When Evil Eye Cafe opened at Fairy Meadow in March 2020 the Gunes family was immediately confronted with COVID-19 forcing NSW into lockdown.
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Kayahan Gunes said it was not the ideal time to open at the Reay's Place site in Vereker Street but his family made the most of the situation.
"We opened at the start of March and that is when the COVID outbreak happened," Mr Gunes said.
"When we started trading it was takeaways only and the two rooms we had for eating weren't open."
That gave the family time to ease into their new business.
But word quickly spread about the eatery's unique offering through its involvement with a variety of delivery apps such as Uber East and Menulog.
Mr Gunes said many people stuck at home started searching for new and different options and that gave his family an opportunity to find its feet and make a name for itself.
"As soon as restrictions eased we had people dining in," he said.
Mr Gunes said his father Steve Gunes had started the business for his daughter Sheniz Gunes and the total workforce was initially four members of the family.
They did everything they could to get established but were not eligible for JobKeeper because Evil Eye Cafe had not been trading for 12 months.
When restrictions eased and customers started dining in staff numbers started to increase. 14 months later the family business now employs 15 casuals and planning to open a second Evil Eye Cafe on Cliff Road in early July.
"The new location is where Blu Orange was," Mr Gunes said.
"People love our food but there are a lot of people in Wollongong who still don't know about this cafe in Fairy Meadow.
"Everyone goes along Cliff Rd. It is a more visible site. It is going to be our best-of-the-best food."
The original eatery is open weekdays from 8am to 4pm and on weekends from 7am to 4pm serving Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine including a wide range of cakes and sweets.
"We are Turkish," Mr Gunes said.
"Everything we have in our culture is pretty much here. Our dishes are named after places in the Mediterranean and Middle East."
Mr Gunes said visits from social media influencers really helped the business establish itself.
He said providing a point of difference with a unique food concept that appeals to people of many different cultures has been the key ingredient to Evil Eye Cafe's success.
"A lot of it is authentic food we get from Sydney or have locally made," he said.
"And we have a theme that a lot of people love.."
There won't be as much seating at the new cafe on Cliff Road so the Gunes family is planning to condense the menu to the most popular items including its blue coloured Evil Eye Coffee.
The decision to add a second eatery coincides with RDA Illawarra releasing data showing a predicted post-JobKeeper employment slump has not occurred but several industry sectors, including accommodation and food, remain significantly impacted and have been the hardest hit over the last 14 months.
The findings from a fortnightly analysis of all industry sectors also revealed a high level of employment growth in health care, social assistance and public administration.
RDA Illawarra found most industries are continuing to grow and recover toward pre-COVID levels of employment. But youth employment continues to be more subdued. And jobs for women have rebounded better than for men at a national level.
RDA Illawarra chief executive Debra Murphy said the news was getting better for the Illawarra,.
"The estimated unemployment rate of just over 6.0 per cent is a great improvement on the thirteen per cent seen last April," Ms Murphy said.
"Employment has continued to improve following the end of JobKeeper and sustained losses in tourism-related industries are being offset to some extent by jobs in other service-related industries such as health care and public administration."
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