Gabriele’s decision to start The Scapegoat coffee was life changing – an adventure and chance to create something that could bring joy!
“I had always been a food truck and coffee lover, so I decided to look into creating something cute and delicious, where I could be in direct contact with people while doing something I like: serve joy in a deliciously brewed (100% compostable) coffee cup.”
Trading every morning at the Footscray Historical Society’s car park, Scapegoat has become the regular spot to get caffeinated for the Maribyrnong Town Hall workers, the police officers across the road, many nearby businesses and warehouses, the State Trustees building as well as commuters to and from Footscray station.
“I’m an Italian, soon to be dual citizenship Australian, and was born in a small village in Tuscany, who migrated for love and made Melbourne home. Being part of a community and in contact with people sharing ideas and experiences is what makes me happy, so when I decided to open a small business, looking out to my community for help is what came natural. In all my travels, and in Italy, I have never found a coffee that is as good as a Melbourne coffee. Not that I would tell that to my nonna!”
“The west is where I first arrived in Australia when I moved here seven years ago with my Australian partner, Cara. It’s her home and was my very first Melbourne experience. I remember going to the Footscray Market to get some pistachios and getting into a half hour conversation with the Italian stall holder speaking to me in a Southern Italian dialect that his family had brought with him when they migrated half a century ago. It was like stepping back into another time from my country but on the other side of the world.”
The Scapegoat also have a great relationship with Maribyrnong and Moonee Valley Local Learning Network (MMV LLEN) – an organisation that plays a critical role in supporting young people in the west to find employment while mentoring them through a very delicate and complicated phase of their lives.
Prologue – a small Melbourne’s coffee roaster with decades of experience in roasting fairly traded coffee beans from around the world – is their roaster of choice, and this month they will operate out of The Dream Factory, helping them activate a space in the basement soon to be a permanent café.
