According to owner Tony Zammit, his newly opened Little Bean takeaway shop has the biggest and best servings of loaded fries in Lismore.

Tony opened the new takeaway shop last week in Lismore’s Industrial Estate and workers are already flocking there.

It’s been a big journey for Tony since the February flood destroyed his business, The Sassy Bean Café, which was located in the Home and Co Centre on the Bruxner Highway (where Spotlight was).

Tony still plans to reopen the Sassy Bean once the Home and Co centre reopens in December– but first he’s opened a second business – one he calls Sassy Bean’s little sister.

“I will be running two different cafés and menus,” he said.

Tony at work in his takeaway shop.

“Little Bean is like Sassy Bean, but has more of a fish, chips, nachos, toasties and burgers menu and is open from 7am until 2pm for workers at lunch time.

“Sassy Bean was more about health food options where shoppers could stop and have a sandwich and we baked our own pies.

“There’s not many places you can get a burger in Lismore now.”

Tony said he waited five months for the new Habib Drive premises to be ready – and once he got word, he had the shop open in nine days.

“I’m told this shop gets water in it every three or four floods,” he said.

“But I’ve fitted it out so everything can be pulled out quickly - my counter and water system sits on the floor and can be moved easily.

“I’m building a trailer with a generator on it so we can get the fridges out without unpacking them and move it to safe ground.

“Even the walls are made of steel framing that I can replace the sheeting if it floods again.”

February flood

When the February flood arrived, Tony said he thought his Sassy Bean café was safe because the flood had never gone into that area on the Bruxner Highway before.

“It was above flood level – at the same height as Lismore Square,” Tony said.

“I even had my boat waiting at the back on the and I came the night before the flood and thought it would be ok.

“After the flood, we found my boat up a tree near Lismore Lake - and it’s a heavy 5.5 metre boat.”

But after losing his boat and his business, Tony was not giving up.

“Nothing bothers me – straight away I went into rebuild mode,” he said. “An hour later I’d ordered containers to store what I can save and the business has evolved every day since the flood.

 “I bought a second kitchen and a cool room and moved near Skimmos, while I was waiting for this place – it’s the old Taste@8 take away location."

“We have survived because we received support from the Lismore community who understands what we went through, as they have gone through it all with us.”

The Little Bean is open at at 5 Habib Drive, South Lismore, Monday to Friday, from 7am to 2pm. You can find it on Facebook.