Situated in the heritage-listed former office of The Land newspaper, Press’s house-roasted coffee and ultra-fresh organic fare hit the spot immediately with locals and travellers alike.

In fact, the business was such a success that, within weeks, Dyson-Holland made the decision to expand the business with the construction of an expansive alfresco events space out back. Here, he discusses the satisfactions and challenges of a frenetic first year.

Dubbo isn’t the first place that springs to mind when you’re talking about Australian cafe culture. What made you decide to open up in regional NSW?

I looked into [opening in] Paddington in Sydney before making what has turned out to be a wise decision to have a go in Dubbo. I bought the building and spent a few months renovating it before we opened in July 2015. Set-up costs were lower here than they would have been in Sydney and being able to live with my parents meant I could put more money into the project. Doing the same thing in a major city would have been much more stressful financially.

Within weeks of opening, you had customers queuing down the street – what was the secret of your immediate success?

Good food and good design. There was nothing really like us here in town, or in a lot of regional towns. Dubbo didn’t have an advanced cafe culture back then, although there are a lot of cool little places popping up now. It also helped that we were situated across the road from the Quest Dubbo, which was brand new at the time. It had a good corporate following, with sales reps from different industries who came through town regularly, and guests from the medical and legal professions who wanted something better to eat.

What other options were on offer back then?

Unless you were looking for a toasted sandwich, it was pretty limited. There really was a big gap in the market waiting to be filled. It’s hard to say why. Maybe people didn’t think there’d be a demand for the sort of experience we offer. Or they thought toasted sandwiches were what people wanted. Whatever it was, there didn’t seem to be anybody else around who wanted to take the risk of setting up an inner-city style cafe in a small town.

How thinly stretched were you in those first few months after opening?

I had to be onsite a lot because there was a lot going on. Getting busy straightaway meant we had to put more staff on and train them. We managed the building of the extension ourselves and making sure everything was running smoothly was challenging. Things weren’t necessarily hard in themselves but it felt like I was having to get a lot of things done very quickly!

Was the transition from hospitality worker to business owner a difficult one?

Managing people was a learning experience. I initially had a team of six and I soon found that people view you differently when you’re the owner, versus being the manager or one of the crew. My focus back then was on becoming the best leader I could be and, as part of that process, I put systems in place to help me do things smarter and more efficiently.

We were an early user of Deputy, which is an amazing scheduling and rostering app. In addition to that, we use Floodlight, a hospitality analytics tool that uses the Point of Sales (POS) system to generate reports on everything from food costs to best-selling products.

What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome in the first year?

Trying to find quality kitchen staff was tricky for us back then – it still is. We had one excellent chef, who’s still with us today, and an apprentice, who’s gone on to become a real asset. But attracting junior chefs who were willing to learn and push boundaries was challenging. We’d spend months advertising. It’s a rewarding career and you can be paid really well if you’re great at what you do, but I don’t think many people want to get into it in Dubbo.

And the most valuable lesson you learnt in that time?

We came out of it really well in the end – but growing so quickly isn’t necessarily a good thing. If I had my time again, I’d hold back on the additions to our venue for a bit longer. We were doing well and making good money but if there was a week where the takings weren’t quite as high, it was a bit of a challenge to manage the cash flow to enable us to keep building and renovating.

Do you have any advice for others who are thinking of striking out for themselves?

We were really lucky that we chose to start up in an area where there was no competition because that enabled our immediate success. If we’d done the same thing in Sydney, there would have been a sea of alternatives. If you find a gap in the market – whether it’s an industry or a location – you can pave your own way.