Cherry Specialty Coffee Co-founder Ramy Massoud says opening the business in 2022 is the product of a long journey in the hospitality industry. After working alongside Co-founder Adam Raslan when he was 19, the pair later reunited when Ramy proposed the idea of starting a business together.
“Adam and I started conjuring up the idea [of a café] and we kept working on it,” says Ramy. “We figured out what we wanted to do and where we wanted to do it, and we decided the city was the best place to do it.”
Ramy started working with Veneziano Coffee Roasters in 2011 as a barista, and later returned in 2015 as a Business Development Manager, a title he held for three years.
“I wanted to try something in the coffee industry, but not in coffee itself,” he says.
Ramy helped grow the wholesale side of the coffee roastery before returning to the café industry, but his contact with Veneziano Coffee Roasters never wavered.
“I still have a great relationship [with Veneziano],” he says. “We’ve worked very close together.”
That relationship extends to the coffee poured at Cherry Specialty Coffee. It includes Veneziano Coffee Roasters’ Soar blend, with espresso blends from the roaster’s alternating releases.
Ramy describes the look of Cherry Specialty Coffee as “medical” with its simplistic colour palette and subtle decorations.
“We wanted to create Cherry as a very clean, super fresh and bright espresso bar,” he says.
Ramy says Cherry Specialty Coffee’s point of difference is the way its staff interact with the customers.
“What we found was lacking with some cafés was the service,” he says. “Cherry is old school customer service with the best specialty coffee and equipment.”
One point of pride for Ramy and Adam has been the creation of the reserve menu, which offers a unique coffee selection using the Tone Touch 03 boiler that takes Cherry Specialty Coffee’s frozen coffee from 0°C to 94°C in two seconds.
“We wanted to create our version of a reserve collection like what wineries have,” says Ramy. “We’ve had these machines since day one.”
The café uses a La Marzocco KB90 espresso machine, which Ramy describs as “the best in the business” after researching machines prior to its opening.
Cherry Specialty Coffee offers a wide range of food, including baked goods from the nearby Jenny’s Bakery, that provides butter and almond croissants daily. Ramy says the café’s toasties have also become a popular choice among customers.
“All ciabatta bread and sandwiches are made in-house with our own ingredients and secret techniques,” he says.
Less than one year old, Ramy says Cherry Specialty Coffee still has plenty of growing to do. After adding a third barista to the café’s roster, he is eager to continue the café’s growth.
“We’d love to see another Cherry one day. In one year’s time, if all goes well, we’d love to have another business potentially on the other side of the city, but that’s a long-term goal,” he says.
“When you love what you do, you never work a day in your life. [Running the café] and not feeling like we’re working is the biggest accomplishment for us.”
Cherry Specialty Coffee
29 King William Street, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000
Open Monday to Friday 7am — 4pm
This article appears in the October 2023 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
