Australia’s oldest family-owned chocolate maker, Haigh’s Chocolates, is heading west, opening its seventh Melbourne store at Highpoint Shopping Centre on June 17. The new store joins existing locations at Block Arcade, Elizabeth Street, Collins Street, Hawthorn, Toorak and Eastland. Located on Level 3 near Cotton On, it will offer the full Haigh’s range alongside complimentary in-store tastings. The Highpoint opening is part of a broader period of growth for the Adelaide-born brand. In September 2025, Haigh’s opened a $130 million purpose-built factory in Salisbury South, doubling its chocolate production capacity from 1,100 to 2,000 tonnes per year and creating 150 new jobs. The brand now operates 22 stores nationally across Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and the ACT. Peter Millard, Chief Executive of Haigh’s Chocolates, said, “We are delighted to officially open our new store at Highpoint Shopping Centre and share the unique in-store Haigh’s experience with customers in Melbourne’s west, growing our retail offering in the Victorian market.” Bryce Telley, General Manager of Highpoint Shopping Centre, said, “We’re thrilled to celebrate the opening of iconic Australian brand, Haigh’s Chocolates at Highpoint. “Haigh’s is the perfect addition to our diverse retail mix and has been highly anticipated by customers, who we know will love shopping the full range of premium chocolates right here at the Centre.” To mark the opening, the first 50 customers through the door will receive a free Milk Chocolate Midi Frog. Customers spending $50 or more in-store will also receive a complimentary packet of Milk Chocolate Speckles, valid from June 17 to 21 at Highpoint only. Source: Callie Find more food retail updates on Crumb Wire.

Guzman y Gomez has become the first quick service restaurant in Australia to launch on Apple CarPlay, allowing customers to order and pay without touching their phones. The integration means GYG fans can find their nearest restaurant, tap a favourite order and pay with a saved card directly through their car’s CarPlay screen, heading straight to the drive thru or counter without any friction. Every order earns GOMEX points, with favourites and payment details already saved in the app. CarPlay food ordering has been gaining traction globally after the US chain Chick-fil-A pioneered the format, with the feature recently going viral on TikTok as millions of drivers realised they could order food directly from their dashboards. In the US, Domino’s, Panera Bread and Dunkin’ have since followed. GYG is the first Australian QSR to bring the same capability locally. Bryce Maybury, Chief Technology Officer at Guzman y Gomez, said, “Our guests are loyal. They know their order, they trust the food, and they just want it fast. CarPlay means they can get their GYG fix without even picking up their phone. Their favourites, their GOMEX points, their saved payments – it’s all there. “We’re on a mission to reinvent fast food and change the way the masses eat, and that means making it as easy as possible to get great food, how and where you want it. That’s what we build technology for.” Alongside the CarPlay launch, GYG is also rolling out the GOMEX Wallet pass, putting the GOMEX loyalty card directly into Apple Wallet without needing to open the app. Points balance, GYG Dollars and personalised offers update in real time. The loyalty card is also available in other digital wallets. How to order GYG on Apple CarPlay Step 1 – Update to the latest GYG app on iPhone Step 2 – Connect iPhone to a CarPlay-enabled vehicle Step 3 – Swipe across, select GYG from the CarPlay screen Step 4 – Find your nearest restaurant Step 5 – Tap a favourite or recent order Step 6 – Pay with a saved card Step 7 – Track your order on screen in real time As with any CarPlay feature, GYG recommends ordering before setting off or when safely parked. Find more food and drink news on Crumb Wire.

