Less than a year after opening their doors, Kingston’s Devon Pixies Cafe is now a ‘Best of Queensland Experience’ for 2022, delivering a unique English-style ‘High Tea’ to visitors.
Co-owner Arwen McGregor said the Tourism Queensland award uses a number of categories to select the award recipients, with customer reviews key to their success.
“The main criteria is based on customer feedback, the judges find it is the most equal way across all businesses, it doesn’t matter which platform you use, we have three or four different online platforms,” Mrs McGregor said.
“It ensures you are getting customer engagement, the judges looked at the positive reviews, it shows your engagement with the community.”
While customer feedback is important, Mrs McGregor said other criteria included having an accessible online booking system, making regular social media posts, as well as being a member of their regional tourism organisation.
“We post three or four times a week, it is not that hard, but again, it is about engaging with our customers.”
The Devon Pixies team also scored points with the judges for completing Tourism and Events Queensland training courses, while all award recipients also had to be members of the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse.
“It is about promoting Queensland tourism, the Data Warehouse is used by overseas travel planners to identify tourism activities for visitors.”
Mrs McGregor said Devon Pixies moved to the Kingston Butter Factory precinct in December 2021, after a site refurbishment saw the former manager’s cottage converted into a cafe by Logan City Council.
“We had to tender for the contract, which included our plans for the site, down to final fitout, and detail our menu, Logan City Council put in the kitchen, but we finished everything off.”
The concept of the ‘High Tea’ started in their previous cafe at Logan Village, and has been refined at the Butter Factory location.
“We brought a traditional ‘English’ feel, we wanted to provide a cosy, vintage-style experience, I handmake 95% of everything we serve, people come and relax, we don’t want them to feel like they are on a time limit.”
An integral part of the high tea is using vintage fine china, much of it donated by members of the public.
“We have people donating sets to us, they want to see it used, they don’t want to just donate it to an op-shop, they can come in and see it living on, every cup has a story,” she said.
“People actually sit down, and turn the cups over, to see what settings they are, for example, Wedgewood.
“We also have vintage hats people can wear to enhance the experience, they are all properly cleaned, we have a flower wall for a photo backdrop, there are vintage prints and we also have some of my Mother’s old embroideries hanging in the dining room.”
Mrs McGregor said Devon Pixies offers a variety of loose leaf teas, from traditional English Breakfast and Assam, to Australian blends like wattle seed and lemon myrtle.
“We also have a special house blend, everyone can come down and give it a try.”
With Gluten Free, Dairy Free and Vegan offerings on the menu, Mrs McGregor said she makes them to look and taste like the regular choices, in keeping with the ‘High Tea’ theme.
“We can cater to all tastes, we just ask customers to tell us when they book, so we can have them ready, we want to make sure everyone gets the full taste experience.”
