![Bread and Butter's Olivia Morrison at the cafe's new premises in Cimitiere Street. Pictures by Paul Scambler Bread and Butter's Olivia Morrison at the cafe's new premises in Cimitiere Street. Pictures by Paul Scambler](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/H9AemfQ3cDaTrBwqEFxwv/0ffb56dc-a6f2-42da-a56b-918345445a79.jpg/r0_0_1600_900_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A CBD site that sold plumbing supplies for decades is now serving coffee and croissants.
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Bread and Butter has recently opened its third Launceston outlet in the Rankin and Bond building neighbouring Spotlight.
The historic Launceston business dates back to 1899, when it secured the site of its Cimitiere Street foundry a few hundred metres up the road.
After Rankin and Bond trimmed the retail side of its business to focus on custom brassware, Bread and Butter pounced on the George Street side of the building.
An eight-month project converting the warehouse was completed just before Christmas when the new bakery and cafe opened to customers.
"It's just the perfect size and a great location," owner Olivia Morrison said.
"It's close to where we used to be originally on Cimitiere Street, it has parking - it ticks all the boxes for what we needed."
The new venue has retained much of the character of the Rankin and Bond building.
The green paintwork and peeling signage still adorns the building's exterior, and the original front-of-house counter has been reinvigorated.
Mrs Morrison said she and husband Rob had been searching for a new venue for a year, and came close to selecting a venue in Invermay, before finding the site.
She said it was a relief to have Bread and Butter's main baking headquarters back in the city after a year working from the brand's former Lilydale premises, which now trades as Lock Shop Cafe.
"Our lease was up in Lilydale and we realised how difficult it was logistics wise to bake bread and move it in and out of the city. Also the cost of fuel was crazy," she said.
"[The new venue] feels more like Bread and Butter used to be when we originally opened.
"There's lots of sandwiches and pastries and bread products, rather than eggs on toast and the full menu which we still do around Elizabeth Street."
ISLAND STATE TO UNITED STATES
Bread and Butter's plans for a US expansion were put on hold for the duration of the George Street project, but that could soon change.
The Morrisons will fly out on Monday to spend three weeks re-familiarising themselves with Los Angeles, where they hope to establish multiple bakeries similar to those in Launceston.
![Olivia Morrison at the new George Street venue. Picture by Paul Scambler Olivia Morrison at the new George Street venue. Picture by Paul Scambler](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/H9AemfQ3cDaTrBwqEFxwv/73221eba-ddfa-4b9e-b51e-fcc09a338f30.jpg/r0_0_8256_5504_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"We'll try and raise some funds to do that project because we put a lot into here," Mrs Morrison said.
"Rob and I haven't even had a chance to think about how to make it work, so we'll do that this year.
"But for operations in Launceston we're going to focus on keeping our quality high and introducing more products, and we're expanding our wholesale bread range.
"We're going to start supplying Hill Street and Longford in the next couple of weeks and we've taken on a few more cafes around town."
The new Bread and Butter venue is located at 20 George Street and opens every day from 7am.