Cà Phê Mai has opened in Double Bay, serving breakfast bánh mì and family-recipe pho by day before switching into a Vietnamese wine bar from at night. The new venue inside Forum Double Bay comes from hospitality duo Cindy Mai and Ed Loveday, combining four generations of family hospitality with the way a new generation of Vietnamese Australians eat, drink and entertain. Consultant chef Toby Wilson, founder of Ricos Tacos, has worked closely with the team to help shape the daytime menu. By day, the venue serves Vietnamese coffee, breakfast bánh mì, and pho seven days a week, while at night, the menu shifts towards contemporary Vietnamese dishes, backed by a wine list focused on lighter, fresher, and low-intervention styles. The birth of Cà Phê Mai The story starts with Mai’s great-grandmother, who ran a restaurant outside Ho Chi Minh City after the war. Mai’s grandmother later arrived in Australia as a refugee and helped build the family’s hospitality presence through a series of bakeries and restaurants across Sydney and Melbourne. Her parents later opened their own restaurant in Canley Heights, continuing the family tradition. Mai opened her own restaurant in Strathfield at 24 and ran it for five years before stepping away to figure out what she wanted to do next. That’s how Cà Phê Mai was born. “Growing up, Vietnamese food was comfort and identity; it was home. But like a lot of us raised here, I was also shaped by everything around me,” says Mai. “There’s a whole generation of Việt Kiều reinterpreting traditional food through the places and cultures they’ve grown up in, and Cà Phê Mai is for them, the Vietnamese kids, the multicultural kids, who love bún bò huế just as much as an anchovy toast or a good glass of wine. “It’s deeply respectful of where we come from, but an honest reflection of who we are and how we actually eat.” Four generations of recipes The venue’s signature pho gà is based on a family chicken broth recipe passed down through generations. The broth is prepared daily and the recipe is still shared between Mai, her mother and grandmother. Alongside the pho, the menu includes fresh vermicelli canteen bowls, Hanoi-style spring rolls and bánh mì. Breakfast sees Vietnamese and Australian classics collide, with bánh mì loaded with hash browns, eggs and Vietnamese pickles, plus a Bò Lá Lốt sausage and egg muffin. The venue is the first business Mai and Loveday have built together, combining her experience in Vietnamese food and hospitality with his two decades working across bars, restaurants and wine venues, including The Passage, ACME and Bar Brosé. Loveday is also the founder of creative consultancy Studio AM:PM, which specialises in hospitality concepts and brand development. Coffee in the morning, wine at night Loveday has put together a wine list featuring small independent growers from France, Italy, Australia and Germany. A rotating by-the-glass selection sits alongside bottles spanning grower Champagne, Burgundy, Barolo and a Vietnamese sparkling rice wine from Sông Cái. Cocktails include the Suong Mai (Jasmine Vermouth, Honeydew Melon, Cucumber, Prosecco, Soda), Fruit Cart (Vodka, Watermelon, Green Chilli, Lime, Soda, Tangy Chilli Salt) and a Passionfruit & Dragonfruit Margarita. Mai and Loveday have also created their own version of Cà Phê Muối, a salted Vietnamese coffee inspired by one of their favourite discoveries in Vietnam and adapted into a recipe of their own. “This project means so much to me because it’s something Ed and I are doing together,” says Mai. “We were probably a little hesitant at first because you always hear about the challenges of working with your partner, but honestly, the more we spoke about it, the more natural it felt. “We’re best friends, we’ve always bounced ideas off each other, and what we landed on really marries our passions perfectly – a café and restaurant by day, and a contemporary Vietnamese wine bar by night.” Street meets chic The venue was designed to capture the pace of Vietnamese street dining and the atmosphere of a contemporary wine bar, which it will operate as from Wednesday to Saturday night. An open kitchen sits behind a honed Rosso Levanto marble counter, with bar seating looking directly onto the cooking. A garnet leather banquette runs along the back of the room, while a takeaway window onto Kiaora Lane serves coffee and bánh mì. “I’ve always loved venues that work at any hour. You come in for a coffee and a bánh mì in the morning, then come back that night for a glass of wine and a few plates, and it still feels like the same room looking after you. That’s what Cindy and I set out to build, whether it’s 7 am on a Tuesday or late on a Friday,” says Loveday. Cà Phê Mai is part of Forum Double Bay, a project delivered by Fortis and operated by The Commons. The precinct includes hospitality venues, private offices, communal spaces, a communal kitchen, meeting facilities and a curated art collection designed for both work and connection. Blending family history with contemporary hospitality, Cà Phê Mai brings four generations of food, service and storytelling to Double Bay. Source: Electric Collective Find more dining out updates on Crumb Wire.

