Melbourne restaurant admits failure, relaunches in first year with all-women leadership team
The owners admit the original menu “missed the mark” with locals – now they’ve gone back to the drawing board, revealing a new all-women leadership team with impressive international credentials.
Hospitality entrepreneur Nathan Toleman has opened 24 venues over the past 20 years, but with his most recent restaurant, the Mulberry Group creative director (and partner in Lune Croissanterie) has experienced a rare failure. Molli, the restaurant the group opened in Abbotsford last June, will close on April 2 before reopening mid-April with a new concept and chef.
“We missed the mark for creating an all-day neighbourhood venue,” says Toleman. “It was a special-occasion place, not somewhere people raced back to. I had people who’ve supported my venues for years say, ‘I have to tell you this … I didn’t love it.’ In our own hearts, it just wasn’t right.”
“It’s hard to make a business profitable from day one,” he adds. “We’re okay with that if it’s on the right track, but we weren’t achieving the growth we wanted.”
Incoming head chef Caitlin Koether, who’s worked at San Francisco’s Bar Tartine and Relae in Copenhagen, will serve wholesome dishes threaded with ferments, big flavours and striking colour palettes.
All-day breakfast includes house-made yoghurt with sour cherry granola, while lunch will be built around open-faced sandwiches such as smoked chicken, chickpea miso mayonnaise and pickled celery.
At night, bread and dips get a refresh: potato-based fry bread with whipped schmaltz, lemon thyme and chicken skin sounds like dinner unto itself. The menu continues with a chopped salad; roasted carrots with pickled persimmon; and steak aged with koji, the tenderising and flavour-giving Japanese ingredient.
“I want people to feel nourished, and to be able to come in and have an entire meal without breaking the bank,” she says.
Koether came on board in October as head of fermentation, a job title she borrowed from a position she almost snared at Noma in Copenhagen in 2023. She’s part of Molli’s new all-women leadership team, which includes bar manager Kayla Saito (ex-Aru) and general manager Bonnie Maguire (ex-Falco).
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Outgoing chef Aleksis Kalnins, who joined Mulberry Group in 2023 to helm Hazel, has departed the group and is considering offers.
He puts Molli’s troubles down to a mismatch between his cooking and the neighbourhood, which is known for pubs and bordered by Victoria Street’s more casual dining. “If we opened on Flinders Lane, I think we would have done well.”
Toleman is still a Kalnins fan. “There’s a football analogy: you have a great player, but you’re playing him in the wrong position,” he says.
Admitting the misfire on Molli 1.0 has been tough, but Toleman says he’s open to learning. “The most successful people in business – Phil Knight from Nike, Richard Branson – have as many failures as successes. We don’t talk about failure enough. Let’s own it.”
The restaurant will aim for a softer look when reopens, with the stately antique credenzas replaced with more contemporary furnishings. Adjacent cafe Little Molli will stop operating on April 8 and reopen later in the month as a pantry selling Mulberry Made ferments. Cooking classes and workshops are planned, too.
Molli reopens April 11.
Breakfast and lunch daily; dinner Tue-Sat.
20 Mollison Street, Abbotsford, molliabbotsford.com.au
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