That’s right, that famous blue has officially landed in Hamilton on the foodie favourite strip that is Beaumont St. Officially opening their doors on the 2nd of May, Blue Door Hamilton has set up across the road from Mockingbird in the downstairs of Greater Bank.

Since the brand’s inception in 2015, the Blue Door Group has continued to expand and evolve, bringing Novocastrians their signature food and drink offering, staying true to their philosophy, simple, done well. Like most hospitality venues, the last few years haven’t come without their challenges, with owners Peter (PJ) and Amy James stating they’ve been the hardest in their 17 years in business.

“We have had many weeks of closures across all the locations, staff shortages, supply issues, adapting to the magnitude of changes required to be covid safe, juggling four kids home-schooling; the list goes on.

“On a positive note, the downtime has given us space to re-assess how we run and operate our businesses and where we see the market moving in the future.”

The biggest change for the Newcastle brand, of course, was saying goodbye to their very first Blue Door baby; Blue Door Newcastle in Wheeler Place. But as the saying goes, when one door closes, another one opens, and so it was that Blue Door Hamilton came to life.

“We were approached by the Greater Bank to come on board and operate the café they had already fitted out, which explains why the aesthetic doesn’t give you an initial Blue Door vibe… anyone who knows us knows we are always ready for a new adventure, and we thought the opportunity to diversify into a different area and market sounded like a good idea!”

Having only a short two months to bring the space together, the new café offering on Beaumont St officially opened to keen café goers on Monday, the 2^nd of May. Keeping with their signature Blue Door offering but with a unique Hamilton twist, you can expect a mix of grab-and-go food, combined with super fresh salads and homemade cakes.

“We have also had a little secret up our sleeve, we have welcomed on board two Hatted Chef Sean Townsend, and he has been quietly re-vamping our menu with some fresh new flavours. Our goal with Sean is to step up the quality of the takeaway offering. We aren’t a franchise, we are different in the way where we have three locations offering three unique experiences.”

The menu features a bunch of fresh salads, wraps, pasta, homemade cakes, sundaes, and of course their signature Acai bowls. The coffee? The Blue Door Group are in the final stages of finishing their new exclusive blend of coffee with the team at Crema Coffee Garage.

“On a side note, we have been with Crema since day one of Juicy Beans Café, in fact, we bought Juicy Beans Café from them!”

Alongside the excitement of their new venue opening, the Blue Door Group are also in the process of securing a commercial kitchen place with the hopes to expand into new locations in the future.

“We have really focussed on turning the upheaval of the last few years into a positive.”

One of these positives they’ve been working on, the Blue Door Group has looked inward to address the local hospitality staff shortage.

“We have really been focussing on working with young kids from the local community. Through our Merewether Beach Kiosk, we have been introducing them to hospitality, working on bringing through the next generation of workers. These kids are so keen to work, bringing a fresh wave of bubbly enthusiasm to our workplace.”

Whether you’re interested in checking out the new Blue Door offering on Hamilton’s Beaumont St, or you’re a long-time visitor of the Blue Door Group’s venues, did you know you can now streamline your experience through their dedicated app? Order ahead, skip the queue, and even receive special discounts! To download, click here.