The Food Literature Cafe opened its doors on August 3, one day after Ballarat returned to stage three COVID-19 restrictions.

Owner Peter Carr said while it did initially take some of the air out of his sail, he and his staff were committed to continue pushing forward.

"We had planned to open on August 3, which turned out to be one day after the second lockdown was enforced," he said.

"We were ready for a grand opening and to have the community enjoy the space and our food but at the eleventh hour, we were told we couldn't do it.

"It was a bit of a blow, but we still opened in a take-away capacity and want to continue battling through... we're not making anywhere near the amount as we would under normal circumstances but that's just the way it goes."

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Opening a cafe had been on Mr Carr's mind for years, and he was thrilled when it appeared to all be falling into place early in the year.

"I had been thinking about opening a cafe for the past few years, so we were just rapt when we found this space... it's been a long time in the making," he said.

"It was a long process of getting in here and making this space what it is now. We want this to be a welcoming place for all members of the community."

Despite the fact the new business has been impacted financially by the return to lockdown, Mr Carr and his staff have launched an initiative to help raise money for people battling the pandemic on the front line.

Starting on Monday, the cafe began giving away free coffee to its customers in exchange for a gold coin donation, with all the proceeds going directly towards BHS and the BRICC Wellness Centre.

Mr Carr said it was simply something he believed that could help make a difference within the community.

"We just thought we wanted to start off with some sort of charitable initiative, that's just the sort of cafe we want to be, a real community-minded cafe," he continued.

"It didn't take us too much time to mull it over... we came up with the idea last week and wanted to push it hard to help raise some money."

Moving forward, Mr Carr hopes the community will continue to support businesses like his and continue to support each other during the pandemic.

"It's been really well received by the community so far... people are so eager to help out when it comes to the virus," he said.

"Right now, people just want to help in any way they can."

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