So Sarah, tell us a little bit about you…

Sarah moved from Wales in 2002 with her family to Yeppoon, Queensland. Then moved on to Brisbane after 18 Months. Sarah has received a Bachelor of Film Production from SAE Melbourne, before obtaining a Graduate Diploma in Creative Industries from QUT. After working retail, hospitality and freelance graphic design Sarah returned to Yeppoon in 2016 to open Chapter with her family.

In March of this year she was honoured to win the Livingstone Shire Progressive Young Woman Bursary Award at the International Womens Day event in Yeppoon and went to The Australian Women’s Leadership Symposium in Brisbane.

What made you start Chapter Yeppoon and what is the philosophy behind?

I was working at a book shop + coffee shop called Little Gnome in Wynnum on Brisbanes Bayside. Chapter started after we decided that we wanted to do something as a family, we had the idea of doing a Coffee shop in Yeppoon, but knew that we needed a point of difference, something we are all passionate about. So it became books and coffee, it’s such a great combo that we thought Chapter could be a Little Gnome of the North.

We love that you have combined books with a great cafe, it sounds like the perfect business combination?

Chapter has been greatly inspired by Little Gnome, I learnt a lot from working there and working with Bel (Owner extraordinaire of Little Gnome). Having both the coffee and the books hopefully means that we are catering to everyone who comes in to see us.

And Fonzie Abbott – tell us about these products and why you stock them?

While we were planning on opening Chapter we spent quite a bit of time trying different coffees and visiting cafes (Tough life) We came across Fonzie Abbott and loved the coffee and then we found out more about the brand and knew they were the right fit for us.We liked that they are a Queensland based company. They’re lovely and have been incredibly encouraging at every step.

How do you bring groups of people together – do you host book clubs or offer ways to bring the community together?

We do host a book club, my brother Rhys has just started a publishing company called Hammer and Tongs Publishing and we host that meeting at Chapter monthly. There’s cheese and chatting, which is always a good time. We also host writing workshops, author talks and regularly have indie authors in store to do book signings or book launches!

Your support local Indie Authors – tell us about some of these and how this benefits your business?

We do support Indie Authors, Little Gnome as well as our Mum put us on to that. There is so much homegrown talent and we’re in a position where we can support them. Our Mum, Nene Davies is an amazing indie author herself, 4 books published (The Distance Series and Redhanded) and the 5th (Whitethorne) is about two months away.

So what is your favourite – books or coffee?

Oh dear I get very cranky if I don’t have either near by!

Favourite place to visit?

Last year I went to Iceland with my partner, I’d love to go back again.

Best book you’ve read? 

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Tell us about Yeppoon and why it’s a great place to live?

Yeppoon is a great place to live, Chapter has been open for just over a year and we have had an incredibly supportive welcome from the community. We’ve got a progressive council that is always looking for ways to grow, It’s a beautiful seaside town that offers a whole range of things, the Yeppoon Lagoon has recently opened! I met my beautiful partner here and my family and I are proud that we’ve been able to contribute something to this town that welcomed us home twice.

What’s the best part of your job?I spend my day drinking coffee, looking at books & talking to people about coffee and books, I’m very lucky to call that my job.