Businesses are at the heart of a revival in Ballarat East and the newest addition will soon be added to the lineup.
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The Forge is expanding to an extra venue at 200 Victoria Street next to the new Ryan's IGA, part of the former Ballarat Orphanage site.
The Forge director Tim Matthews said they were looking to grow in the takeaway market and noticed a number of customers in the area.
"It is harder to get to the other end of town and Armstrong Street is notoriously difficult for parking," he said.
They are not alone in recognising the shift to the Ballarat East market.
As one of Ballarat's older and more established suburbs, the area is rich in history.
While there has been a number of discussions about Ballarat growth areas to the west and north, the east has flown under the radar for a while.
Ryan's IGA has been in the process of moving into the space since planning applications were lodged with the City of Ballarat in April 2018.
The Queens Head has reopened and Meaghers Hotel, which hasn't been a pub since the '90s, is seeking council permission to return to Victoria Street.
"We are really excited about the new expansion and we are just happy the community of Ballarat are embracing our pizzas," Mr Matthews said.
The 2021 census shows the Ballarat East neighbourhood hit 5937 people, up from 5623 people in 2016. There are also more families, from 1323 to 1428, while in schools, student numbers have also been slowly increasing.
Mr Matthews said this could be the first of a few new ventures in the pipeline for the new year.
"There is lots of room in the Ballarat market pizzeria wise so we're hoping to continue to grow that," he said.
He was hoping they will be open in a few weeks once their final council documents are approved.
While the expansion is an exciting new move for the business, the hospitality industry is continuing to face staff shortages.
"Staffing is always going to be a challenge, we're not out of that crisis yet," Mr Matthews said.
He said it was a problem that they are constantly trying to navigate which presents different challenges each day.
"We have to just keep working through that," Mr Matthews said.
"Sometimes you feel like you have enough staff and then other days you feel like you haven't."
So far the brand has been resilient over the last few years, Mr Matthews said.
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"We probably would have done things sooner if we had the opportunity with staffing," he said.
"But we've just got a lot of balance, growth and staffing at the same time."
Despite the challenges Mr Matthrews said their focus right now was all about the pizza.
"That will be our focus moving forward."
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