14 Nov 2023
Local Legend QLD: Little Black Pug
Lou and Josh met at UQ in a bioinformatics course when they were both pursuing careers in science in 2016. Their passion for food flourished along with their relationship and as their passion for science became stale, it became apparent that food was their “all-purpose”. In 2017, Lou had been dabbling with the idea of starting a macaron market stall and whilst admiring their pug puppy Bowie one day, it was obvious that he would be the muse for the family company name. Thus, “Little Black Pug,” was born long before there was any thought of opening up a cafe.
They purchased a tiny cafe in Mount Gravatt and with a lot of blood, sweat and tears, they stripped the cafe down to its bones and freshened up the space, even leasing the shop behind as well to extend the cafe and provide more space for customers and help grow the business.
Over the past 5 years, Little Black Pug has gone strength to strength through its relationships with the locals, regular customers, and other small businesses. It’s the friendly service from Josh, Abbey, Vinnie and the weekend staff who love good banter while they give your fur baby a puppyccino and meatball. It’s the lovingly and impeccably cooked food from Ischy, Chris, Elaine and Fred in the kitchen. It’s the coffee made by Sunny and Grace. It’s just a bonus that there is something carefully curated for everyone by Lou who still holds her reins on the cafe menu: whether you’re a dog or human, a carnivore or vegan, a celiac or a gluten-fiend.
Lou and Josh both feel the weight that comes along with being part of the hospitality industry, but are reminded daily that nothing else is just as rewarding. When the community resonates with your product and the personalities behind the cafe, you become a part of their family. You take part in their brunch birthday celebrations, you watch them adopt a dog that becomes a cafe regular pup, you become their remedy during a bad day after a car breakdown or crash, you meet people and watch them get married, you see tiny babies become toddlers that one day are bouncing to “party rock anthem” in the safe space that is your cafe. You even begin questioning the sanity of your regular customers that come almost every weekend and have eaten everything on the menu more than 5 times, but still come back because they love the food so freaking much. The mutual love the cafe has for its patrons is the reason that running a cafe - with its long hours and never-ending outstanding bills - is ultimately worth every ounce of time and energy.
