Old Butter Factory Cafe, Bellingen

The Old Butter Factory Cafe is a beautiful space serving delicious breakfast, lunch and afternoon teas daily from 8 am to 4.30 pm in picturesque surroundings overlooking the Golf Course.

The high ceilings and original concrete beams gives the Old Butter Factory Cafe a large, light and airy feel. A spacious verandah permits outdoor dining, overlooking the green lawns of the Bellingen Golf Course and further onto the mountains of the Dorrigo escarpment.

The smell of frying bacon and eggs or sweet pancake with fresh blueberries could entice you to a scrumptious breakfast. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee with baked scones or a selection of home-made cakes and tortes are temptations for morning and afternoon teas.

The Old Butter Factory is a delightful venue for functions, weddings, parties and other group bookings, and Ray and Pia are highly experienced event organisers with considerable flair and attention to detail.

There is no better outlook than the view across the beautiful Bellingen golf course to the Dorrigo hills from the café forecourt, and they look forward to welcoming friends and visitors to join them for ‘sundowners’.

The Old Butter Factory Cafe, Bellingen is the perfect venue in #Bellingen for your wedding, party or special event.

After coming to Australia in the late 1960's as a professional soccer player, Ray Seaword initially worked in the Travel Industry with British Airways and Thomas Cook Travel as a sports and entertainment marketing officer. He then teamed up with a new force in live event production, Grundy Television, to produce the Australian BMW 3 Series launch.

After 5 years as a conference producer with Grundy's, the company diversified its interest away from live events into movie merchandising, and Ray left to create ‘Centre Stage Productions’.

Since then, he has written, designed and produced an amazing array of live events. These include the visit to Australia of Pope John Paul II which included a Mass for 250,000 people, half time on-ground entertainment at the SCG for the Sydney Swans for ten seasons, and he was designer and outside broadcast director on the 1984 Channel 10 Telethon which went live to countless networks around the world and raised $8 million to send Australian athletes to the Los Angeles Olympics. He has also produced countless corporate events for a wide cross section of international clients all over Australia, across Asia and around the world.

Ray has won awards for his video programs, exhibition design and event production, and has been twice awarded the prestigious Rotary International Paul Harris Fellowship award. He received an Honorary Life Membership of the Australian Live Entertainment Industry in recognition of his major contributions to the ongoing promotion of Australian talent, and has directed The Rock Eisteddfod, the Mo Awards, and concerts at the Opera House.

Pia Etteldorf is a native of Trier in Germany, and has a Diploma in Commercial Translating in English and French. Pia's background in major hotel operations is second to none.

After formal training in Germany and Switzerland, Pia moved to Belgium where she took up a position as Restaurant Manager at the EEC Headquarters, before managing the exclusive Fredericks Boutique Hotel in Maidenhead England, and a 60 room golf resort hotel in Killarney Ireland.

In 1991 she moved to Australia after being offered a position at Burswood Resort Casino in Perth, which gave her the opportunity to manage Australia's largest dinner under one roof - 6,500 guests at the International Golden Oldies Rugby Festival held in the Burswood Superdome.

Pia then moved to the Regent Hotel in Sydney as Conference and Banqueting Manager responsible for overseeing a very hectic conference and staff training schedule, before being promoted to Assistant Director of Catering.

In 1996, Pia joined Centre Stage Productions, taking over all pre-production and on-site operations for the company, and since then has been responsible for major events in Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand and a number of travelling product launches around Australia for major multinational clients.

In 1999 Pia Etteldorf and Ray Seaword successfully won a nationwide tender, to operate and market the 5,500 seat Tamworth Regional entertainment Centre, where she also successfully trained 250 local people to be banquet and operations staff.

In 2003 Pia and Ray bought the Old Butter Factory Arts and Craft complex in Bellingen, and have been working hard to develop and restore this iconic landmark to what it is today – your ideal wedding, party and event destination.