Allouche family's new Kin Burraneer cafe going gangbusters

They have done it again with up-market Kin Burraneer, in Woolooware Road, which has been going gangbusters since opening on July 18.

Kin (short for kindred - family and relations) is a smaller, different version of Next Door, which opened in 2016 alongside the family's Sealevel restaurant, on the Esplanade at North Cronulla.

Next Door's head chef Luke Arnull and manager Erin Battersby are partners in the new venue with Marc, Nathan, Adam and Blake Allouche.

"Luke and Erin are heavily involved in our businesses - they are crucial to Next Door and they are overseeing both it and Kin," Marc said.

"Kin has an extensive menu from breakfast dishes and lunch dishes and small share plates, which is something we specialise in and perfect to have with drinks.

"We have a small wine and beer list and a small cocktail list , and quite a decent takeaway menu as well. It's premium takeaway, similar to Next Door."

Marc and Adam, who live near the new venue, were customers and friends of Dominique Buttke, who operated Mims Espresso and Eatery for many years.

"Coming out of COVID, hospitality was a very big challenge for everybody in the industry," Marc said.

"Dom was doing things on her own and she was looking for a change and it coincided with us looking to write a new chapter in our business," he said.

"We had a chat and came to an agreement...the whole process was very smooth."

They are not getting carried away with the initial popularity of Kin.

"We have been doing this for a long time," Marc said.

"Anything new, everyone wants to come and see it at the start. We are trying to put our best foot forward and show everyone what we are about and then hopefully the business maintains."

The family has been involved in hospitality in the shire since 1979 when Claude and Dave Allouche and their wives Kerry and Judy took over Tom Uglys Inn on Princes Highway, Sylvania and renamed it Allouches.

"It was an iconic restaurant, but was in a shocking state of repair," Claude recalled in an earlier interview with the Leader.

"We did it up and it went like a house on fire."

Five years later, they took over run-down Bernardi's at Sylvania Heights, and renamed it Toucans.

In the 1980s, they opened Beachside Brasserie underneath the new Cecil Apartments at Cronulla.

After 10 years of negotiating, they acquired the North Cronulla site where they opened Sealevel in 1997.

Next Door opened in 2016, replacing Alley Break cafe.