Kane and Laura Stamp win their ninth award for Jindabyne’s Birchwood cafe. Photos: Supplied.
Jindabyne’s Birchwood cafe has won silver in the cafe dining category of the Restaurant and Catering Industry Association’s (R&CA) National Awards For Excellence. The award might be one of nine the cafe has earned since Laura and Kane Stamp bought the business in 2021, but they don’t take it lightly, or for granted.
“We’re always amazed and thrilled when we win an award; we never go into it expecting to win,” Laura says.
The R&CA was established in 1922 and now represents more than 57,000 hospitality businesses around Australia. With its annual awards in place for more than 30 years, this year’s competition was fierce, attracting the highest number of nominations in its history.
Speaking with Laura about their win, it’s quickly apparent that she and Kane mean business when it comes to success in hospitality, yet they also manage to retain a sense of humour about the challenges thrown at them in what is a tough industry.
“The people who built the business created an amazing thing, and for the first few years we were like, ‘Don’t stuff Birchwood, don’t stuff it, don’t stuff it’,” Laura says.
Birchwood is a popular all-day spot in the Snowys.
Laura talks a million miles an hour with sheer enthusiasm for the business they have built. With a background as a competitive snowboarder, she describes her need for adrenaline, which she takes into her business approach as the duo faces the challenges of hospitality as if in a bullfight ring.
Many of these challenges have presented themselves simply due to bad timing. Having bought the business in between COVID-19 lockdowns, but not knowing that the big lockdown was still to come, Laura says they did well through the pandemic but struggled once lockdowns were over and people’s habits had changed.
This ever-moving landscape prompted Laura and Kane to join a business mentorship network and grow their cafe in new directions outside of the bricks-and-mortar venue.
Birchwood’s menu is designed by Kane Stamp, who is not only the owner but the head chef.
In addition to the award-winning cafe they run seven days a week, Kane and Laura now take on private catering jobs, tenders for catering contracts and even have a food and coffee van that they take to events around the state, including the recent Wanderer festival in Pambula.
“We’re willing to give anything a go. Sometimes I take things on that we have no experience in, but I always know that we will figure it out as we go, and as long as we don’t make a loss, I’m happy,” Laura says.
The strategy is a sign of the times, and Laura believes there is no more sitting back and waiting for business to walk through the cafe doors; you have to chase it.
“I’m a real goer, and hubby just listens and makes it happen,” Laura says with a hearty laugh.
After spending time chatting with Laura, she reflects the new face of hospitality: open, courageous and more than willing to share and collaborate with other members of the industry.
She has an “all in it together” mentality, something the industry could do with in bucketloads, and Laura and Kane are bringing more than their fair share to the party.
Birchwood Cafe is located at Unit 3/3 Gippsland Street, Jindabyne. They’re open from 7 am until 2:00 pm from Monday to Friday, and from 7 am until 2:30 pm on Saturday and Sunday. Keep up with them via their website, Facebook page and Instagram.
