Victorian food and beverage provider The Jolly Miller Group is set for rapid
expansion this year, with three new cafes set to open over the next six months under the beloved Jolly Miller Cafe brand and further plans to branch into Geelong and the Surf Coast region.

The family-owned business will be offering an innovative joint-venture model for its new sites, opening in Manor Lakes, Tarneit and Melton respectively. With this expansion, in addition to the newly opened Croydon location, the Group forecasts it will create 80 jobs across the four sites – a welcome boost to the hospitality industry in a time where the support is very much needed.

Beyond these openings, the Group has its sights set on Geelong and the Surf Coast region, namely Waurn Ponds, Armstrong Creek, Ocean Grove and Torquay, under the proposed joint-venture model.

Jolly Miller Group Co-Founder, Rimon Barber, said the Group is looking for long-term partners with a vested interest in the local community, to create successful spaces where people want to meet and connect.

“We are all about community and as such, we want to ensure we are supporting the local hospitality industry by offering a stable yet lucrative opportunity for business owners to thrive while creating safe and happy spaces for friends and family to share memorable moments over food.”

Having achieved over a 100% increase in turnover from 2018 to 2019, the Group has experienced consistent growth, continuing to successfully launch its Croydon cafe in the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rimon puts this success down to the Group’s adherence to a suburban-base model, ensuring utmost conviction in the locations they choose, often bucking the trend of unsuccessful predecessors within the area.

Looking ahead to the new joint-venture model, the Group will leverage the renowned Jolly Miller Cafe name, proven business model and longstanding
goodwill, to provide experienced investors with long-term business prospects.

“We are ideally looking to partner with those who have previous cafe or
hospitality management experience, so they are aligned to our ambitious
vision and strong work ethic and have deep roots within, and understanding of, the community.”

The Jolly Miller Group has opted for a joint-venture model over franchising, to ensure the integrity and quality of the brand, a decision that has served the business well in ensuring the ever-growing success of its 13-strong cafe offering.

As for the success of the next three cafes opening later this, this is something Rimon puts down to their strict adherence to policy and strong ties with the community.

“We closely comply with requirements from the Victorian government on hygiene and have increased our cleaning standards dramatically; the safety of our staff and customers is paramount.

“We are a suburban-based model and we know that people are staying in their local areas due to restrictions and are looking for a safe, local place to
connect with each other. We look forward to providing that safe space for an additional three suburbs over the coming six months.”