Olinda’s Cuckoo Restaurant hits the market amid hopes for a revival of the area’s tourism scene
The home of the former Cuckoo Restaurant in Mt Dandenong is for sale.
Australia’s first ever all-you-can-eat smorgasbord restaurant, the Dandenong Ranges’ Cuckoo Restaurant, has captivated tourists for over six decades but is now looking for a new owner.
The eatery at 508 Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd, Olinda, is for sale with a $4.2m price tag.
Well-known local couple Willi and Karin Koeppen opened the Bavarian-style venue in 1958.
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Willi was one of Australia’s first celebrity chefs, with his own radio and television shows.
In 2022, Karin died aged 87, while her husband disappeared in 1976 after leaving the restaurant in his Kombi van.
The case remains an open investigation with Victoria Police’s Missing Persons division.
The Cuckoo Restaurant was later taken over by the couple’s son Andrei Koeppen.
Willi Koeppen, co-owner of the Cuckoo restaurant.
Former diners might still remember the iconic restaurant’s interiors.
In 2020, the restaurant shut when the Covid pandemic decimated the nation’s tourism industry.
The eatery was bought by a new owner in 2022 but has now been relisted, and it is hoped the next purchaser will take the establishment into a new era.
Bell Real Estate director Elliot Bell said to rebuild the iconic site these days would cost approximately $3.4 to $3.5m in replacement value due to the premises being on an acreage site and double-brick.
Karin Koeppen, wife of missing ‘Cuckoo Restaurant’ owner Willi Koeppen, with daughter Daniela, 11.
Andrei Koeppen took over the restaurant from his parents.
“It would be virtually impossible to build the site again, it is a massive opportunity for one lucky investor,” Mr Bell said.
“There is goodwill in the name alone – there is a pop-up shop there at the moment, it’s not a formal ongoing lease for the whole restaurant, whoever takes it on would run it as a business.
“A big iconic site like this comes up rarely.”
Mr Bell said the restaurant’s tourism appeal was unmatched, comparing the success of Miss Marples Tearoom in Sassafras as a blueprint for what the new owners might expect.
The premise is built in double brick and located on an acreage site.
“Busloads of people go up everyday of the week, the tourism industry up here in the Dandenong Ranges has bounced back after the global pandemic,” he said.
“With 400 parking spaces onsite, I wouldn’t be surprised if the new owners were able to reproduce that with the Cuckoo Restaurant.”
Interest for the property has consisted of a 50/50 split between local and international investors, he added.
Colliers Melbourne East’s James Zhuang said for international buyers, it was all about the tourism appeal.
The site is expected to fetch more than $4.2m when it sells.
“They believe the international tourism can come back, the Victorian government’s research data has shown regarding international tourists around 70 per cent have returned post-pandemic, this is very positive,” he said.
Expression of interest close at 3pm on July 4.
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