Weekender, March 27, 2021

SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 2021 CAFE CULTURE Robert Harris’ fi rst owners David An era ended quietly in Gisborne last week when Robert Harris in Treble Court closed and Liz Brown opened the café on October 6, 1986. its doors. It was one of the four original Robert Harris coff ee shops purpose- built File photo around New Zealand in the 1980s. Sophie Rishworth spoke to the fi rst and last owners, and revisited the changing hospitality scene in between. losing the doors of the coff ee shop Harris in Treble Court. It was well overdue who came in — I will dearly miss that and I Gisborne shop was one of the four New last week was very sad, and very for a $100,000 refurbishment, and since thoroughly enjoyed my time here. Zealand originals purpose-built as a café. Chard, said Robert Harris owner Covid-19, business had been slower. “It wasn’t something I wanted to do but David and Liz opened on October 6, 1986. Nikki Wright. Nikki knew she either had to spend the had to do. Sometimes these things have to at fi rst day they sold 495 cups of fi lter Nikki employed six staff , customers had money or close the doors. happen and we move on,” coff ee, and one cappuccino to a woman who become more like friends, and it was not an “I loved making coff ee, loved the food side ese days Treble Court has less foot traffi c admitted she’d lived overseas for a while, said easy decision to make. and really loved the customers too. but Robert Harris’ fi rst owners David and David. For 12 and a half years Nikki owned Robert “ ey were an awesome group of people Liz Brown remember the early days. e Continued on page 2 We raise funds from donations and legacies We invest funds retaining the capital and generating income We use income from investments to provide grants for local charities and organisations The Sunrise If you would like more information on how you can make a difference Foundation call Glenda on 06 867 7939 or [email protected]. www.sunrisefoundation.org.nz 36618-03 2 THE GISBORNE HERALD LEAD Anna Thorpe opened Villaggio at Labour Weekend in 1992. File photo 1990s the heyday of Gisborne café scene From page 1 The following year things picked up as commercial, to create Cafe Villaggio. from Italy, and the coffee was usually “We even had some who just wanted Treble Court became a bustling mall full of It was quite a new concept at the time ground, or from Altura, one of the first Nescafe.” shops, and in 1989 the turnover increased. and came with “a lot of reluctance” from the roasters here in New Zealand.” Filter coffee was $1 and a cappuccino “We still had locals coming in who just neighbourhood. Then came the next wave of cafés into was $1.50. The second cup of filter coffee wanted the ordinary stuff. We kept the filter The cafe opened at Labour Weekend in Gisborne with Verve and Scrumples, which was free, and David remembered Richard coffee going for them but finally ditched it in 1992. A flat white was $2.50. became Megabyte then Zest. The Wharf Brooking once drank six cups in two hours, early 1990.” Initially the business only opened Cafe was bought in 1999 by Llewellyn which was a record. David said by then they had gone from a from 9am to 5pm, and they had to prove Williams, Jon Talmage and Ian Smail. To put into context how new the cafe single-head cappuccino machine to a triple themselves to the wider neighbourhood, It was a dream come true for the three concept was back then, an advertisement in head, and had six staff just on the front says Anna, who owned Villaggio for five of them back then, said Llewellyn. She The Gisborne Herald to promote its opening counter at busy lunchtimes. years. had spent six years at Cafe Villaggio as the came with a few tips about the microwave The heyday of the Gisborne café scene “I was 27 — when you’re young and manager/maître d’ when she heard The on the counter for customers to heat up was in the 1990s. By then, the Browns were don’t know things, you think the world’s Wharf was up for sale. what they wanted. selling 495 cappuccinos a day on a Friday your oyster. You’re courageous and brave But she remembers those hospitality days “If you are a bit wary about what button and Saturday with a marked increase in and have your whole life ahead of you if it as “just a lot of fun”. They opened on April to push, do not panic, there will be someone espresso sales. doesn’t work out.” 15, 1999. The coffee machine, considered available to guide you.” They spent $150,000 on a refurbishment But it did work out, extremely well. by many to be the ‘‘Rolls Royce’’ of coffee David remembers the first Saturday in 1996 and reported an immediate 45 Villaggio in the Ballance Street Village was machines, was one of the most important morning they opened they had only four percent increase in turnover. In 1997 they one of the first cafés in the new generation purchases the team made back then. customers, as Saturday morning shopping sold the business. of café dining in Gisborne that was a step up Llewellyn remembers a need for had only just started in Gisborne. The ’90s brought the first wave of new from coffee lounges. It was embraced, not something to happen in hospitality in It was 18 months of “desperate and hard generation café dining street-side. The only with the wider community but within Gisborne. slog”, he said, during which time the couple Wharf was created by the Thorpe brothers, the Ballance Street Village itself. “Gisborne was on a bit of a roll, boosted sold their house, which disappeared into the John and Bill, in the early ’90s. But in the “I saw such a need for it. There was by the millennium — there wasn’t a lot of business, before they started to break even. CBD itself there were only two cafés. incredible support when I opened, it was other competition. At the beginning we The farming downturn in 1988 had a big Anna Thorpe (then Walker) remembers amazing, and great support from Ballance almost had a monopoly and could have just impact. coming home after 10 years away and Street Village, where the café quickly fitted about printed money.” “That left many young farmers calling in immediately seeing a gap in the Gisborne in. They’re always a little ahead of their time Until around 2005, it was “really busy”, for their last cup of coffee, before leaving market. down there — they do things uniquely and then things started to get tougher. their keys at the Rural Bank and walking off “Back then it was Robert Harris and put their stamp on things.” “Things tightened up financially and the farm . absolutely heart-breaking stuff.” Scrumples. Those were really the first two She had the first espresso coffee machine socially for people. There was the Global That same year Cyclone Bola hit and the cafés when I came back and that’s why I in Gisborne — a Faema. The coffee was Financial Crisis and margins were so tight.” water in town was so polluted, David and Liz started Villaggio — because I saw a real brought down from Altura in Auckland, as They eventually sold in 2010 after almost bucketed in rainwater from Wainui Beach. opening.” there was not the choice of local roasters like 12 years. “Customers couldn’t believe how good the Anna changed a three-bedroom home in today. Llewellyn feels Gisborne is again on the coffee tasted. We did that for three months.” Ballance St, and the zone from residential to “You either bought your beans imported cusp of another wave of popularity. SaTurday, MarCH 27, 2021 3 PROFILE Shanon O’Connor is on a mission. The Tōnui Collab founder and director is determined to help transform the future economy of Tairāwhiti.She knows that if the young people master this they will have a place in a secure high-wage economy that will have flow-on effects for their whānau and community. She talks with Diana Dobson about her vision . Shanon O’Connor and rangatahi at Tōnui Collab overlooking the Inner Harbour. Opening doors . Picture by Rebecca Grunwell hanon’s enthusiasm is infectious “This learning is beneficial to every solution. They worked the full design process, get more out into the community. As it is, and there is a clear domino effect learner — however, grounding the learning from problem identification, market research schools from all over the rohe head to Tōnui, Shappening already with young with storytelling is a way of amplifying our and prototyping, through to branding and with interested parents and grandparents Tōnui alumni actively exploring history, providing meaningful context to pitching. Their solutions were so relevant.” often along for the ride. It costs just $1 per their options for the future. She loves the learning and an authentic framework They developed a job app that connected child per hour. nothing more than seeing a spark in the for the learner to create and evaluate their pakeke (elders) with rangatahi to take care “We keep these costs low because we want eyes of someone who has just mastered solutions.” of household chores, another that students to ensure there are no barriers to access.” something new.

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