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The homey 20-seater cafe soft-opened in late December for two days to test its menu \u2013 a combination of focaccia sandwiches and sweet and savoury bakes like flatbreads, scones and waffles, alongside Penny University\u2019s signature coffee \u2013 and officially debuted earlier this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow it\u2019s really a true collab between Penny and the Fluff founders, in the sense that we coexist in the same space and run the menu and service together. Previously, we were simply supplying [goods] to each other,\u201d shared Mouss.<\/p>\n
He called the decision to close Fluff and reopen it as Big Mouth Bakehouse the result of a \u201ccombination of rising unsustainable business costs and the need to reinvent ourselves\u201d.<\/p>\n
When we asked him to clarify industry rumours that Fluff closed to escape its debts, Mouss explained: \u201cWe closed down and opened as Big Mouth because, yeah, of course there were some issues with the business before. And we felt the need to reinvent. But Fluff is not running away or writing off bad debts. Most of the suppliers we\u2019re working with for Big Mouth are the people we\u2019ve been working with for more than 10 years. They\u2019re still supportive of us, and we\u2019re clearing the outstanding with them; still servicing the payment arrangements.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes when other businesses close down, they go through liquidation and that doesn\u2019t work out the best for all parties because there isn\u2019t enough money to pay everyone. We didn\u2019t want to go down that route, so we thought about how best to turn it around. And we felt the best way was to come up with a new concept that\u2019s more current. Hopefully, when things pick up, we can clear what was outstanding in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n