Before moving in to hospitality full-time, Mitchell was a tradie, working three jobs at once to save for a trip overseas,
"I would drive from my job, 7 till 5, then drive to Pennant Hills and work in a bar for four hours at night three times a week, and then work at a cafe on the weekends on top of that. I was doing three jobs at once trying to save up to go overseas. And then while I was overseas, I just realised I enjoyed my second job more than my real job."
So he decided to commit to hospo full-time. "I thought, I might as well do it now. If I hate it, I hate it, I can change back. And I never changed back."
"Something always brings me back every time I think of doing anything else,” he says.
“You get attached to the customers that come in all the time. Customers become family, become best friends."
That sense of family isn't left to chance and is built into the room itself.
"Look at all the tables. They're all long tables. Everything's designed so you sit down as a family. There's no single tables. If you're just one person, you end up sitting on a table with someone else, engaging in conversation. Then you see them one, two, three times within a month, and you end up just coming back because you know everyone here."
It's a culture the original owners set deliberately, and one that's held for 20 years.
"When the boys designed this shop, they really got that right. They picked what they wanted as a culture and executed it well. And it's stood. We engage with customers, we meet their babies, and we end up seeing these babies and kids grow up over years and years, which is crazy. There have been kids who were customers here who now actually work here."
That everyday closeness means the job is about far more than serving food.
"It's not easy, but it's rewarding. It's literally serving people the whole day, having conversations non-stop, being their counsellor sometimes, helping them with problems. People come in every day with problems, and instead of just neglecting them, it's part of our job to help them. If they're frustrated, rushing, a bit frantic, their day's not going so great. Anything little we can do, that's why we're here."
As the new custodian of a long-standing institution, Mitchell is measured about change.
"I'm a little bit OCD, so I've decluttered a lot. Some simple things, new design, menus, a few different systems. There'll be more changes eventually. But you don't take over a business like this trying to change everything. It's been here a long time. It's worked a long time. For me to think my brand idea is going to be a thousand times better, changing the name, changing everything..that wouldn't be good for me, and it wouldn't be good for the customers either."
The plan, instead is to layer his own personal touch on top of a solid foundation.
"Everything will stay the same, with my own tweaks. Keep that old-school hospitality feel."
