Being able to buy a ready-to-eat cheeseburger, or tuck into favourite Bermuda comfort food like macaroni and cheese or a fish sandwich, has been near impossible for the residents of Hamilton Parish — until now.

Colleen Bean has been well aware of the gap in the market and that's why she has opened up her new venture, BeanZ Cafe, on The Crawl, a simple cafe that dishes up a short-order menu of tried-and-trusted Bermuda favourites.

She set herself up in business by saving pay cheques from her previous employment until she had enough to bid to run the cafe concession.

Little more than two weeks since opening for business, next door to the Hamilton Parish Workman's Club, off North Shore Road, trade looks good.

"I've lived in Hamilton Parish all my life and I know you could never get a hamburger or find any Bermudian food. Sometimes people just want to have a fry or a cheeseburger," she explained, as she prepared take-away food for a group of mid-morning customers. Fries, burgers, peas, fish sandwiches, nuggets — these are the staples that make up the BeanZ Cafe menu board.

Bacon and cheese burgers, macaroni and cheese, peas 'n' rice and the fish sandwiches are amongst the most popular orders.

Ms Bean said: "The schools want nuggets for their summer camps but they can't find them anywhere in Hamilton Parish."

By her own admission she is in her "duck feet" spell, finding her way as a business operator and learning what works and what doesn't.

Before opening BeanZ Cafe she was a cashier with HWP. Her ultimate ambition is to open and run her own "men-only" hair salon.

"This is a stepping stone. It is my first cafe and the first time I've run my own business."

Her mother Jean Bean was short-order cook at the Southside Baselands and sometimes as a little girl she would help her mother by fetching items from the freezer room at the base kitchen. A picture of the late Mrs. Bean is hung on the wall of the cafe.

"I always wanted to own my own business. This is for her," said Ms Bean, who while at church felt a burning drive to take the step into business and put her pay cheque savings from her day job to good use.

For the moment she is ploughing income generated by the cafe back into the business to build it up.

The BeanZ Cafe is open most days from 10 a.m. until late, although Ms Bean saves Sundays as her religious day off.