Food and family are central to Cooee Café & Catering, founded by Sharon Brindley who is in business with her daughter, Shayla.
“We are very family orientated business. I have a lot of customers who have come back to support us through COVID, which has been fantastic,’ Sharon says.
And the proud Yamatji/Noongar woman adds native ingredients in many of her take away meals.
“We try to incorporate Indigenous ingredients into everything as best we can,” she says.
“We make kangaroo lasagne down here.
“With our wraps, we use lemon myrtle, and we use bush tomato as well.”
Sharon's Cooee Cafe is on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula Credit: SBS / Scott Cardwell
“Cooee means come home, come back, it’s time for lunch or dinner.
“As a child out in the bush, we'd be off on our own. And we could hear the call from far away, so it really was something close to my heart,” she says.
Growing up, Sharon foraged for native foods around Kalgoorlie with her grandmother.
“Nan used to take us out bush all the time. We would get ‘roo for dinner, or collect honey ants and bardi grubs.”
Sharon cooking at Cooee Cafe Credit: SBS / Scott Cardwell
“Teaching people about our native foods really excites me,” she says.
Like so many owner-operators, Sharon’s business was growing steadily, until Melbourne’s long COVID lockdown.
“Last year [when] a customer came in and said: ‘we are going back into lockdown’ ] I just ran out the back and cried,” she recalls.
“I lost $30,000 worth of catering orders in a single day, when everyone started cancelling again. And that was my breaking point, I really didn’t cope.
“It was a massive, massive hit.”
WARNING: For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the video below contains images of people who have passed.
Sharon says the support of family helped her keep going.
“When it comes to tears, we can cry together. My staff are like family too.
“There were times I thought we weren’t going to make it, but you can’t keep a good woman down. So I just had to keep going.”
Sharon also drew strength from her early love of food and native ingredients.
“Food is the way to everybody’s heart isn't it. So, it certainly was the way, way forward for me.”
Sharon with Sean Armistead from IBA, holding some of her new chocolates. Credit: SBS / Scott Cardwell
The name of the new venture means ‘very good’ in her own Wajarri language, with the turtle in the brand representing her totem.
“The first two flavours we developed were Davidson plum and lemon myrtle. And both are in white chocolate,” she says.
“And they are going great guns. People are absolutely loving them.”
It was a bold move during the pandemic, but Sharon was backed by Indigenous Business Australia (IBA).
“With IBA's help I was able to step up the business, and we developed the next two flavours: finger lime and wattleseed, both in dark chocolate.
Sean Armistead, Executive Director at IBA Credit: SBS / Scott Cardwell
“She's doing an amazing job. She is in a food business which took a massive hit because of the pandemic, then she starts a chocolate line,” he says. “I'm just proud that IBA was able to be there to help.”
IBA supported Sharon with business capability and planning resources. She also received a start-up loan/grant combination to help her new ventures with Jala Jala.
Sharon has sold more than 2.5 tonnes of chocolate so far and is exporting to the Asian region with big plans to grow further.
“We have tapped into Singapore and Malaysia at the moment.
Sharon sells chocolates and other Indigenous products online. Credit: SBS / Scott Cardwell
“Nothing would make me more proud, than to see [my chocolates] wherever I travel around the world and have people share my totem, my language and my culture [on social media].”
You can find a full array of authentic Indigenous food and crafts on Sharon’s websites, and . For more information on Indigenous Business Australia go to
