North Sydney Council moves to run its own café and gelato bar at Olympic Pool

1 December 2025

North Sydney Council is preparing to enter the café and gelato business after failing to secure a viable private operator for the main food outlet inside the long-delayed, over-budget North Sydney Olympic Pool redevelopment. A report to next week’s council meeting recommended declining all bids for the lease and instead running the venue in-house for at least 12 months to determine whether it is commercially viable.

The decision comes as the broader pool redevelopment continues to exceed its financial and delivery expectations. Initial budgets of around $60 million have since climbed above $120 million, with the latest executive reports still unable to quantify the full impact of delays, variations and construction risks. The final cost could approach $150 million once all bills are tallied.

The café and gelato bar were originally intended to be outsourced to specialist operators to ensure a high standard of hospitality, reduce council workload and align with the premium positioning of the redeveloped complex. But repeated attempts to secure interest have faltered.

According to the report, an expression of interest process in mid-2024 attracted engagement from ten businesses but delivered no formal responses. Operators cited the financial burden of fitting out the “bare-shell” café space as a key barrier. Council subsequently funded the fit-out itself and returned to market last month with a formal tender for a five-year lease and five-year option.

Only two bids were received by the November deadline. The report said that with such limited participation, combined with what it described as “uncertainty surrounding the Café and Gelato Bar’s financial capacity,” the submissions could not be reliably assessed. The full evaluation, scoring and proposed financial terms have been sealed in a confidential attachment under commercial-in-confidence provisions.

Citing provisions of the Local Government (General) Regulation 2021, staff advised that council decline both bids and “carry out the requirements of the proposed contract itself.” They recommended operating the café and gelato bar directly through the North Sydney Olympic Pool operations team for an initial 12-month period to “establish a clear understanding of its operational performance and commercial value.”

If councillors endorse the proposal, the move will commit council to covering all setup and operating costs for cafe and gelato operations.