facility but that's a huge project," Ms Morrison said.

"There's so much in that level of scale."

A spurt of CBD food and cafe ventures have followed.

The new Bread and Butter shopfront will serve coffee, cakes, pastries and bread, and help ease the production load on its Elizabeth Street and Lilydale counterparts.

Each day a delivery driver will pick up sourdough from Lilydale - which opened in February and has recently bumped its opening hours to five days a week - and drop it off at the two CBD stores.

Pastries made at Elizabeth Street, and cakes, cookies and donuts from the Cimitiere Street kitchen, will then head back the other way.

It's a cleverly-devised business model that will soon be tried and tested on the other side of the world.

"We'll give our staff an opportunity to come over [to LA] as well to work if they want to and also expand their skills," Ms Morrison said.

"We've got 52 people on our staff list at the moment ... so if someone in another location is sick or has to go away we've got a lot of coverage and support.

"We haven't closed a single day since we opened.

"I think it's like 1500 days or thereabouts of baking bread non-stop, without interruption, which is pretty epic."

The new Bread and Butter at 65 Cimitiere Street will open from 7am to 2pm, Mondays to Saturdays.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: