Sydney's iconic Cafe Hernandez up for sale

“It was a hard decision as obviously the place has a lot of sentimental value,” said Mr Hernandez, 55, of the cafe whose walls are adorned with portraits of the family painted by his late mother, Paquita. “And I would never have sold it while my dad was alive.

“We’ve been going now for 50 years, as Dad started roasting in 1972 up the road in the building behind the Coke sign before buying this building in 1981 on a handshake deal with its previous owner, who used to operate a Polish deli here. But the pandemic had an effect on the business and made it very tough, especially with so many cafes in the area. The boom days of Cafe Hernandez are now in the past.”

In the last two years, the cafe, on Kings Cross Road as it sweeps into Rushcutters Bay, has had to install a lock, with its opening hours shifting to 7am to 5pm.

Previously, it was always a haunt of late-night revellers and well-known faces, including Frank Sinatra, Ginger Rogers and Carol Burnett, and Australian stars like Hugh Jackman and Marcia Hines. It has also appeared in countless movies, TV shows and commercials, including the ABC TV show Rake.

Together with its one-bedroom apartment upstairs, the cafe will go to auction on March 26 with a price guide of $2 million.

Sales agent John Skufris of Ray White Commercial South Sydney said he’s already had a lot of inquiries from people who know the cafe well, having drunk coffee there or bought beans, which are famously roasted on the premises.

“There are a lot of stories about people going there with their children, then their children growing up and taking their kids,” said Mr Skufris. “Generations of people have been going there for a very long time. I remember going there for the first time years ago after being at the movies as it was one of the few places that was open late.

“I think so many people have some kind of connection to the place, there’ll be a lot of interest and we’ve also had people coming from the hospitality industry.”

The business was started by Spanish-born Mr Hernandez senior, who arrived in Sydney in the 1960s and was horrified to find a city drinking tea. Credited with bringing the coffee culture to Sydney, the beans he roasted so lovingly were used to make the coffee in many of Sydney’s top restaurants.

In 2005, he was inducted into the Sydney Food Hall of Fame. Even after he retired, and passed on the business to his son, one of three children, he was a regular sight at the cafe, drinking coffee. He died at the age of 84.

Keno Hernandez’s sister Frances Cain, 56, and his elder half-brother Gustavo Cauhepe, 68, both support his decision to sell.

But even with the properties up for sale, the cafe business could possibly end up surviving if the buyer wants to keep it going, or they could well open a new cafe in the same space.

Mr Hernandez said he would be open to the idea of either selling the business too, or continuing to operate it – after a year off travelling around Australia on his motorbike.

“The business has been going now for 50 years, so it seems a good idea to sell up now and retire,” he said. “I’ll miss my customers and I really like most of them, and they’ve been my life for so long.