Story
The house that hospitality built
With 30 years of hospitality experience, Wendy Trotta is the undeniable darling of the local coffee and café scene.
words Heidi HELBIG
PHOTOGRAPHY pete thornton / sam kroepsch
It’s not yet 8 a.m., and already 150 coffees have exchanged hands on the footpath outside Darling’s Food with Passion cafe in Tanunda.
With 30 years of hospitality experience, Wendy Trotta is the undeniable darling of the local coffee and café scene.
Friends and strangers exchange greetings, each knowing their place in this daily ritual, in which coffee is the great social equaliser.
“We are for the people,” explains owner, Wendy Trotta.
“It doesn’t matter who you are, nobody gets a preference.
“We have all the great winemakers – Kevin Glastonbury, Dan Standish, Ian Hongell, the Henschkes – but our first customer is a homeless man and his dog who we give food to.
“Café society is different from anything else; there’s no class system here.”
Behind the counter of this longstanding family business, nothing is left to accident as coffee is weighed to the gram and timed to perfection.
“Mum always says we’re only as good as our last coffee,” smiles daughter, Elisa, echoing a mantra that has kept Darling’s consistently at the forefront of the Barossa café scene.
“From a very young age I was coached to look for the finish line. We were taught to be brave, we were taught about community, we were taught to look after our family and to look after each other”
- Wendy Trotta
It’s an industry Wendy has given her heart and soul to for over 30 years, as both a caterer and café owner.
Now 60, she cut her teeth in South Australia and worked in France and the unforgiving restaurants of Sydney, where she was nicknamed Excuse Me “because I was the only one polite to the customers!”
With a natural flair for cooking, Wendy’s reputation for “getting the job done” grew over time, earning her the privilege of catering for the world’s crème-de-la-crème, from Rod Stewart to Queen Elizabeth II.
“I have been very fortunate, the people I’ve cooked for – Julia Gillard, a lot of Prime Ministers actually, and a lot of celebrities. I have a certain style that people are looking for,” says Wendy.
However she attributes her success to more than just a gifted palette.
The daughter of dairy farmers, Wendy says work ethic, self-sufficiency and courage have all played an important role.
“From a very young age I was coached to look for the finish line,” Wendy says.
“We were taught to be brave, we were taught about community, we were taught to look after our family and to look after each other.”
Wendy’s philosophy of paying it forward has also been returned in spades over the years.
“When I first came back (to the Barossa) Marg Lehmann bought us artichokes, Di Wark bought us lemons; people were bringing us figs and asparagus. That was a gift, and they knew nothing would be wasted,” says Wendy.
“We had great support from the community, and I have not forgotten that.
“We’ve had some serious knocks over the years and we lost a lot, but we didn’t lose our heart, and that’s really important.”
Wendy also innately understands those indefinable qualities that keep customers coming back, like quality and customer service.
“Service is a very important part of hospitality,” she explains.
“I employ lots of kids and I teach them the etiquette of dining. It’s the customer experience – when everything aligns, people just relax.”
These same principles have been handed down to Wendy’s three children, Antonio, David and Elisa, all of whom have forged careers in hospitality.
With Wendy’s backing, Elisa and business partner Lucy Koehler have reinvented popular restaurant and wine bar, Vino Lokal, situated just a few doors away from Darling’s.
A contemporary breakfast, lunch and dinner menu is complemented by an enviable wine list featuring 160 wines, including such labels as Esperosa (Brett Grocke), Forage Supply Co (Scott Rogasch) and Rock of Wisdom (Pete Hiscock).
“All of these people are customers who saw us grow up, and we saw their families grow,” says Elisa.
The strong female-led team at Vino Lokal includes former Darling’s front of house staff, Meg Frost and cocktail aficionado, Georgie Lehmann.
“We really wanted to create an extension of what Darling’s is,” explains Elisa, “a neighbourhood bistro that’s vibrant and approachable where people know, love and share an understanding of the Barossa’s food, wine and coffee.”
Bringing the coffee is David who, with business partner, Alex Loft has founded ethically farmed and sustainably sourced Kindred Coffee.
“Coffee now is where the wine industry was in the early 90s,” explains David.
“I’m highlighting variety and origin and celebrating the farmers, the way the wine industry does.”
However Elisa qualifies there’s a time and place for coffee – and for the Trottas, that’s first thing in the morning: “Hardly a word is spoken before we have our first coffee!”
