Whyalla City Council CEO Justin Commons and Smokey Uppercuts owner Dylan Laherstorfer

12 April 2022

Whyalla City Council is seeking a new operator for the foreshore café, with Smokey Uppercuts looking to take a different direction for the future of their business.

Smokey Uppercuts Owner Dylan Laherstorfer said he and his team had thoroughly enjoyed running the café since late last year, but realised he was now keen to focus on other opportunities.

“This has been a fantastic experience and we’ve all learnt a lot of valuable lessons that will hold us in good stead for the future,” Mr Laherstorfer said.

“However, we’re keen to continually grow and evolve our business and have decided that the café model is not a good fit for us at this time. We’ve continued to have a great relationship with council throughout this process, however our vision and aspirations have changed, and we will now work with Council to transition out of the café ensuring that there is little impact on the community being able to access food and beverages on the foreshore.

“We’ll have more details soon on an event to celebrate our time in the café, so keep your eyes on our socials. In the meantime, thank you to everyone who has supported us during this venture, it has meant a lot and we wish nothing but the best for the new operators and council. For all of our loyal customers, we will continue to deliver our unique Smokey Uppercuts experience from the café until mid-year, whilst we finalise the details of our exciting new location.”

Council CEO Justin Commons said the community had made it clear that it was keen to see café services continue on the foreshore, so a plan had been developed to ensure a seamless transition.

“We are keen to see what exciting opportunities are out there, so we will call for tenders for a new operator shortly,” Mr Commons said.

He said operating a café out of the existing foreshore café building was only a temporary solution, with a ‘new’ repurposed transportable modern pod secured to house the ongoing café operations until the foreshore redevelopment delivers a new permanent home for our beach café.  The new tender will be for a café operator using this new pod facility, not the existing building currently being used by Smokey Uppercuts.

“This facility is currently being fitted out in Adelaide and is due to arrive in Whyalla in the coming weeks,” he said.

“This will really work in Whyalla’s favour, as it will allow Dylan to continue his operations out of the existing building right up until the new operator is ready to commence trading from the new facility, ensuring there is no break in service to our residents and visitors.”

It is expected to take a few months for a new operator to be secured and commence operations, however residents will notice work on the foreshore commencing soon as the new facility is being installed. This is one of several exciting activations that will be installed across the city this year, with more details to follow soon.

Mr Commons said Smokey Uppercuts had delivered a fantastic service to the community throughout this summer and was confident any new operator would maintain these high standards.

“We understand Dylan’s decision, and we thank him for his efforts since late last year and his commitment to continue operations at the foreshore until the new operator is ready to commence.  We wish Dylan and the Smokey Uppercuts team all the best for the future,” he said.

Anyone interested in tendering for the operations is encouraged to head to council’s website. The Expression of Interest document will be uploaded soon.

Artist’s impression of the modular modern pod