Running three busy Dôme cafés in the suburbs of Armadale, Kelmscott and Port Coogee was a definite change in direction for Dôme owners Graeme and Michelle Hill, who previously ran a family farm in Meckering for many years.

The couple’s journey with Dôme began six years ago when they took over Dôme Armadale, which was already a running business. Inspired by their first foray into franchising, they built a brand new cafe in Kelmscott and most recently have taken over Port Coogee.

They sold their family farm in 2007 and began looking for a business; a search that took nearly three years. Wanting a business they could both be hands on involved in, it seemed Dôme was a perfect fit for the couple and with Michelle already a Dôme devotee, making the transition from customer to owner seemed a natural progression.

“I’ve always loved Dôme. It’s a really relaxing environment to be in – sitting in a Dôme in one of their comfy chairs and just having a coffee.”

All new franchisees undertake a Dôme training program that teaches them every aspect of the business and also enables them to understand the challenges staff face in various roles. As first-time business owners, the support received from Dome made the idea of taking on a business a lot less daunting and eased them into the role with systems in place to help new the franchisees.

Being proactive in their businesses Michelle and Graeme are happy to take on whatever needs to be done in their cafés and the staff appreciate that aspect. Thriving as a husband and wife team they agree that the most challenging part can be managing people, but having great staff onboard made it even more enjoyable.

“On a day-to day-basis it’s almost a mentoring role with our management and core staff,” Graeme said.

Butler is booming in Western Australia’s growing northern suburbs and to cater for the emerging community, Dome opened a new cafe in early December of 2014.

Dome Butler is a family-run business with the franchisee and operators being Butler locals themselves. On any given day, this is where you will find Rob Turley, his wife Rachel and daughter Ellis greeting their regulars and friends in the area.

The cafe itself is situated on 500 square metres overlooking Brighton Lake and is the perfect location for a meeting place and accommodates people from all walks of life. It’s a welcome addition to the new suburbs in the north.

“For new communities such a Butler, Alkimos and surrounds, it’s somewhere for people to meet and this is what’s needed. In the past few years, there has been a lot of development and the population is continuing to grow, so there’s a lot going on. We are so pleased to be a part of that,” Rob said.