Brisbane-based cafe franchise, Shingle Inn, is heading west with plans to have four stores launched in Western Australian by December, according to co-Director Andrew Bellchambers.

The company’s first West Australian store was opened prior to Christmas last year at Belmont Forum with locations at Innaloo, Ocean Keys and Cockburn Gateway also on the agenda.

“We believe the West Australian market is well suited to our brand,” says Mr Bellchambers.  “Our business was built on an ethos of hard work, passion and personality as well as family and tradition which are all inherent traits of West Australians.”

“It’s evident in the way customers have embraced our first store at Belmont Forum as well as how hard our franchisees Vic and Chris have worked to enjoy early success as café owners.”

Vic Terpkos, together with his wife, Anne, joined forces with their daughter and son-in-law Kerrie and Chris Patten to join the Shingle Inn cafe franchise as the thirty-ninth store in the network which until then had been located entirely on the eastern seaboard.

“We’re very excited to be Shingle Inn’s first West Australian franchisees,” says Mr Terpkos.

“We were looking for something new and exciting to bring to the people of WA and found the perfect combination of culture, values and beliefs in Shingle Inn.  The history and tradition of Shingle Inn together with the ‘wow’ factor of store design, products and team training helps us to create a unique community café experience for our Belmont Forum customers.”

Mr Bellchambers anticipates that Western Australia will be the biggest growth area in 2014 for the family franchise that first opened its doors in 1936 and began franchising in 2009.

“Although we’re expecting to open more stores in Australia’s Eastern states this year, I believe Western Australia provides our biggest growth opportunity which is very exciting,” says Mr Bellchambers.