Oils ain’t oils but this is a good one.
By Samantha Elley
Ken Ellis knows about liquor and now he is delving into the world of a finely made coffee.
His store Liquor Legends, located at 426 Ballina Road, Lismore doubles as a general store now with a coffee van.
“We had originally opened between 10am and 10pm with the general store and liquor sales,” said Ken.
“But we got feedback that the general store needed to be opened earlier.
“We are in a prime spot, where people can drive in and drive out and we discussed doing a drive through coffee.”
A popup coffee van in the forecourt of the property was the solution and as a nod to the previous business, Shell, who ran it as a petrol station, it is known as the Good Oil coffee cart.
“We are just pouring a different type of liquid,” laughed Ken.
“We are now doing coffees, toasties and selling bread, milk and juices direct from the van, from 7am Monday to Saturday.”
Ken is a long, black coffee lover himself, so he knows the blend he has picked, is a good one.
![Liquor Legends coffee van 2 with barista Niki Edwards](https://thenorthernriverstimes.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/coffee-van-2-with-barista-Niki-Edwards.jpg)
coffee van 2 with barista Niki Edwards
“I have mates in Sydney who own a coffee roastery called Three Pence Roasters and I went to them for advice when setting up the van,” he said.
“They ended up helping me so much, I decided to sell their coffee blend Dark Carnival through the van.”
With two new baristas, Phoenix Holloway and Niki Edwards, feedback so far has been positive, but Ken puts that down to the first 500 coffees being free.
“That will run out pretty soon,” he said.
“What really surprised me was, with our Byron Bay cookies, the numbers of those being sold went up.
“I guess people expect to pay for their coffee and when it is free, they decide to buy something to go with it.”
There are plans in the pipeline to expand their food offerings with a food van on Thursday and Friday nights as well.
“It could be a great little mix, where you grab dinner and a bottle of wine from the store on the way home,” said Ken.
Ken doesn’t stop there as he’d like to test out a loyalty coffee card where a drinker could earn points to redeem a bottle of wine and he’d also like to include the community fund-raising idea.
“When we first opened the store, we did a fundraiser barbeque for the Byron Wildlife hospital,” he said.
“They came and cooked a barbeque on the Saturday afternoon, and we provided the sausages and bread while they got the proceeds.
“Our hope again is to find more community groups to fundraise for their cause and to get a bit more connected to community.”
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