“You build up goodwill and you’ve got to hold it”: Eighty Ate, North Sydney’s 50 year-old brunch institution

Nestled at a residential intersection at the border of Crows Nest and North Sydney sits Eighty Ate, a café many North Shore locals know and frequent.

This year the café turns 50. And though it hasn’t been a café that entire time, per se, the Kontos family’s been in the building for that whole half-century.

When I meet Jim it’s a Thursday morning and the café bustles with chatter and laughter; the sizzling of frypans; gently hissing steam from baristas making coffee; and the coming and going of customers, many of whom the staff greet by name. It’s the kind of ambience we missed when café simulators had a moment during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Jim’s wife Maria bought the building at number 88 with her brother Chris in 1975. It initially operated as a fruit and vegetable store, then a supermarket and takeaway corner store.

Maria and Chris put it on the market around 1995 but there were no takers, so they decided to re-open the business as Eighty Ate.

Along came Jim…

Then in his late twenties, Jim was managing a café in Balmoral, and Chris — then his friend, and unbeknownst to them both his future brother-in-law — asked him if he’d like to come and work at Eighty Ate.

He and Maria shortly fell in love. Marriage soon followed, and they lived together with their three kids in the apartment above the café for eight years until they made the move to Forestville, where the family now resides.

In 2002 the café was actually sold, but in 2010 Jim and Maria bought it back as joint owners, gave the café a makeover and “started again”.

Business has been steady since, even during the COVID-19 years when the café temporarily returned to its roots as a supermarket as well as offering a popular outdoor book swap.

The secret? “You build up goodwill and you’ve got to hold it,” Jim says.

Price range and free range 

When I bring up the cost of living, Jim nods. “Things are getting expensive, but I think we’re still reasonably priced. We’re not excessive and that’s important I think. We try to have options for people in different price ranges.

“One thing we haven’t done is compromise on quality. All our produce comes from the [Flemington] markets - I deal with all the growers and wholesalers myself.”

Jim and his staff work hard to keep the business trading seven days a week. He gets up at 2:30am every Saturday to get fresh produce from the Flemington markets. “It’s heavy work,” he says. But his staff lighten the load.

“We have really competent staff. They’re all really nice and we’re all sort of going in one direction. The business kind of runs itself.”

Family map

When the couple lived in the apartment above in the late ‘90s their kids would sneak through the internal staircase and could be found running around until a customer would ask “who’s kid is this?” Two of these kids, Mikael and Christina, are now grown and behind the counter.

What’s next?

Jim expresses some concern over the proposed Sydney Harbour Bridge Cycleway which will run along West street. While this might bring some disruption to businesses, he sees it as an opportunity to do “a big revamp”.

“I’d like to open it up and have booths, new bathrooms with disabled toilets, maybe extend trading hours a little. Sometimes I feel we need a little bit more space.”

Jim considers handing the business over to the kids but admits it’s hard to step away. As I leave, he’s personally carrying coffees out to awaiting customers.

“I try to have days off but always seem to end up here,” he laughs.

Photos supplied with permission from Jim and Giovanna.