Specialising in takeaway sandwiches and quality coffee, Rodeo is set to open on The Parade in early July.

When Izabel Czechowicz and Fraser Monfries, co-owners of upcoming café Rodeo, first met, they were just tiny teens looking to make some pocket money popping popcorn and selling Marvel movie tickets at the Hoyts Norwood cinema.

Ten years down the track, after an established working relationship and some friendship on the side, the pair has decided to open Rodeo Food and Beverage on The Parade in Norwood.

Rodeo will be a speciality sando and coffee store, and will reflect Izzy’s history as a pastry maker and Fraser’s skillsets as a coffee roaster and owner of Pogo.

“Rodeo is sort of the combination of those skill sets. It’s quite a contemporary brand, I think we want to execute it to be a little bit quirky and fun,” Fraser says.

“We’re starting off with sandwiches, specialty coffee and a few baked goods, but it [gives] us the opportunity to really expand to heaps of other areas as well.”

The menu will include some familiar favourites with a Rodeo flair, designed to be distributed for takeaway though their service window.

Izzy is purposefully holding her cards close to her chest, as she wants to leave Rodeo’s future patrons with anticipation as to what to expect food-wise. But she does give CityMag some hints.

“We’ll have a Rodeo Rueben. I feel like it’s important to have those classics,” she says.

“Maybe there’s a fried chicken element that’s coming, porchetta, and [with] menu items as well, I feel like we really want to have our own… brand.”

Rather than fight the rise of the almighty sando, Izzy says Rodeo will be along for the ride.

“What’s so great about sandwich shops is that none of them offer the same thing, so I’m really excited to have our twist on the classics — have our own little brain babies,” Izzy says.

“I feel like sandwiches are… a blank canvas. You can really inject your own creativity into it all.”

What once was

The average brunch punter consistently shows there is a desperate want for smashed avo, so Rodeo will include this on the breakfast menu, alongside homemade granola and a list of brekky sandwiches.

“We don’t want to be pigeonholed as another deli sandwich shop, we sort of want to be positioned to be a bit broader than that,” Fraser says. “We [want to] leave the door open to branch out into other areas.”

The Rodeo pair says a lack of quality takeaway eateries in Norwood encouraged them to set up shop. The district also has heavy foot traffic as a popular thoroughfare between the east side and the CBD.

“I feel like contemporary takeaway places [are] kind of lacking on The Parade,” Izzy says.

“There’s no sandwich shops here, and I’m really excited to bring that element to The Parade as well.”

Although Rodeo will only have a handful of indoor seats, the interior will reflect the nature of the business’s not-so-serious attitude to food.

There will also be a wall dedicated to local artists.

“It’s really, really exciting to bring [the artists’] personality in it as well, because we want it to be a community [and] a fun place,” Izzy says.

There is work to be done

The Norwood locale holds a special place in both Izzy and Fraser’s heart, having grown up in the area and spent days walking down The Parade looking for places to shop.

Due to this, the duo wants to continue their community ties with the 5067 area, and grow Rodeo amongst it.

“It was really exciting to find a site in the area [where] we grew up, [and] have experienced through our life, and to be able to contribute to The Parade and be a part of that was pretty exciting too,” Fraser says.

“My grandparents had a shop on The Parade, Ward’s shoe store, for ages,” Izzy says.

“So I feel like it’s home for us, and I feel like that’s what I really want Rodeo to be — another home for us and also the community that we’re going to build.”

Rodeo is located at 224 The Parade, Norwood and is slated to open in early July. Its opening hours will be 6am ’til the late arvo, seven days a week.

Connect with the business on Instagram to follow the opening process.