Summer Sizzle
Wednesday, 21 January 2026
How to keep it cool in your café this summer
Featuring:
Iroshini Elayadurage – Angove Kitchen & Espresso Bar, Perth WA
The café business is hotting up for summer all over Australia – with longer days, holiday vibes and warm weather bringing more diners from dawn until late afternoon. Savvy café operators are making the most of the season by showcasing seasonal produce, expanding their cool drinks menus and creating memorable experiences to drive loyalty throughout the year.
One such operator with her finger on the pulse is Iroshini Elayadurage, from Angove Kitchen & Expresso bar in North Perth. Since taking over the business just over a year ago, Iroshini has built a devoted following by listening to her customers, focusing on quality and offering good old-fashioned hospitality.
All-day dishes
“We just have the one menu covering breakfast, lunch, everything,” Iroshini tells InSeason. “We keep the same dishes on, but change the specials regularly and we are happy for people to customise their order.”
This summer, Iroshini says she’ll experiment with more salad and meal specials and change up the most popular dishes. “We’ll be adding a lot of specials because we’ll be so busy during Christmas and the January holidays,” she says. “Using the fresh produce when it’s in season keeps the costs down and quality high.”
One of the current specials that will be receiving a summer refresh is the mushroom bruschetta. “It’s so popular, especially with bacon on the side! We can change it for summer with different garnishes and side options.” Iroshini adds that if a special sells well, it earns a place on the main menu.
Refreshing sips
Also on Iroshini’s mind is the summer drinks list. The day we spoke she was looking for a new blender to cope with the expected increase in demand for smoothies.
“We make everything fresh to order, and our smoothies are big sellers.” Iroshini adds that iced drinks – coffee, matcha, turmeric and chai – are all popular, along with cold-pressed juices, organic soda and kombucha.
For most people coffee is number one, whether it is hot or cold. But for the young ones, Generation Z, it’s all about matcha, turmeric and chai… well, mostly matcha!
Coffee keeps them coming
Angove Kitchen & Bar is on a busy shopping strip with plenty of café competition, so InSeason asked Iroshini how she maintains their loyal following.
“It’s the coffee!” she answers immediately. “Funny you should ask, a couple of months ago I trialled a new coffee that was a bit cheaper, but straightway all our customers said they preferred the other one.” Iroshini says she took the feedback on board and switched back to the local roaster, Crema Coffee Co.
“We also have a little loyalty card, buy 10 coffees, get one free, I make sure everyone gets one and they work really well.”
The café team has three baristas, who take pride in getting to know their regulars and bringing a smile to their faces. “For takeaways we use the Envirochoice cups with pictures on them and often write a little message on each one as well.”
Iroshini adds that over the next week she is looking forward to trialling the new Inked Series range of sustainable takeaway cups, which feature tattoo-inspired designs.
“It’s something different again, it makes us stand out. Our customers love the colourful takeaway cups instead of plain ones, and often ask for the cups with their favourite dogs on them.”
True meaning of hospitality
What shines through when speaking with Iroshini is her laser focus on customer satisfaction and genuine care for everyone who walks through the door. Her approach to staff is just as thoughtful, prioritising flexibility, open communication and respect.
“I always try to keep everyone happy,” she says. “That goes for my team as well as the customers. We are all human and we make mistakes, so if there’s a problem, we just fix it and move on.”
And Iroshini’s final tips for InSeason readers? “Listen to your customers and your staff. I trial everything before I make any changes to get feedback from my team and our regulars.”
“I took over this business just over a year ago and I haven’t done any magical thing. I just took my time, and I study everything, so I know all that is going on in my café. Smoothly, slowly, we are building this business and making it better every day.”
And that’s a great recipe for success, at any time of year.
Listen to your customers and your staff. I trial everything before I make any changes to get feedback from my team and our regulars.
The stunning Inked Series takeaway cups from Envirochoice features eight unique designs inspired by tattoo culture, that will make your café stand out from the crowd.
- Whether it’s a quick espresso or a large takeaway, there’s a cup for every pour with 8oz, 12oz, and 16oz cup sizes – and they all fit Envirochoice’s universal 90mm range of lids.
- Available in double or single-wall CoRe aqueous paperboard, the cups are perfect for either hot or cold drinks.
- A great choice for the environment, Ink Series cups can be placed in composting or recycling bins (or landfill waste bins if composting or recycling is not available). The cups are industrially compostable and meet Australian composting standards AS4736.
12oz Single Wall Cups Ink Series
1000
Primo Foods is Australia’s largest, most trusted bacon, ham and smallgoods supplier, with a passion for innovation and leading edge R&D. Their streaky, shortcut, rindless and diced bacon products suit a wide range of dishes:
- Use streaky bacon as part of a truly satisfying English Breakfast – a staple of any café breakfast menu. It’s also a perfect partner for American-style waffles or pancakes with maple syrup.
- Diced shortcut is a tasty topper for all sorts of salads, don’t just keep it for the Caesars and Cobbs! Throw it onto a ‘dirty’ Buddha bowl, toss it through a Mexican street corn salad, or mix into any pasta or potato salad.
- Rindless shortcut bacon is a must for bacon and egg rolls, serve it in brioche buns with aioli, rocket and tomato chutney.
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4 x 2.5kg
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