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A single mother fights to keep her cherished café from closing down.
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READ MORE: Owner Left in Tears After Market Stall Fails to Generate Any Sales
A proprietor of a small business is seeking assistance in a final attempt to retain the café she purchased, driven by fond recollections of the times she shared there with her deceased father.
A single mother of two, Ayesha Byrne, who is 34 years old, runs and manages Rito’s Café & Continental deli located in Christies Beach.
Adelaide
‘s southern suburbs.
Faced with increasing expenses, stagnant customer demand amid the cost-of-living crisis, and debts totaling $20,000, the lone parent reluctantly initiated a
GoFundMe
page.
Ms. Byrne informed Daily Mail Australia that the fundraiser was “virtually my final resort.”
Ms. Byrne was raised in the neighborhood and would visit Rito’s daily after school with her dad, sharing stories from their day accompanied by pork pies and steaming cups of hot chocolate.
‘That’s primarily why I purchased it,’ she stated, mentioning that he didn’t survive long enough to witness her acquiring their special spot in 2023 but believes he would have been very proud.
‘Perhaps not at this moment,’ she quipped.
I own a small business and am a mother of two children, and I have invested my entire being into this venture. So essentially, it’s all about staying afloat.
Similar to numerous small enterprises situated along Beach Road in the outskirts’ mortgage zone and throughout the nation, Ms. Byrne is encountering challenging circumstances as individuals pare down their disposable income to the minimum.
The situation reached a critical point in February when she found herself locked out of her store by a locksmith and bailiff hired by the landlord due to unpaid rent.
The mother of two was at the school pickup when she received the notification.
Unable to pay the outstanding amount, the locks were changed and a bailiff arranged for a full inventory of the store to be posted on the windows for sale, along with a termination of the lease.
‘It was a very public thing… I was so embarrassed,’ she said.
It took her five days to obtain a new key and reclaim entry into the store.
Despite her financial constraints, Ms. Byrne still offered to cover counseling costs for the employees who were there and seemed likely to lose their jobs right away.
Ms. Byrne announced the café’s reopening in an
Instagram
In her post, she encouraged people to treat themselves with the store’s deli items and newly brewed coffee.
“After managing to get Rito back on track following a chaotic period over the past few weeks, we sadly have to discard a significant amount of inventory that we typically would have contributed,” she explained.
And although this has been challenging, it doesn’t compare to what lies ahead for rebuilding.
In June 2023, Ms. Byrne acquired the store and, confronted with unexpectedly low inventory levels, she had to use a significant portion of her emergency funds just to bring the business to an operational state.
The previous year marked the peak of business failures nationally, not only due to reduced customer expenditures but also because electricity prices surged by over 50 percent. Additionally, climbing interest rates pushed lending expenses to levels unseen in decades.
The nearby Coles presented a greater challenge to the café’s deli section than Ms Byrne had first anticipated.
Confronted with the threat of financial ruin, Ms. Byrne turned to her community, local politicians, and influential figures seeking assistance.
‘Several people vanished without a trace, yet I believed: “I should go for it,”‘ she stated.
Aside from a brief visit from South Australian MP for Kaurna Chris Picton and an additional round of coffees bought by some locals, the initiative didn’t make much impact.
The issue has expanded beyond just her professional sphere and is now affecting Ms. Byrne’s private life as well.
After acquiring the store, she has reduced spending on non-essential items such as salon visits.
More recently, she had to set up a payment arrangement with the school her two sons attend.
‘Serving as a small business proprietor myself, you constantly face tough choices daily.’
As of writing, Ms Byrne’s
GoFundMe
page has raised just over $1,500 towards a $5,000 goal.
‘I never thought I’d be writing this, I never wanted to ask for help,’ she wrote on the website for the fundraiser.
Over the last several months, I have been discreetly working behind the scenes with attorneys and engaging in negotiations to keep Rito’s operational without having to bring additional people into the situation.
I thought that if I put in more effort, I would be able to fix it on my own. However, it has gotten to a stage where I cannot manage without help anymore.
Each dollar obtained from the fundraising efforts will be allocated to pay back her landlord, cover legal expenses, and maintain the operation of the store.
A link to Mrs. Byrne’s GoFundMe campaign can be located.
here
.
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