Unlike some communities featured in our Meet the Merchant series, Bundurra is not often overlooked by road trippers. However, even with this popularity, the town has endured considerable hardship in these recent, turbulent years – speaking to just how tough regional NSW has done it lately.
Christine, owner of Long Evity Country Kitchen in Bundarra, speaks to us about how life has been affected and how she still considers herself one of the lucky ones.
The history of Long Evity Country Kitchen in Bundurra
Relocating to Bundurra in NSW's far-north-east from the Tweed Heads area, Christine opened Long Evity Country Kitchen towards the end of 2018.
With a focus on healthy, sustainable food, Christine grows her own vegetables and herbs at the café, presenting customers with a hybrid experience of café, gift shop and herbalist.
While a unique and popular offering to locals and tourists alike, nobody could’ve been aware of the struggles that the café, Christine’s hometown and regional NSW was to face in the coming years.
“It was a stop and start, and when you stop and start your business it puts people off from coming. They’re wondering if you’re open or closed,” Christine recounts.
“Things were much better [before COVID, floods and bushfires] than they are today.”
How did 2021 affect the business and town?
The story is similar no matter where you head in regional NSW: times have been tough. Bushfire, drought and COVID-induced travel restrictions have seen economies that rely on tourism gutted.
Even Bundarra, a popular destination that Christine believes is not often overlooked by travellers, was not immune to the downturn.
“Over the last 12 months, [the lack of tourism] has been terrible. Absolutely terrible – heartbreaking, actually,” she explains.
“You know, you open the doors and have to close them again, open and close again. Even the amount of stock that’s wasted during that period of time impacts your financials.”
While Long Evity Country Kitchen has survived the last few years and continues to operate today, Christine acknowledges that she was one of the lucky ones – a luck not shared by many:
“I’m probably luckier than most because we own our business outright and we’re not paying rent,” she explains. “If I was paying for a rental to run the shop, I’d have gone broke. I’d have definitely closed for good.”
