Older than his years

He may only be 25, but with more than eight years business experience, Peter Thomas is sure to be a success in Docklands.

Registering his first company at just 17, Peter has achieved more than most 25-year-olds would dream about and yet he is just getting started.

Reminiscing about the past, Peter tells a story about getting his first cheque book after registering an IT company called Central Systems Solutions, that he still operates today.

“The bank only realised that I was 17 after issuing the cheque book but, by the time they realised I was underage, I was nearly 18 so they decided to give it back to me,” he said.
After successfully operating the IT business for about five years, Peter decided to register another business following numerous requests by clients to carry out web development and graphic design.

Now Peter has moved his businesses from Carlton and has opened a third business, called iPress, which is located on Docklands Drive.

The new printing business has been a natural progression from his web development and graphic design business and Peter believes that they will complement each other.

“We can do anything and everything for example: brochures, flyers, invitations, basically all of your printing needs, we have a creative graphic designing team that love a challenge, its simple all you need to do is tell them your thoughts and the will design it.” he said.

“My team and I love what we do and we have many interesting ideas to come, so watch out.”

“What I think will make us stand out in the crowd is our web to print service, which I am currently implementing.  The web to print service allows our clients to log on to our system and use the templates for their printing needs.”

iPress is currently open Monday to Friday but will soon be open seven days a week.  To make an enquiry please call 9445 0292.

Get the Harbour Kitchen habit

Using the Harbour Kitchen for events can be habit forming.

According to owner Grace Han, people who use the Victoria Harbour restaurant for their functions are very likely to come back.

“Six members of the same family have now used us since attending a birthday here last year,” Grace said.  “It’s great for business.”

Word of mouth referrals have built the events side of Grace’s business to about one every week.  But she’d like to host many more and wants to inform Docklands’ corporate community of the opportunity.

“We’ve got great staff, great food and great rates,” she said.  “We’ve got lots of different types of food.  We’re got a variety of packages and we are very flexible.”

“We’re happy if our customers are happy,” she said.

Grace bought the business about 15 months ago and has become popular with local residents and workers.

The former financial auditor fell in love with Docklands when she saw the business for sale.

“Docklands has everything.  The big businesses are all moving down here. It’s quite beautiful and it’s far more peaceful than the city,” she said.  “I just love it.”

And, after moving to Australia four years ago from Beijing, Grace also appreciates the slower pace of life here.

“It’s just so relaxing,” she said.

Busiest mum in town

If you think you’re busy, you should follow Patricia de Silva around for a day.  The mother of three, who works as a business analyst in Docklands, has just opened a second Sri Lankan eatery, Cinnamon’s, on Bourke St in Victoria Harbour.

Supported by her husband Anura, who manages their first eatery, her 22-year-old son Michael (pictured right), who manages their Docklands store, and her other two children, 14-year-old daughter Chiara and 3-year-old son Dillon, Patricia finds the energy.

Waking up ridiculously early every morning to begin cooking at 3.30am at her Little Collins St shop, which opened 10 months ago, it’s hard to imagine where this mother gets her energy from.

But for Patricia the answer is easy, it comes from her passion.

“Food is my passion. I just love cooking. I’ve been cooking since I was 12,” Patricia said.

Finishing the cooking for both shops at 11am, Patricia then travels to the Docklands eatery where she helps out her reliable staff in serving the masses.

With a line of hungry customers, which commonly stretches out onto the footpath, Patricia stays at her latest venture until 2pm.

“At 2pm I go and start work at Fujitsu where I work until 6pm and then at 6pm I go back up to our other shop where I cook until 9pm,” she said.

Patricia, whose dream is to own a restaurant, is well on her way to becoming Docklands royalty with the aroma of her freshly cooked authentic Sri Lankan food, a legion of loyal fans and a passion to be admired.

“It’s not just money or work, it’s my dream. People have said to me that after a year you will loose the passion, but I don’t think I will,” she said.

Cinnamon’s is open weekdays from 8am to 4.30pm and it located at 833 Bourke St, Docklands.