Skipper’s Brew owners Shari Rubino and Karen Pike are taking on a new endeavor: an Australian-style cafe close to downtown San Luis Obispo. Scheduled to open in early 2024, The Platypus will offer a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community, with an assortment of coffee and international cuisine.
“Obviously we are a queer safe space, but it’s meant for everybody to be themselves and be safe no matter who you identify as,” Pike said. “It’s about having a space where everyone — families with little kids, queer youth, everyone — can just gather and feel safe.”
The Australian-style cafe is built to allow customers to enjoy coffee and food during the day and socialize over a beer at night. According to Pike, The Platypus’ quaint, homey feel is fitting for being a neighborhood cafe, much like the ones Pike speaks fondly of from her home country of Australia.
Customers can expect Australian-focused pastries with local ingredients and specialty espresso sourced from family-owned Australian roasting company Vittoria.
“It is amazing if you like true Italian-style darker roasted espresso that’s not bitter,” Pike said. “It usually has chocolatey notes to it.”
The Platypus’ flavor profiles will differ substantially from Skipper’s, honing in on the Australian flavor pallet, which includes macadamia nut, butterscotch, Turkish delight and eucalyptus rose.
Although the couple is well known in the local community for coffee, Rubino and Pike said expanding to alcoholic beverages was always their intention when looking to start a business together.
“For all different reasons, it didn’t work out that way in the beginning,” Pike said. “So we were like, ‘Let’s start with coffee and then maybe down the road introduce beer and wine.’”
The previous owners of the location shut down their business, The Giant Grinder, in July and reached out to Pike and Rubino, providing the couple with an opportunity to honor their original concept.
To make this new location a welcoming space for all, Rubino and Pike plan to offer a wide variety of menu items, including creative non-alcoholic drinks.
“We want to honor the sober community that wants to go out with their friends and offer both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, and give everyone a great, fun vibe to hang out in without any of the issues of being at a bar,” Rubino said.
Rubino noted that while food on the menu may be limited during the first few opening days, coffee and other beverages will be up and running.
“Obviously there’s going to be some learning curves, but there’s going to be some crazy fun energy,” Rubino said.
Looking toward the future, Rubino and Pike said they want to host acoustic music on weekends, intimate drag shows, drag brunches and other activities to bring people together.
“We are excited to have a space that will allow us to operate longer hours and do all that kind of fun stuff,” Rubino said.
Gala Pride and Diversity Center’s content curator Lola White-Sanborn said it’s important for SLO to have a designated safe space for queer people. White-Sanborn said that while Gala is a safe space and resource for the queer community to vent and discuss hard topics, it is also valuable to have places to simply have fun.
“Ultimately, any time we get a place for queer joy it’s a big deal,” she said. “I think having a space that is focused on queer people having a good time is going to help make it so that the community can be built without it necessarily needing to focus on our trauma.”
White-Sanborn said a lot of San Luis Obispo’s nightlife is based around bars and drinking, which can alienate those who are looking for social spaces that do not involve alcohol.
“The cafe helps give a space for people who are maybe interested in the culture but not necessarily interested in drinking,” she said. “When you’re dealing with a vulnerable population, there are a lot of negative coping mechanisms a person can gain. The fact that [alcohol] isn’t all they’re serving is a good sign for making sure this place remains a space that is positive for people.”
Rubino and Pike said they place importance on making The Platypus an all-ages space, providing room for queer youth to socialize and be themselves.
“It cannot be overstated that for as many good intentions as there are in this area, the queer community is very, very at risk here,” White-Sanborn said. “So any time that we can find a new place for us to congregate and have a bit more control over who else is coming in and not allowing bigotry, I cannot express how important that is.”
More information on The Platypus, including current hours of operation and menu items, can be found on Instagram, @platypuscafeslo.
The Platypus is testing recipes and finalizing store details during its soft open, according to Instagram. | Mia Craig
