Um, you need to get out of Melbourne. I am always amazed at how universally excellent espresso is there: beautifully roasted, excellently barista'd and absolute

Um, you need to get out of Melbourne. I am always amazed at how universally excellent espresso is there: beautifully roasted, excellently barista'd and absolutely no milk or sugar required while still being dark, thick and tasty. Compare to Sydney or most of Europe (or much of North America). Cafés in North America often run to chocolate muffins and energy bars, but the whole Australian café provision of light warm meals is fairly alien there (see the success of Pret in NYC as a business with a very different value proposition to most other chains). I would imagine that the additional profitability from this cultural difference might be one of the reasons of the success of cafés where you are; that and the fact that the inner core of Melbourne has 2m+ residents and is fairly walkable which leads to a different kind of use of these kinds of spaces.