Introduce yourself – Tell us a little bit about yourself, your position with the café + your background
I’m Sebastian, GM of The Major Venues and Owner of Little West.
Tell us a little bit about yourself + your background
As founding partner and GM of The Major Venues, these days I love working with our crew of legends to make our venues bump.
My background is in wholesale coffee and hospo, a scene I’ve been on for almost 15 years now, with stints at Pablo & Rusty’s, Mecca Coffee and most recently a multi-national hospitality franchise business.
Can you tell us a little bit about the local area /community – why did you choose to open a café up here? What makes it special or unique?
We saw in the location of Little West an opportunity to carve out a space off high-street, in a concentrated part of Sydney with a shifting demographic. The Inner West, specifically Marrickville and Newtown, is home to some of the nations best food & coffee establishments, but this region of the Inner West has lots of residents, but surprisingly few venues who rock up with the intention to do a stellar job.
Tell us the story behind Little West?
Little West was initially a fool’s errand by my business partner, Josh, and I. We saw a cute and discrete little location which seemed to be pretty straight-forward to open – a coat of paint, some second-hand gear and off we go. Then we fell into the long-feared and well-loathed DA and heritage-trap.
As we moved through a lengthy planning process, the brand took shape. With it came the research into post-war Australiana which had us foraying into the execution of nostalgic Australian cuisine, paired with delicious coffee and house-made goods that you can drop on the dinner table and brag about.
What was initially going to be a side-hustle grew and developed into something more. As the brand took shape, so did the project team, and we were lucky enough to attract the attention of some industry professionals who have helped us make it into a beautiful little venue which punches above its weight.
What can someone visiting this space expect to experience?
A well-considered menu, serving up elevated Australian classics and house-made goods, alongside ethically sourced specialty coffee by Market Lane and a rotation of other Australian specialty coffee roasters on our black coffee program. We pride ourselves in extending the brand experience from the shop to your dining room, so we have a solid focus on retailing our house-made goods alongside some excellent coffee.
You can go to war with the other local legends to try and get a seat over the weekend or visit us at a calmer pace throughout the week. Though our seats are few, we always find a space for someone to perch up and crush a smoked brisket sausage roll and a batchy.
What does the future look like for Little West?
Bright, we’ve had a great opening year and we’re working on some exciting things behind the scenes.
Why have you chosen to partner with The Alternative?
It’s a great quality product that pairs very well with our coffee. The highlight would be the oat milk. It has a great depth and richness which complements our coffees flavour, while also carrying its own flavour profile which is creamy and pleasant.
If you could have a coffee with any person in history, who would it be and why?
Tough one… It’d have to be Winston Churchill. Thick-skinned, quick-witted and my kind of abrasive; it’d be great to chew the fat over a coffee.
