Brisbane's Early Morning Economy Thrives, Outpacing Other Australian Cities

It's just after 5:30am and the sun is yet to rise as Terrance Watson sits at the edge of the Brisbane River with a coffee in hand.

It's where he starts his morning about five days a week, often with his bike parked nearby.

"It gives me time to plan what I am doing in the quietness," he says.

He meets a group of four others for coffee, including Andrew Warnes, who arrives about half an hour later.

His order, a decaf extra hot flat white on oat milk, is made without him having to say a word.

But the daily habit is as much about the coffee as the people he chats to while drinking it.

"To me, it is all about community," Mr Warnes says.

That includes Garry Ziser and Deborah Knappick who sit facing the river. They meet at 5am and walk 5 kilometres, before stopping for coffee.

"It is just a good thing to do," Mr Ziser says. "I think if you don't do it first thing in the morning, you don't do it, and you need a walking partner."

Ms Knappick jokes that the coffee stop is "essentially the only reason we do it".

Back beside the river, Julie Newton sits with her dog, Yuki, on her lap.

"What I love is seeing everyone else out and about," she says. "I joke with my friends that half of my day is done by 6:30am."

The cafe in Brisbane's South Bank is busiest from 5:30am to 8:30am, according to owner Deniz Sener.

He says they serve about 150 coffees during a decent morning rush.

Mr Sener's cafe is among the 13 per cent of Brisbane food and drink businesses that are open between 5am and 6am, according to analysis by University of Melbourne research fellow Anna Edwards.

Between 6am and 7am, the number of venues open jumps to 32 per cent; by 8am, around half are serving customers.

Dr Edwards says the river city, and Australia more generally, has a "distinctive strength" when it comes to early morning trading.

"And I think we should be promoting and letting people know about it," she says.

Dr Edwards has found the amount of money Australians spend on their cards between 5am and 11am is very similar to that spent between 7pm and midnight.

"That evening spend is concentrated on restaurants and dining, whereas that morning spend is on the likes of retail as well as restaurants and dining."

Brisbane and Perth are Australia's earliest rising cities; 30 per cent of food and drink venues open between 6am and 7am.

Dr Edwards says while the climate is likely a factor behind the early start in Brisbane, in Perth the time difference with the east coast may play a role.

The portion of food and drink venues open by 7am drops to 19 per cent in Sydney, to 16 per cent in Melbourne and further to 15 per cent in both Canberra and Hobart.

"We know that Australians are among the earliest risers globally and that shows up in how early our cafes and services open," Dr Edwards says.

When it comes to early morning trading, Dr Edwards says it is also important to take into account those who are hitting the gym and working, with about 900,000 Australians on the clock between midnight and 6am.

Historically, she has researched the night-time and 24- hour economy, but her focus expanded after reading a social media post by Sydney investor Ivan Power on his observations of Sydney's "morning economy".

Mr Power says when he was at Bondi Beach one morning, he noticed that almost all outdoor seats at the cafes were full by 6:30am.

"I was sitting there thinking this is incredible, the economy in the morning," he says.

He believes it presents a huge economic opportunity, with an extra incentive for investment in outdoor spaces and a point of difference for tourists.

"They are not only flabbergasted by it, they are addicted to it," he says.

Looking overseas, in London's Soho district, 9 per cent of food and drink venues are open between 6am and 7am, according to Dr Edwards's analysis.

In Downtown Dubai, 9 per cent are open between 6am and 7am and it isn't until 9am to 10am that 32 per cent of food and drink businesses are open — the same proportion that are open by 7am in Brisbane and Perth.

From a global perspective, the data is based on 7,830 food and drink businesses across 20 dining precincts.

'Better data' needed to unlock potential

Mr Power says it's about embracing opportunities to catch up beyond the typical pub scene.

"You can go to a breakfast meeting and cut deals over breakfast," he says.

Dr Edwards says there is a lot to learn, and it starts with thinking about the economy and social activities by time of day.

"In the past, we had these fixed routines of 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, and post-pandemic things have shifted,"

"Now it is opening up new opportunities for us to think about what time of day we are socialising, what time of day we are working, and we need to collect better data about that."

She says it is also important to note any barriers businesses face to trading early, having come across an owner with a liquor licence who found it difficult to navigate opening at 7am to sell coffee.

"Nightlife is so important to our cities and to Australia, but perhaps we should be thinking what are the opportunities for social activity in those early hours," she says.

While commercial activity is key, Dr Edwards says it is also important to think about ways to improve social cohesion and bring people together.

In Queensland, Powderfinger bassist John Collins has been appointed as the state's night-life economy commissioner in 2024 for a three-year term to support and promote the sector.

As Brisbane prepares to host the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Business Chamber Queensland chief executive Heidi Cooper says allowing businesses to take advantage of every opportunity was key.

"We know that Brisbane is an early morning city, but it is also a really vibrant city at night-time as well,"

"What we see businesses doing is looking at their business model and how it is that they are operating so they can take advantage of that."

Ms Cooper says to become a world-class city with opportunities for customers at different times, ensuring businesses could meet the demand was critical.

"If we don't properly address the issues around being able to run a business, it will almost be to no avail,"

"The challenge that businesses are experiencing is that it is really tough to run a business, costs keep increasing, productivity keeps reducing, and profitability just isn't there."