{"id":16169,"date":"2026-05-22T00:36:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T00:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/16169\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T00:36:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T00:36:22","slug":"bitter-legal-feud-costs-perth-cafe-side-piece-deli-over-150k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/16169\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitter legal feud costs Perth cafe Side Piece Deli over $150k"},"content":{"rendered":"

A popular small business has been fighting to keep its doors open amid a bitter neighbourhood feud that\u2019s left the owner more than $150,000 out of pocket.<\/p>\n

Sam Kaye, who opened the popular Side Piece Deli in the affluent Perth suburb of Swanbourne last August, has been slapped with crippling legal fees just to defend his right to operate.<\/p>\n

It follows months of intense clashes between the bustling eatery and a group of disgruntled locals who want the business shut down over concerns regarding increased traffic, footpaths, odours, and noise.<\/p>\n

The saga has now escalated to the Supreme Court, after one resident launched formal legal action against the Town of Claremont council over its approval of the deli.<\/p>\n

Mr Kaye was advised to join the dispute ahead of its first hearing on June 19 to provide the council with legal support and protect his livelihood.<\/p>\n

The council told news.com.au it is standing its ground against the legal challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Town of Claremont\u2019s position is that the development approvals granted to the business trading as Side Piece Deli are valid and the Town will be maintaining this position in any legal matters,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Speaking to news.com.au, Mr Kaye said the ordeal has taken a massive financial and emotional toll.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very emotional and exhausting, not just for myself, but also for my staff,\u201d Mr Kaye said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result of the court battle, they\u2019re feeling this impending threat of losing their jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re probably spending anywhere from $150,000 upwards on legal fees to protect our business, which, at the end of the day, we opened with all the approvals.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that money, we can no longer invest it back into our staff and training.\u201d <\/p>\n

He said the timing couldn\u2019t be worse for a small business currently navigating the nationwide cost of living crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cFuel prices, labour prices, and stock prices have all gone up, and profitability of all small businesses has gone down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that\u2019s definitely added to the additional pressures of dealing with the neighbours, and it\u2019s just so unfortunate that it\u2019s gone down this way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cafe\u2019s fight for survival<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court escalation follows a string of heated local incidents, including a dispute several months ago where police were called to de-escalate after a resident was allegedly yelling at customers through a megaphone.<\/p>\n

News.com.au reached out to local police to confirm the incident, but didn\u2019t receive a response. <\/p>\n

In publicly available council minutes from earlier this year<\/a>, one resident also raised an issue regarding \u201cnoxious odours\u201d coming from the Shenton Road deli.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can residents have any confidence in the Town\u2019s ability to solve this?\u201d they asked the council.<\/p>\n

In the same meeting, another resident called the council approvals for the site a \u201cmess that has been inflicted upon Swanbourne residents\u201d.<\/p>\n

In an attempt to appease the locals, Mr Kaye recently installed a new exhaust system and sound monitoring devices to ensure the venue remains strictly under noise limits.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven now, we\u2019re continuously putting a lot of measures into resolving any issues as quickly as possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He noted the upgrades have only amplified his financial burden, with tens of thousands of additional dollars being spent on the mitigation measures.<\/p>\n

\u2018Bringing people together\u2019<\/p>\n

Despite the ongoing complaints regarding traffic and noise, Mr Kaye pointed out there has been some form of hospitality business operating in the same location since the 1920s, including a successful French patisserie prior to his establishment.<\/p>\n

He argues the deli hasn\u2019t added much disruption to the already busy street, which sees high foot traffic due to nearby schools and ongoing residential renovations.<\/p>\n

The young entrepreneur \u2014 who operates three other highly successful venues in Perth\u2019s west \u2014 said his primary goal is to provide an inviting space for the community to eat and connect.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a shame because bringing people together in these shared spaces is what makes these communities come to life,\u201d Mr Kaye said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, 99 per cent of people love what we\u2019re doing, it\u2019s just this one per cent of people who are extremely vocal against the business.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll we\u2019re trying to do is create joyful spaces for the community come together and share a meal, and I think that\u2019s the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A popular small business has been fighting to keep its doors open amid a bitter neighbourhood feud that\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[16083,23,133,12869,16061,943,2038,16062,8625,16076,11571,16081,16067,16070,2627,16080,16072,16063,16082,16069,9779,16066,16079,16071,120,16064,16077,335,16078,16065,16073,16068,8961,16074,16075,353,4382],"class_list":["post-16169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-perth","tag-affluent-western-suburb","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-business-owner","tag-business-shut","tag-cafe-owner","tag-capital-gains-tax","tag-community-housing-support","tag-cost-of-living-crisis","tag-council-approvals","tag-council-minutes","tag-desperate-fight","tag-electric-vehicle-tax","tag-exhaust-system","tag-fuel-prices","tag-hospitality-business-operating","tag-instant-asset-write-offs","tag-kerry-wells","tag-legal-fees","tag-legal-feud-costs","tag-naomi-kaplan","tag-neighbour-feud","tag-neighbourhood-feud","tag-noise-limits","tag-oceania","tag-people-love","tag-permanent-instant-asset","tag-perth","tag-perth-cafe-side-piece-deli","tag-resident-yelling","tag-sam-kaye","tag-sound-monitoring-devices","tag-supreme-court","tag-tax-offset","tag-vehicle-tax-breaks","tag-western-australia","tag-young-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}