Little Alice first opened to the community in 2022 by owners of the building Carmen and Charlie Moreing who saw a need to add something new and unique to the town.

Originally dubbed the Galleria the layout featured a fully fledged cafe, alongside a restaurant and bar with all outdoor seating under a decadent covered arcade and it was this that attracted the new owners when it went up for lease.

Co-owner Jared Novak said the idea to take up the lease had come about when he and his friends Gina Tamoa and Nick Wakely were jokingly talking of starting up their own place together one night.

"Gina said 'well it's funny you should say that because I've seen this place in Merimbula', and she told us about Little Alice which she'd seen was up for lease," he said.

"From that point on we all became a bit more serious about the joke and came to check the place out and so here we are in the end."

The trio will be pairing up their different skill sets from Mr Wakely's 15 years of being a chef, Ms Tamoa's skills in social media marketing and Mr Novak's decade of experience in various roles within the hospitality industry.

Mr Novak said when he drove down to the area from Central NSW to take a look at the area, he instantly fell in love with the town.

"I've lived in a lot of tourist towns before and for me this was the kind of vibe I was looking for," he said.

Prior to opening up the three of them spent six to eight weeks in town, scoping the town, dining out in several places to get a feel of what was already on offer in the area.

"We were trying to figure out what the town didn't have, needed and wanted and that's the gaps that we're trying to fill in," Mr Novak said.

"We don't want to try and compete with everyone here, we're just trying to do our own little thing and give everyone a new and different vibe."

Some of those changes included a new menu put together by co-owner and chef Nick Wakely incorporating some speciality seafood rolls and salads, along with tasty cocktails carefully crafted by Mr Novak after spending more than a decade in the industry.

"We want to bring a little bit of that city life to Merimbula, introducing things like bottomless brunches, longer opening times and so on," he said.

Keeping with the city experience Mr Novak said they'd be serving food until past 3pm, with coffees also being available into the mid afternoon.

"Come two o'clock there's nowhere to get food here, so that's what I mean when I say we're bringing that city vibe, we're going to try and bring a bit more life and something a bit different," he said.

"I used to run a business in North Queensland where we brought in a lot of touring artists as well and that's something we'd like to do here, but at the moment we're mostly just gauging what everyone wants and trying to offer that."

Mr Novak said he and his friends had mostly kept the entire layout and decor of the venue the same as previous owners, with future additions to the space including outdoor heaters which will be introduced in the colder months.

"We want to have it be inviting during winter as well and give the locals somewhere to go because from what I've been told, most places close during that time," he said.

Mr Novak said they appreciated the support they'd had from the community since opening in October 2023, with locals coming in to wish them well and people showing an interest for their ideas and new menu.

"Everyone's been super friendly and happy to have a chat and no one's been scared to tell us their opinions and what they like and don't like, which is what you want from a community because if no one tells you, you don't know," he said.