Daily grind for city's youth as Tamworth's Viaduct Park Cafe serves first brew and officially opens to public

It was smiles all round as the city's youth served their very first customers on Wednesday, at Tamworth's newest food and drink outlet which doubles as a training ground for hospitality students.

Joblink Plus is operating the business as a social enterprise, and the organisation's executive general manager for training Emily Roy said it's amazing to finally see it come together.

"Today is the first day for students and permanent staff as well, to be serving customers and offering up their excellent coffee," she said.

"The students that are working here are all enrolled in Certificate III in Hospitality - a really in-demand course at the moment.

"The skills that they're learning here means they'll be able to go straight into jobs with local employers and they'll be work ready because the cafe is the classroom."

Fully equipped with a commercial kitchen, the cafe serves all the things you'd want and expect, such as bacon and egg rolls, sandwiches freshly made on site and a variety of sweet treats.

At the moment, it supports three permanent staff, but casual work opportunities will be offered during the Tamworth Country Music Festival and peak periods.

Joblink Plus will soon go the community to find a permanent name for the cafe.

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Council's manager sports and recreation Paul Kelly said it's a wonderful addition to the recreational youth hub being built at the park.

"It's fabulous timing for the community, just in time for the Christmas holidays," he said.

"In the next couple of months we're going to see lots of families fill this space and now we're going to be able to offer them a really good service," he said.

Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson said he believes the skate park has become "the number one destination" for the city's youth.

"Every time you drive past it there is families here, it doesn't matter what day of the week it is," he said.

"To have a cafe associated with the skate park here is absolutely outstanding and complements what this will be."

The project was a partnership between Joblink Plus, the NSW Government and Tamworth Regional Council to provide accessible hands-on training for young people.

It was funded by $369,173 from the NSW Government's Stronger Country Communities Fund, $210,000 from the Federal Government's Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program, $25,000 from Tamworth Regional Council and $25,000 from Joblink Plus.

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