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The Lindt & Sprüngli café in Sydney’s Martin Place, which was besieged by a gunman late last year with tragic consequences, has officially reopened its doors.
A permanent memorial to café manager Tori Johnson and barrister and mother Katrina Dawson was today unveiled by NSW Premier Mike Baird as the café marked its official reopening to the public.
Two gold plaques, one for each of them are engraved on the wall in memory of the two victims.
The plaques read: “Tori Johnson, Forever in Our Hearts” and “Katrina Dawson, An Inspiration”.
In defiance of fear or adversity, café worker Joel Herat, who was there on the tragic day the café was besieged and Katrina and Tori were killed, has today returned to work to assist the business as it reopens.
The plaques for Katrina and Tori were unveiled on the walls as a permanent memorial to the victims.
Premier Mike Baird said he can’t imagine what it would be look for Sydney siege hostage Joel as Lindt cafe reopens, but that he was very proud of Joel, and the café for returning.
“It’s important for me to come back and put the apron on again,” Joel told reporters as he returned to work today.
“I just love working here, I love the people here, and also in the memory of Tori as well,” Joel said.
A defiant Joel Herat came back with a smile on his face today.
“I wanted to come back here and support the staff and the company.”
“It’s more of a psychological thing. Working with these people here has helped a lot in the healing process.
“It will be good to be amongst it again, serving customers to the best of our abilities.”
Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson, the victims of the tragic shooting.
Lindt Australia CEO Steve Loane said the business consulted widely with staff before going ahead with the reopening and that he was looking at the reopening as a “happy day,” with counsellors on site for staff, if needed.
In a message on the company’s Facebook page last week, Steve posted the following:
“We feel that reopening the Café to the public and moving forward positively is the right thing to do. After the tragic events that happened in December we discussed this reopening with our staff and gave a lot of thought to next steps. Overwhelmingly, the feeling was that reopening and moving forward is the best thing to do for everyone affected.”
Steve said today at the reopening: “That sadness doesn’t go away but today is like a fresh start for a lot of us and, really, to get customers back in our store and see people smiling, and that’s what we’re about, is probably a fresh start for us.”
The interior of the Lindt cafe as preparations were underway on the morning of the reopening.
