"Welcome to Five Senses Coffee"

It sounds so easy. Find a rundown café, give it a quick refit, appoint a manager to look after it for you and watch the money pile up while you relax with a silky latté. The reality, however, is very different for owners with no hospitality experience, or those who have had a long break from the industry.

Mark Coulsen turned his back on a successful career in finance to follow his dream and start a café. After a low budget but stylish refurb of a tired café in Claremont, the original Lemon Espresso was born. There were a few hiccups with staff and business partners initially – but Mark stuck to his plan of doing the basics extremely well. His masterstroke was obviously to bring Five Senses Coffee into the fold! A crack team was soon assembled and the tiny space began to hum, pulling clients away from bigger and more salubriously outfitted venues. The local “ladies who lunch” were even prepared to put up with the wailing Bob Marley soundtrack to enjoy the superb coffee and great food!

Not one to stay idle for long, Mark soon discovered another Claremont site with promise. To identify the potential in this ‘bare bones’ site at the end of an uninspiring alley, and to invest enough capital to turn it into a café, was nothing short of visionary. The outcome, Lemon Lane, transformed what was literally the backside of Bayview Terrace into a dynamic, attractive alternative to the usual haunts. Despite a drought in hospitality staff, Mark has been able to recruit a quality team that takes the Lemon Espresso formula a little further, with an extensive food menu and the same outstanding coffee.

One of the trickiest gigs in hospitality is to take a failed site and turn it around. The lingering smell of failure has spelt doom for many new owners who have tried to revitalise a ‘graveyard’ site. Mark turned that theory on its head when he established Lemon Station in Cottesloe. After a quick refit, this previously dead site traded strongly, almost from day one!

If you need a superb coffee, panini or cake, head down to your closest Lemon and see what the fuss is about. Don’t get too concerned if there isn’t a Lemon in your neighbourhood yet — knowing Mark, it won’t take long!

Lemon Espresso: St Quentin Avenue, Claremont 6011, (08) 9383 2373
Lemon Lane: Bay View Terrace Claremont, 6010, (08) 9284 4600
Lemon Station: Station Street, Cottesloe 6011, (08) 9284 3808

© Photo provided with permission by Matt O’Donohue from Abstract Gourmet. All rights reserved by photographer.