Situated on the corner of Mandurah Terrace and Pinjarra Road, the former “eureka cottage” (circa 1915) which is home to Café Pronto, overlooks the Old Mandurah Traffic Bridge and is one of the city’s most historic buildings and draws visitors interested in learning more about the city’s forefathers. The café displays original photographs depicting days gone by, providing visitors with another reason to stop by.
The café has seen many changes in name, ownership and purpose but the one constant has been its active role in the social and commercial life of Mandurah. Co-owner for the last 12 years and long term resident of Mandurah, Kerry Brown is a descendent of one of the first families to settle in the town, and his grandfather was a commercial fisherman on the estuary. This connection with food and community spirit continues today.
Historic Site – Contemporary Style
Despite its strong ties to history, Café Pronto’s style is firmly in the 21st century thanks to a 12 month $1.7 million renovation. Careful planning with consideration for the environment and historical value of the building required a fit-out by specialised builders and architects. This approach has preserved its integrity as the only Mandurah restaurant to be recognised as an historical site, while at the same time providing a stylish and contemporary atmosphere. Café Pronto is now able to seat 300 patrons, making it Mandurah’s largest café.
A Family Affair
Café Pronto was first acquired by Kerry and wife Tracey in 1994, and was little more than a run-down coffee shop. The Browns set about revitalising the interior and menus to create a bustling business which they sold in 1995 for more than three times its purchase price. In 1997, the café was again on the market and Kerry and Tracey saw the opportunity to return. In just 12 years, Café Pronto has established itself as the city’s most popular and successful dining experience, regularly attracting local, national and international tourists.
An Award Winning Business
With an ability to innovate in every area of the business, Kerry and Tracey have won a number of awards and accolades including the 2008 WA Tourism Award for Tourism Restaurant and Catering Service and the 2008 National Tourism Award in the same category; the 2008 Peel Region Small Business Awards for excellence in the small to medium category, State Winner of the CSR 2008 Café of the Year, and 2008 Peel Barista of the Year for the second consecutive year. In addition, Café Pronto was a finalist in the GWN WA Regional Small Business Awards, and finalist in four categories at the 2008 Restaurant and Catering Institute Awards for Excellence. An ongoing commitment to outstanding quality will ensure Café Pronto remains at the forefront of Mandurah’s dining scene for many years to come.
Café Pronto has earned a reputation among visitors as Mandurah’s best dining experience by offering the following services and facilities:
Extensive Opening Hours and Menu Options: Open six days a week from 7am, Café Pronto offers several menu options including:
- Breakfast available between 7am and 11.30am
- Main Menu for lunch and dinner including entrees, main meals and desert
- Fast Track Menu for busy office workers who are guaranteed to receive their meal within 15 minutes of ordering
- Two Children’s Menus – one for 4-8 year olds and another for 9-12 year olds
- Function Menus – six options
- Cocktail Menus – four options
- Christmas Menus (including Christmas in July)
- Wine Dinner Menu
- Corporate Menus with incentives for event organisers
- Menus especially designed and priced for inbound tourism operators
- Gluten-free, lactose intolerant, and vegetarian menus
Stylish Ambience:
Café Pronto provides a stylish and contemporary atmosphere, while preserving its integrity as an historical site. Café Pronto caters for a range of requirements, from intimate dinners for two, to functions and weddings. In addition, versatile seating with private dining, a cosy fireplace and rear courtyard creates an inviting ambience.
Excellent Waterside Location: Café Pronto features an innovative layout which includes balcony seating with views over Mandurah’s famous estuary.
Fresh Local Produce and Seasonal Menus: Café Pronto prides itself on serving the freshest local produce and ensures only the best vegetables, fruit, meat, dairy products and wine make it to their award winning menus.
Mandurah’s Best Coffee: As the current title holder of the Peel’s Barista of the Year, Café Pronto is home to the best coffee in town. Staff are specially trained in coffee making to ensure standards are maintained to the highest level, and have developed the Café Pronto signature coffee, the Parfait Pazazz with Jazz. The coffee glass is rimmed with roasted hazelnuts, with a callebuet chocolate parfait, a splash of chocolate sauce, and a shot of Rubra ‘Jazz’ espresso with a sprinkle of chocolate dust. In the last 12 months Café Pronto has served more than 39,300 cups of coffee!
