By Tania Phillips
Combi Capers is a little business with a big heart, which has evolved as the world has changed.
Owner Kristina Morgan started the business after losing three friends in one year at the age of 53 – all of cancer.
“One of my friends wanted to set up a Combi bar with me – we joked about it and said we should do that – that would be great,” Kristina said explaining the origins of her unique business.
“So when she passed I thought, you know what, I owe this.”
So she bought a Combi and it started as being a bit of a hobby for the kids to raise money for her daughter to go overseas. However when she lost her own job Kristina decided to take it more seriously.
“So we started off with just Norman the Combi (named after my cantankerous old grandfather who loved Combis) and we put a coffee machine in, fitted it out ourselves, hand-painted it and pretty much had to do everything on a budget,” she said.
“We started selling coffees at the local hardware store.”
Getting busy with weekend work, Kristina put together a little trailer called “Tommy”, standing outside on the concrete floor selling coffees at the same store while Norman was used for weddings, parties and all sorts of other events.
This went well under the coronavirus hit.
“Home Timber and Hardware, where they kindly let me park my magical vehicles at times, said ‘we need you to be here longer because we’ve got more customers and it would be good if you could do food’,” she said.
“So I dragged my Franklin caravan out of the paddock and did him up – he’s called Frank!”
Covid made her busier – working seven days a week now from 8am to 2pm.
“It was a bit of expense and hard work to get Frank up and running but it turns out he’s fairly popular,” Kristina said.
“Who would have thought an old caravan would be more popular than a Combi.”
You can find Frank at Beaconsfield Home Timber and Hardware – a locally owned store who have been so supportive of Kristina and her family.
As well as providing food and coffee for the hardware customers. Kristina has also been keen to support other local businesses, from Gippsland Jersey Milk, Summer Snow Juice and produce from the bakery and butcher to a local free-range egg farmer.
