Introduce yourself and what you do here at Lost Freight
So my name’s Nige, I’m the owner of Lost Freight Cafe.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.
So I was a landscaper are all of my 20s, operating a small business. A scientist all of my 30s in marine ecology. And then yeah, bought a cafe for a bit of a tree change.
Can you tell us a little bit about the local area, the community? Why did you choose to open a cafe up here? And what makes it so special or unique?
So Lost Freight jumped off the page as something that is truly unique in that it’s kind of a part tourism-based business and part cafe. Local community is great. We’ve got great support from the locals, who bushwalk and mountain bike ride. And yeah, obviously a strong tourism cohort that comes up to view our Kunanyi.
Do you have many regulars?
Yeah, we do definitely do have a lot of regulars and particularly during the week. They’re awesome to chat to and they’ve got a pretty strong little outdoors based community. Obviously what’s unique about the cafes is it’s not you’re kind of trudging through the CBD off to the office kind of crowd, you know everyone’s happy they’re up here on the mountain and they’re having fun.
Can you tell us the story behind the name?
So Lost Freight is obviously a shipping container. It’s stuck in the middle of nowhere. So yeah, it’s a pretty little clever play on words there.
What can someone visiting the space expect to experience?
So we are a hub for a lot of the bushwalking on Kananyi, so we go left right up and down there’s some great mountain bike trails and we’re obviously set in the bush in a pretty unique little spot. We’re the only cafe on the mountain and in the area and so what you can expect is great coffee, awesome hot chocolates and good service.
If there was one thing that Lost Freight wants to be known for, what would it be?
I think we’re quickly becoming a bit of a hot chocolate destination to be honest. We’ve got the mountain vibe. So growing up, I always kind of connected hot chockeys with going to the snow, you know, going skiing. And I think that’s kind of really trickling through. So we’ve got an in-house chocolate maker and hot chockey sales are booming. So I think that’s something we’ve got a little bit of an edge.
Any marshmallows on sticks?
Yeah, no, we don’t have s’mores or anything. Maybe one day.
What does the future look like for Lost Freight?
Well Tassie tourism is booming so onwards and upwards. We’ve had a really good summer. It’s been above and beyond our expectations of what we projected. And yeah, our game being the unique spot here being the only cafe on the mountain. So we’re really busy. Tassie Tourism is booming and Lost Freight is a good popular spot for people to enjoy a break.
Why have you chosen to partner with The Alternative?
Because they’re the best milk company. With awesome service, great supply chain, business relationship. Everything’s been really tight, it’s been good.
Cool. If you could have a coffee with any person in history, who would it be and why?
Oh, it’s gotta be Sir David Attenborough. Oh, nice. I like it. For sure. I reckon to pick his brain about some of the early stuff, like some of the real pioneer stuff, you know, like in the mountains in New Guinea and that kind of thing, I reckon he would have seen some things that are pretty unique and rare on this planet. And being a bit of a nerd myself, I’d have to go Sir David. Cool, thank you.
Check out Lost Freight online & socials:
https://www.lostfreightcafe.com/