One of Never Never‘s most sought-after releases is back, with the distillery reuniting with World’s Best Bar winner Bar Leone to bring back Coffee & Cacao Gin. The cult collaboration first launched in 2023 and quickly sold out in Australia. Now, following Bar Leone’s rise to global fame and the opening of its new Shanghai venue, Never Never has revived the coffee and chocolate-forward gin for a limited return. “We sent a pallet of our original Coffee and Cacao Gin to Hong Kong, and then it promptly sold out here in Australia,” says Never Never co-founder Sean Baxter. Baxter says the Shanghai opening gave the team a reason to revisit the release. “Lorenzo couldn’t ship the original 500ml bottle from Hong Kong to China without going through the process of importation and paying duty taxes so we decided to re-release the product, again just for his new bar in Shanghai. “When Hong Kong runs out, no doubt we will send it there as well, but for now the new release will only be available in Bar Leone Shanghai and through our distillery door and website.” The re-release uses the same recipe as the original, built around roasted coffee bean, cacao nib, cacao butter, coconut cream and bergamot peel. Built for Negronis Coffee & Cacao Gin was the first gin Never Never Distilling Co. created specifically for Negronis. The South Australian distillery has since gone on to create its bottled Panettone Negroni, which was named World’s Best Contemporary Cocktail at the World Gin Awards in London. The gin was designed to work alongside the dark, earthy flavours of Italian sweet vermouth, creating rich coffee and chocolate-forward Negronis. “If we’re making a gin aligned to the very best that Italy and now the world has to offer it better make a damn good Negroni,” Baxter says. “We wanted to build a gin whose purpose was to create delicious coffee and chocolate forward Negronis and work with the dark, earthy flavours found in Italian sweet vermouth.” Cacao butter is washed into the gin to create a richer, more decadent mouthfeel, allowing notes of coffee and chocolate to linger before giving way to darker spices and soft vanilla. Distilled coconut cream is also added to further amplify texture and palate weight. “Coffee and Cacao tastes like standing at a bar in Rome ordering an espresso and a sfogliatelle before midday,” Baxter says. “It’s an exciting combination of roasted coffee aromatics and earthy cacao character, built for exceptional classic cocktails.” The production technique draws on methods commonly used behind the bar, where washing spirits with fats has become increasingly popular, but remains relatively uncommon in commercial gin production. “Washing spirit with fats is definitely something very prevalent within the bar community, however, it’s still largely something that doesn’t occur as a production technique within gin,” Baxter says. The flavour profile was inspired by Italian café culture and designed to capture the experience of drinking espresso and eating pastries in Rome before midday. The collaboration also reflects Never Never’s long-standing focus on innovation, whether through ingredient selection, production techniques or exploring new approaches to gin. From Hong Kong to Shanghai The original Coffee & Cacao Gin was shipped to Bar Leone in Hong Kong before quickly selling out in Australia. The opening of Bar Leone’s new Shanghai venue created an opportunity for Never Never to revisit the release, with the new batch initially produced for the Chinese market. Bar Leone was named World’s Best Bar at The World’s 50 Best Bars Awards last year and has since expanded with its new Shanghai outpost. Lorenzo Antinori, founder of Bar Leone, says the gin captures flavours that feel distinctly Italian. “I love the nod to Italy – these flavours are truly representative of both food and drinks tradition, this gin excites me because it carries a big body with lots of layers of flavours: toasted ones, umami but also citrusy and floral,” Antinori says. The collaboration also celebrates a shared appreciation for bold flavours, hospitality and Italian drinking culture. “When it comes to gin, Never Never makes some of the best in class,” Antinori says. “I’ve developed a friendship with the team, because we all share similar visions; quality over quantity, creative but still approachable.” “Bar Leone is a venue that is all about Italian fun, football and flavour, we wanted this gin to be a reflection of that attitude,” Baxter says. “Above or else we wanted to ensure our gin represented that same spirit that champions Roman caffé culture, its people and the passion that beats through the streets of Trastevere.” The bottle design pays tribute to both Bar Leone and AS Roma, drawing on the venue’s visual identity and the football club’s iconic orange and maroon colours through a bright checkerboard label. “The colours chosen for the gin bottle have a very strong nostalgic feel,” Antinori says. “They make me feel at home and work so well with our brand and universe.” Coffee & Cacao Gin was released during Bar Leone’s visit to Adelaide for Bartenders Weekender on 14 June, coinciding with the start of Never Never’s 10th anniversary celebrations at Latteria. “There will be a series of events this year that celebrate our 10th year in the industry. This will be a very special way to kick off those celebrations,” Baxter says. “Latteria is the perfect place to host such a special event. They will be the only bar in the country that will be serving Bar Leone classic cocktails featuring our Coffee and Cacao Gin.” While the launch event at Latteria is sold out, customers can still order cocktails featuring the gin at the venue for a limited time through its cocktail specials menu. Latteria is also the only bar in Australia currently serving Bar Leone classic cocktails featuring Coffee & Cacao Gin. Bottles of Coffee & Cacao Gin are available through the Never Never website, while the gin is also being poured at Bar Leone Shanghai. Source: HHPR Find more food retail...