Catering for New Trends in Dining:
he café caters for a diverse range of diets including healthy, low fat/fat free, gluten free and organic. In addition, Café Pronto caters for diners seeking a nutritious and competitively priced quick meal.
Kids Activities and Changing Tastes: At Café Pronto, kids are an important part of the clientele. The Kids Club activity hand-out is offered to all children and comes complete with a kids menu, colouring in activities, dot-to-dot and puzzles. The Kids Menus are affordable, nutritious and exciting with unique offerings such as Chilli Mussels to cater for children who are becoming more adventurous with their tastes.
Catering for Special Needs:
Café Pronto provides wheel chair and pram access, as well as disabled toilet facilities.
On the Run Gourmet: On-the-run-gourmet catering is becoming popular with the time poor consumer. Café Pronto’s entire menu is available to take away. In addition the cafe offers options of takeaway coffee and muffin; soup and bread rolls; and pizzas.
Customer Feedback:
Café Pronto has implemented excellent customer retention strategies including a special customer feedback card which provides an opportunity to comment. The card is also used as a market research tool and an excellent way of creating a database of clients. To date, the database numbers approximately 4,000 patrons who are regularly communicated with regarding promotions, events, new menus, function and private dining options, and achievements.
Café Pronto sets the benchmark for Mandurah’s dining scene.
Excellence in Tourism Services: Since winning a National Tourism Award in 2008, Café Pronto has been sought out by tourists, day trippers, tourism industry professionals, media outlets, Federal politicians and State Government officials, keen to experience Australia’s best tourism restaurant. Café Pronto has eagerly welcomed this new wave of clientele, regularly hosting functions for visiting dignitaries, and ensuring its menu offers nothing but the best local produce. In recognition of the positive impact that Café Pronto’s National Tourism Award win has had on Mandurah, the City Of Mandurah hosted a Visitor Centre function and presented the Browns with a certificate of appreciation. The win has been the catalyst for some key tourism initiatives in Mandurah including the inaugural Peel Region Tourism Exchange.
Delicious Blue Manna Crab:
Visitors flock to Mandurah for a taste of its world famous delicacy, the Blue Manna Crab – and they find it served in all manner of seasonal creative incarnations at Café Pronto including:
• Cured Tasmanian salmon and blue manna crab salad with shaved fennel, apple and gribiche sauce
• Prawn, sweet corn and basil cakes with blue manna crab remoulade
• Blue manna pasta – angel hair pasta, blue manna crab meat, king prawns, basil, lime, chilli, garlic and tomato butter
• Succulent king prawns and blue manna crab meat, bound with a lime and dill mayonaise topped with smoked Atlantic salmon, sour cream and caviar, laced with a cucumber salsa
• Chilli crabs served whole with Italian loaf
• Mandurah Sea Mullet served on a potato and olive salad, lemon aioli and Blue Manna Crab crème fraiche.
• Peel Oysters with Blue Manner Crab Meat
Fresh Local Cuisine:
Food and wine suppliers within the Peel region are used wherever possible, giving visitors a new take on the region’s appeal as a food destination. Much is made of Mandurah’s affinity with the water with local mussels, gold band snapper, whiting, WA white tail bugs, oysters, and of course blue manna crabs featuring on the menu. Famous suppliers from nearby tourism regions are also promoted including Harvey Beef, Pemberton marron and Margaret River wines. Café Pronto regularly updates its menus to showcase the best produce of the season.
Tourist Event Involvement: Café Pronto is very much involved in the popular annual Mandurah Crab Festival which attracts around 80,000 visitors during a weekend. Café Pronto takes an active role in enhancing the visitor experience by offering special one-off in-house dishes to celebrate this major event including:
• Mandurah Chilli Blue Manna Crab
• Mandurah Sea Mullet with Blue Manna Crab Crème Fraiche
• Blue Manna Crab Omelette (breakfast)
In 2008 Café Pronto undertook special Crab Fest celebrations with its restored Classic 1955 Chevrolet Ute decorated with chilli crab characters, and its monster crab display erected on the café roof-top. Inside, crab displays featured for four weeks leading up to and after the event, while the Brown children dressed as crabs and gave out café balloons on the foreshore.