From a CBD bush-tucker café to Green Ant Gin and native superfoods, these local businesses are blending culture, community and seriously good food.
It’s lunchtime in Adelaide’s West End, and Block Ya Dot is buzzing. The café’s warm, beautifully-designed space invites people to settle in for a yarn over bush tucker favourites like kangaroo sausage rolls, lemon myrtle meringue and Kakadu plum cake.
For proud Noongar woman and owner Vicki Thomas, Block Ya Dot brings together everything she’s poured into food over the years – family, culture and community.
From catering to café
Before Block Ya Dot, Vicki’s food was already in demand. For years, she cooked for government departments and community groups, fitting jobs around her work in early childhood education and raising her family.
“Food was always in my blood,” she says. “My dad was a chef, my brother too. I just started doing little catering jobs, and then it grew from there.”
In 2019, she decided to begin catering full time – and give the business a new name. Sitting around with family friend “Uncle” Ernie Dingo, the idea landed.
“He goes, ‘Why don’t you call it Block Ya Dot?’ We laughed so hard,” Vicki remembers. “It means you’re so full you can’t squeeze in another bite – and it stuck.”
And while the café now has a permanent home at 69-71 Light Square, the catering side hasn’t gone anywhere. “We’ve kept it going alongside the café,” Vicki says. “It’s how we started and it’s still a big part of what we do.”
Since opening in late June, demand has been so strong they’ve already extended their café hours – adding Saturday breakfasts (7:30am-12pm) to their original Monday to Friday, 8am-4pm schedule.
A safe space for community
Block Ya Dot isn’t just a place to grab lunch – it’s a place to feel at home. Customers linger over coffee, hold meetings at the tables, or stick around for a chat.
Vicki says it’s “a space for community, where everyone – no matter who they are – can enjoy it.”
This is especially important for First Nations people. “Indigenous customers often tell us they feel really comfortable here,” Maddison (Maddi) Ingram, a proud Noongar Yamatji woman and Vicki’s daughter, says. “It’s a space they can sit in and feel at ease.”
It’s also a family affair spanning multiple generations. Maddi runs the café alongside her mum, her brother helps out behind the counter, and there’s even a five-month-old “junior recruit” – Maddi’s daughter, Magdalene – often spotted charming customers between naps.
“She’s already part of the café,” Vicki says. “Maybe one day she’ll be part of the business too.”
Backed by The Circle
Block Ya Dot’s café was opened this year in a rent-free space provided through a partnership between Renew Adelaide and The Circle – First Nations Entrepreneur Hub, with support from Housing Choices SA.
The Circle – based at innovation district Lot Fourteen – was set up in 2021 as a partnership between the South Australian and Australian Governments. Its role is to back Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrepreneurs with tailored business development support services, access to new markets and a culturally safe place to connect and grow.
For Vicki, that support has been crucial. “They gave me an awesome support worker – she’s been there through my highs and lows,” she says. “Sometimes you just need someone in your corner. I’ve cried on her shoulder, they’re still there. They really do listen.”
On 14 October, Block Ya Dot will be one of more than 100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses on show at The Circle’s First Nations Business Showcase, held at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.
Four more First Nations food businesses to try
Block Ya Dot isn’t the only taste sensation that’s a member of The Circle. Here are four more local businesses serving up culture and creativity through food:
Something Wild
Run by AFL great Daniel Motlop, Something Wild is a pioneer in native foods and game meats. On their website, you’ll find everything from crocodile spring rolls and kangaroo sausages to saltbush dukkah, quandong hot sauce and bush tomato. They even create and sell Green Ant Gin and Native Yam Vodka under their award-winning Seven Seasons Spirits label. And it’s not just retail – Something Wild also supplies top restaurants and businesses across Australia, putting native ingredients on menus from Adelaide to the world.
Dragonfly Springwater
Proud Larrakia woman Charmaine Richards bottles pristine spring water from her Adelaide Hills property under the Dragonfly Springwater brand. The brand is 100 per cent Aboriginal-owned and celebrates the deep cultural connection First Nations people have with water. Dragonfly Springwater is available online and through local stockists, making it easy to support a South Australian business that keeps sustainability at its core.
Howler Monkey Catering
Based in Mount Barker, Howler Monkey Catering is a boutique start-up offering a carefully crafted meal each month – available in meat or vegetarian versions – which customers pre-order and pick up fresh on the day. Owner Jacob Pierce, a proud Kaurna and Nurrunga man, cooks with fresh, local ingredients and a low-waste philosophy. Only 20 serves are made each month, so they sell out fast. A percentage of profits goes to youth cancer charity Canteen, meaning every order supports something bigger.
Kaiyu Superfoods
From wattleseed powder to freeze-dried Kakadu plum, Kaiyu Superfoods transforms native botanicals into protein blends, teas and superfood mixes. Their products are sourced from Indigenous growers, with a focus on nutrition, sustainability and ensuring First Nations communities share in the value chain. Their range is available at Woolworths and online.
Why the Showcase matters
The Circle’s First Nations Business Showcase is South Australia’s biggest event of its kind. Last year more than 100 businesses took part. This year, even more will be filling the Adelaide Entertainment Centre with everything from native food to skincare, tech and art.
It’s a chance for SA business owners of all sizes to see just how diverse and dynamic the First Nations business sector is – and how to buy direct from the people behind it. As the First Nations Business Showcase organisers say, it’s about visibility, opportunity and community.
And for café owners like Vicki and Maddi, it’s a chance to share their story. “Last year we were just opening the café, so it was all new,” Maddi says. “This year we get to show people what we’ve built – it’s great exposure.”
The First Nations Business Showcase 2025 runs 10am-2:30pm, Tuesday 14 October, at The Arena, Adelaide Entertainment Centre. It’s free to attend, but you do need to register in advance here.
