A Grenfell Street cafe has rebranded under new owners, with a new take on serving the corporate crowd.
Farewell Larry & Ladd, hello Blended
Inside Blended. These pictures: Claudia Dichiera.
Valerie Tran has been a long-time fan of the Larry & Ladd brand.
She first began venturing to the casual café when it was based in Regent Arcade.
“I really liked the vibe, and I didn’t actually know that they moved [to Grenfell Street],” Valerie says.
“It wasn’t the same because they were going for a retro vibe and that fits the vibe in Regent Arcade, but not over here.”
Valerie and business partner Claire Tong took over Larry & Ladd in March this year, but only rebranded to Blended in September.
“So we tried to run it as Larry & Ladd just to get to know the customer and everything. We didn’t want to switch it over straight away,” Valerie says.
“Because we had what we wanted to introduce to the clientele [but], we didn’t want to ‘boom’ like that and [the old Larry & Ladd is] gone.
“It’s been with them for a very long time – they’ve been here for like two and a half years.
“We really wanted to do a transition period of time. We didn’t want to [come in] overnight and change everything.”
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Inside Blended
Valerie says the previous owners – Billy Hogarth and Carlos Astudillo – sold the business due to personal reasons.
But Valerie says the space “caught [her] eye” as she was looking to set up her own hospitality business.
“I actually really liked how it looks, and I knew the brand Larry & Ladd,” she says.
“So I came by and I actually bought something and I sat down for like a whole day [and] I really liked it.”
Valerie says her and Claire were considering “starting [a business] from scratch” but knew it would come with its challenges.
“When you’re starting a new brand, completely from scratch and you are renting a space, people don’t know you, and it will be very hard,” Valerie says.
“You have to, I would say, invest heavily in marketing for people to be willing to try.
“Everyone already has a coffee shop that they go to daily. There’s hardly anyone that walks on the street and just go in and try.”
Valerie thinks taking over an already established business comes with its positives.
“People are more accommodating,” she says.
“[If you] explain to them ‘we are the new owners, we’re taking over the business’, they’ll give you a chance instead of sitting in an empty shop hoping people walk in.”
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Valerie says that upon taking over Larry & Ladd, they had a few things they wanted to change, including some of the “decorations” and equipment.
After speaking with the landlord, they wanted to make the space more accommodating to their clientele of predominantly office workers.
“Instead of a sit-down brunch, we are doing a grab-and-go bagel so that it’s easier for the people that are working to swing by and get what they like, and then just go back. They can sit down and enjoy their bagels or they can grab and go,” Valerie says.
“I think it’s more convenient compared to the previous menu as well.
“They used to have a breakfast menu and stuff, but I don’t think it fits with what they’re doing now. I think it’s more [suited to] Regent Arcade when people had more time. You know, they’re doing the shopping and just sit down and enjoy the brunch and stuff.
“But here, people are time conscious, so they want to be really quick, and especially in the morning as well.”
Part of the grab-and-go offering
Valerie says with their new food offering, they’ve tried to be “a bit more different”.
“I really like bagels. I am a big fan of bagels. So that’s why we’ve got a chef here so that we can create the menu,” she says.
The bagel options range from pulled pork, spicy chicken, tuna and avocado and more
“At the moment, the spicy chicken and halloumi [bagel] all come with pickled carrot and radish which is more from our Asian culture,” Valerie says.
“So we try to do fusion instead of just the boring, usual choice. We’ve got many different people; all our staff are from different cultures – we’ve got Australian, we’ve got Vietnamese, we’ve got Filipinos. We all try to incorporate into it.
“And then we will rotate the menu every month. We will try to get feedback from our customers whether they like it or not.”
Blended is located at 95 Grenfell Street, Adelaide and is open from Monday to Friday from 7am until 3pm, then Saturday from 8am until 1pm
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