The cafe at South Australia’s beloved Rocking Horse has been forced to close its doors after wild weather on the weekend wreaked havoc.
The devastating storm on Sunday caused a power surge and outage, knocking out the cafe’s 12 fridges and 6 freezers, and resulting in the loss of approximately $8000 worth of stock.
“There’s been a few tears. It’s sad to see so much food go to waste,” owner Mell Penno said.
Compounding the cafe’s woes is the fact that it lacked storm insurance coverage, and there was also other damage on the property.
“The animal fence had been breached by a 20-metre gum tree and five other gum trees were down as well,” Penno said.
The setback comes after the owners already spent all of their savings on the cafe’s redevelopment. 16 staff have now been let go.
“The repercussions are not just for that business but the people that work for the business and the people that visit the business… big chain reaction sadly,” she said.
Trampoline found in paddock as storm clean-up begins
Visitors can still enjoy other sections of the site, including the rocking horse, mini golf course, gift shop, and animal park. The owners hoping with community help they will eventually be able to re-open the cafe.
“We’re still here, we’re still open and we’re fighting and we’ll continue to fight,” Penno said.
This article was produced with the assistance of 9ExPress.
