You may know the Jolly Miller crew as a bakery from your childhood, your local neighbourhood café or as the creators of the ridiculously indulgent Super Shakes that have been causing an Instagram frenzy across the town.

However you know them, the boys from the Jolly Miller Café have been building a loyal following over the past decade since their humble beginnings running a bakery in the country town of Gisborne.

They've recently opened a cafe on Mount Alexander Road in Essendon.

“We simply couldn't say no to a location like Essendon,” says co-owner and operator, Rimon Barbar.

“And once we saw the building and the crowd, we knew the direction we should take – it's hipper, more minimalist and all about using fresh, local ingredients where we can.”

“It's where we're headed now; it's nice to know your local really is local and cares about you.”

The new Essendon menu has been curated to include more indulgent brekkie options for locals, such as a unique take on avocado crush (hint: it includes organic quinoa) or the light but lovely honey saffron rice pudding.

The team have also tweaked their lunch menu to cater to more adventurous diners and now offer lunch options such as pork sliders in a brioche bun, served with apple, Spanish onion and cabbage slaw or the king prawn salad served with pancetta blue cheese and pear.

Since moving in, the team has been working hard to fill the shoes of their predecessors, Boccone, and are steadily winning the hearts of the locals.

Although the popular cafés fall under the Jolly Miller banner, each location strives to create their own flavour and atmosphere to best serve their community.

This may be thanks to their love of good coffee for which the cafes are renowned.

They use an exclusive custom roasted coffee blend, as well as serving up decadent Belgian hot chocolate in all the cafes.

“We don't operate like your run-of-the-mill franchise café chain,” said co-owner and operator, Simon Barbar.

“We like to tailor each of our openings to the community we're moving into, it's really important to us as a family-run business to pay attention to the little things,”

“It can be as simple as tweaking the menu to use local produce or as complicated as changing the whole look of the café to fit in with the existing aesthetic of the street.”

The Jolly Miller Cafe Essendon is open now, 1057 Mt Alexander Road, Essendon, from Monday to Friday 6:00am – 5:00pm; Saturday and Sunday 7:00am – 5:00pm.

Media enquiries: For further information, images and interviews with the team, please contact imogen@lightcreative.com.au or francis@lightcreative.com.au / (03) 9041 2118. Please see Dropbox for images.