THE STORY

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Hi, my name is Dewald, and I am the owner of Ballucci Coffee Bar & Lounge. I am originally from Cape Town. I moved to London in 1995 and have been a proud Brit ever since. My career started in catering when I was only 16 years old.


I first worked part-time during school holidays and then full time after school. In 1999 I studied Interior architectural design and worked for two design companies in Central London. I have an absolute passion for design. All the interior of Ballucci is my own work.


Even though I loved the job, I really missed working with people, so after a couple of years, I joined the airline industry. I worked all over the world and gained invaluable experience in customer service. I loved my job, but the ultimate dream was to work for myself.

In 2016, I took redundancy from British Airways and started working on my plan to open a coffee shop. I took a couple of business and Barista courses and got the ball rolling. At this point, I didn’t even know what I was going to call it. I have often been asked what “Ballucci” means… It actually doesn't mean anything. I came up with it after half a bottle of wine. I don’t feel that a name specifically must mean anything, but rather what it stands for.


After a LOT of very hard work, I finally opened the doors to Ballucci on 27th September 2017. For three years I worked behind the counter serving customers and making coffees every day, but as the business evolved and the staff got better at making coffees than me, I decided to step away and focus mainly on running the business.


Nowadays, I’m fully committed to ensure the smooth operation of the business and get to spend more quality time with customers when I’m floating around in the shop. Ever since day one, we have been a tremendous success, and we strive every day to get even better at what we do. We love our customers and believe the feeling is mutual.