A MURAL ROBBIE AND LOUIE HAD DESIGNED FOR THEIR CAFE
“This spot here specifically, for me, I had my first restaurant back in the 80s at a place called The Riviera, which was around the front when this used to be a Dockside Fitness,” he says. “So, it’s a bit nostalgic to come back to the same area.” That sense of full circle extends beyond geography. Both men had stepped away from hospitality for periods of time, perhaps convinced – more than once – that they were finished with the industry.
he will go ‘oh my god I was thinking that could work last night as well’,” Robbie says. “Our ideas are very similar in that way.” That alignment is crucial as the venue evolves. Expanded menus and new offerings will come – but only if customers want them. What won’t change is the intent: Italian food rooted in culture, family, and quality. “I’ve always said, it’s not necessarily what you want to do, it’s what the customers want,” Louie says. “We will have an idea but ultimately if the customers don’t want it or don’t like it won’t work.” Adds Robbie: “It is our culture, family, the food brings happiness and all that. So that kind of family feel, that is what we want to probably bring, and something a little bit different.” In an industry that often feels like it’s constantly chasing the next trend, Zero Davey Italian is deliberately looking backward – to heritage, to relationships, and to lessons learned over decades. For Robbie and Louie, joining forces now isn’t about proving anything. It’s about doing things properly, together, one service at a time.
It didn’t last.
“I’ve lost count of how many times I have thought I have had enough and never going to do it again,” Louie admits. “But there is a love. There’s a passion for it. Obviously being business oriented you have to make money to survive, but if you don’t have that passion for the industry you’re not going to make it, I can guarantee that.” At Zero Davey, that passion shows not just in the menu, but in the way decisions are made. Ideas are shared, debated, and more often than not, mirrored. “There are times when we have walked in of a morning and I’ve said to Lou: ‘I’m thinking this’ and
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Tasmanian Hospitality Review February/March Edition
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