Tipperary Station to Trader Cafe
When Pippa Ainsworth couldn’t find a decent place to grab an avocado on toast in Darwin nearly 15 years ago, she turned to her sister Louisa and said ‘let’s just open our own’.
And that’s what they did.
Under the ownership of Louisa, Four Birds Cafe immediately set a new standard for Darwin’s burgeoning cafe scene when it opened in the Star Arcade in 2010.
At the time, Pippa worked in the kitchen and under the wing of her older sister.
But being a kitchen hand was just the start for the younger Ainsworth sister.
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Pippa’s resolve, free spirit and business acumen was likely set from a young age, born in Katherine and growing up with her two sisters at Tipperary Station – about 55km south of Adelaide River - before moving to Darwin for primary school.
Young Pippa
Her family is well-known in the business community; her dad Ross a highly regarded figure in the pastoral industry and her mother Lynette a Katherine school teacher turned entrepreneur who set up Cullen Bay Day Spa, which she ran successfully for 15 years.
The family spent years travelling between Darwin and “the outback” as Pippa calls it, in an unconventional upbringing, before the sisters moved interstate to boarding school.
“Life was fun and exciting, and we got to see and experience so many different things on cattle stations, travelling with our parents for work and legendary social occasions with our other bush families and friends, rodeos, bush concerts, races, shows and the rest.
“It’s a cliché but .. you can take the girl out of the bush but you can’t take the bush out of the girl - despite what I might seem like now!
Pippa (in the middle) growing up at Tipperary with her sisters (Louisa on the right)
“Even when we moved to Darwin my parents continued their relationships personally and professionally with the cattle stations and those are the best times of our lives.
“Growing up in the Territory is the most wonderful and unique privilege and I just feel so grateful that over my life I have experienced the things and known the characters that make you into a harder working, appreciative and ready-for-anything type of a person."
After graduating, Pippa spent three years oversees on an extended gap year, before deciding to move back to Darwin alongside her sister Louisa.
The coffee ‘era’, as such, was yet to take off in the 2000s in Darwin, but given Australia’s increasing demand for good quality cafes, it was an opportunity that was ripe for the taking.
Which is what the Ainsworth sisters did.
“I moved back to Darwin from Italy and Lou from Brisbane and there really weren’t many places to get a good coffee and avo toast.
"That was when the brunch thing was going crazy in Australia, something we are very proud of culturally as Aussie girls and addicted to basically.
“If we were going to live in Darwin we needed to have our coffee, granola and avo toast! So Lou opened Four Birds and I was the cook. Lou was really the inspiration for Darwin to go to the next step.
“It was risky at the time, doing something so new and different. But it worked.
“People kept saying OMG it’s like Melbourne!”
It is hard to argue Melbourne’s standing at the epicentre of this country’s coffee and food culture, but Pippa and Louisa smartly capitalised on this growing demand for a high-quality and beautifully presented breakfast and brunch menu.
The beautifully presented, high quality meals were a game-changer in Darwin at the time
“This hadn’t been seen in Darwin before, and for a long time it was just Lou and me at Four Birds .. until I opened the Trader Cafe in 2013,” Pippa says.
“After a year or so we started to get great places like Laneway, Sweet Brew and Alley Cats opening up and joining the team and then it all made a bit more sense to everyone.”
Taking a gamble on opening The Trader Cafe in a largely industrial area just outside of Darwin’s CBD has undoubtedly paid off for Pippa.
The cafe originally opened next to the pub on Winnellie Rd, but when another space a few hundred meters up the road became available 18 months later, Pippa jumped at it.
“The industrial area had been abandoned by the cafe scene and my boyfriend and young Darwin tradie friends - the hard workers of Darwin - were crying out for better smoko and coffee options.
“They deserved better than greasy fried junk and box carton coffee .. so I did it for them.”
Trader Cafe in the heart of Darwin’s industrial area
The success of The Trader Cafe led to the opening of the popular Trader Bar in Harriet Place, near the city six years ago.
The Trader Bar injected new life into the pub and club scene at the time, and along with Stonehouse in Cavenagh Street, went on to pave the way for an elite and classy bar scene in Darwin.
The Trader Bar opened in 2017
“I just wanted to continue what we were giving our customers in a Monday to Friday industrial area for their weekend vibes.
“Again, it was doing something completely different and there was a bit of risk involved .. because there wasn’t anything like it at the time up here.
“But people – women especially - loved it. It is a beautiful space and it has been so much fun to create this for people to live out their best life in Darwin.
“And that’s just what we are trying to do. I know for me, after working in coffee all week, I love to put on my heels and head to the Trader Bar for the weekend.”
The Trader Bay ultimately enabled Pippa to capitalise on the dance festival scene, with the Why Festivals running annually for several years in Darwin.
Not content with paving the way in Darwin’s café and bar scene, two years ago Pippa decided to open remedial and relaxation massage studio, Amalfi Bodyteca.
“After being back in Darwin for 10 years I realised there was nothing like that here anymore. So of course, I could solve that by opening it myself.
“Growing up with my mum’s day spa, I understood the whole dynamic of customer service and making people feel special, which is what we do at Amalfi Bodyteca.
“Amalfi is not about beauty therapy – this is a wellness destination. Great remedial work for physical and mental health.
“Normally remedial is skimping on the luxury. And this is where Amalfi comes in. The ultimate luxury is feeling well. It’s niche and it’s small, and it’s about delivering people a special moment in their day .. much like we do with coffee.”
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Having given so much to the Darwin café and hospitality scene in Darwin, it is Pippa’s latest plans that might surprise some.
As part of her 10-year plan for The Trader Cafe, Pippa is putting the popular and much-loved industrial cafe on the market.
“This has always been my plan with The Trader Cafe. I want to be here to support and mentor and make part of the family whoever is going to be that next person … because institutions like The Trader Cafe will keep going forever.
“It’s a thing of its own now and I know how to pass that knowledge and energy on for the next decade of fun, friends, coffee .. and of course, avo toast.”
Pippa at the Trader Cafe (image courtesy of Sydney Morning Herald) - in it’s first location (still in Winnellie)