” I grew up at Rous Mill, local born and bred. I did a business degree straight out of high school in Brisbane and then moved back down here to do Naturopathy as I decided that corporate life wasn’t for me. That’s where I met my partner at the time and we had Fire in the Belly restaurant. We sold that in 2010.
I headed over to Bali to a yoga retreat and the gentleman who owned the yoga centre heard that I was at a loose end. He had a restaurant project over there that was a refit and relaunch but the construction on it had stalled and he didn’t have a project manager. He asked me to come back and consult. I came home packed up my house, grabbed one of my little apprentices who had just graduated and took him back over there to be their chef. We opened in about 7 months and it’s called Bridges Bali.
My mum who lives in Nimbin became ill so i came home and resettled here. After working as an employee for a few years at The Camera House I started to get itchy feet and I used to walk past this building on my way to work. I loved the potential that was in here and I noticed the gentleman who had the sports store had a ‘For Sale’ sign in the window. We decided on Mexican cuisine because it’s what everyone was asking for. I listened to what people were saying and wishing for, also somewhere nice to go for for a drink with your friends. The pubs were really the only place, so I wanted to create a place where people could feel comfortable and happy. That’s how it came to be. I tried to capture the Cantina market place kind of feel with the decor rather than than the kitschy kind of Mexican we see. We try and keep the food sort of street style, using the authentic dried chillies and we use them the way they’re meant to be cooked to get the flavours. It’s not Ozi-Mex or Tex-Mex, it’s more true to the street style of eating in Mexico.
I’m really proud of what Black Sombrero’s been able to encourage in the town. I think it’s assisted in giving other operators in Lismore permission to offer other options. There are people wanting fresh ideas and fresh places. We employ 23 staff. When I was doing my DA the Economic Development unit of City Council modelled the financial impact of having 16 employees and it was in the millions of dollars once the wages go into the system and then the trickle on effect. It blows your mind! The impact that we as small businesses have on our local economy. It’s quite incredible. All of us banded together are as powerful as a big corporation.
We have the Black Sombrero cinema and Rocky Horror Picture Show will be the first one of the year, first Tuesday in June. We have a really high quality sound system and a digital projector and it’s free. You can grab a cocktail and some nibbles and watch a movie. We also do Tequila master classes, whiskey master classes and we’ll be having a Top Shed beer night which is a local brewery in Binnaburra. This is my baby. I couldn’t have done it without the support of my good friend Johnno and my parents.”