Nyanggan Gapi Café & Catering, Providing Training and Employment Opportunities for Gumbaynggirr Youth

Nyanggan Gapi Café providing Indigenous youth staff with barista training. Courtesy of BMNAC, 2021.

Previously, Bularri Muurlay Nyanggan Aboriginal Corporation (BMNAC) announced the Gumbaynggirr Giingana Freedom School, NSW’s First Bilingual School opening in Coffs Harbour, 2022. Now, BMNAC has some more exciting news to announce: the reopening of their social enterprise, Nyanggan Gapi ‘Perfect Coffee’ Café & Catering! 

Over the past few months the café, located at the iconic Sealy Lookout in Coffs Harbour NSW, has been closed to make way for a new shipping container café and seating deck. If you’re in the Coffs Harbour area, or are soon-to-be on holidays, we encourage you to check out the reopening of the café, happening tomorrow! You can grab a coffee and enjoy some sweet treats infused with native ingredients on the café’s new seating deck with spectacular bushland views. From the deck, you can often spot native wildlife such as Gaagums (Kookaburras), Dunggirs (Koalas) and Gumgalis (Goannas) (BMNAC, 2021).

Nyanggan Gapi Cafe’s new shipping container café and seating deck. Courtesy of BMNAC, 2021.

Nyanggan Gapi’s exciting new upgrade is part of the NSW Government’s Regional Growth - Environment and Tourism Fund, which BMNAC received late last year. The NSW Government’s investment of $300 million into regional NSW’s Indigenous cultural tourism, nature-based tourism and iconic tourism is aimed at driving long-term economic growth for the businesses and communities that rely on tourism as one of their main sources of income. This is especially for small businesses and corporations who have suffered financially since the global pandemic - Nyanggan Gapi being one of them (NSW Government, 2020). So, with the support of government funding, BMNAC has exciting things in store for the café’s future - be sure to keep an eye out! 

Established during NAIDOC Week 2017, Nyanggan Gapi Café & Catering has made it their mission to provide training and employment opportunities for local Indigenous youth living in Coffs Harbour/Gumbaynggirr Country. All proceeds from their café and catering services are invested into BMNAC’s core educational and cultural programs, such as their after school Goori Learning Centres (BMNAC, 2021).

“Profits from the café go back into our Giingana Freedom School and will hopefully provide more employment and training opportunities for Indigenous youth here in Gumbaynggirr Country,” BMNAC’s Marketing and Events Manager, Amber Hamer, told Yarn.

Hamer goes on to say that, since reopening, the café has been able to “...employ 5 more Aboriginal Youth as part of our café staff - essentially double our capacity.” The training that Nyanggan Gapi provides for their staff include School Based Traineeships in Certificate II Hospitality, Barista training and cooking classes utilising native ingredients. As such, Nyanggan Gapi ‘Perfect Coffee’ Cafe & Catering aren’t just about providing food and coffee; they are about empowerment, community building and providing social and economic opportunities for Indigenous youth (BMNAC, 2021).

Views of Niigi Niigi/Sealy Lookout close by from Nyanggan Gapi Café. Courtesy of BMNAC, 2021.

At Yarn, we are passionate about supporting and spreading awareness to the wider Australian community about Indigenous non-for-profits and social enterprises that are committed to revitalising and sustaining Indigenous language, culture, art and community. So, as Nyanggan Gapi continues to expand, we wish them the very best on their path to helping provide Indigenous youth with economic, social and cultural empowerment, for generations to come!

If you want to find out more about Nyanggan Gapi’s catering services, visit their website here.