Neil Hodgson
After about 20 years running the iconic Morri St Cafe´ , Kay Field decided it was time for a change, and sold the business in March this year. The cafe is now undergoing a makeover under the guidance of new owners Gary Warner and Jess Bryant. Obviously, I had to be nosey and check it out to find out more about this bloke of Irish heritage who relocated his family to Nelson and bought a cafe´ .
The first thing I noticed when I met Gary a few days ago is his energy, and it’s rubbing off on the staff and customers – the atmosphere in the cafe´ seems energised with positivity.
To understand why the feeling has changed, I needed to know more about the background of the couple and the skills they bring to the business. Surprisingly, neither has hospitality experience, but they know what they want to achieve.
Jess is a physiotherapist, and Gary was a mechanical engineer designing mining equipment before he ended up working in the software side of engineering design, which led to him setting up a software company.
‘‘There is a plethora of data available in the world, and we were developing systems to gather information our clients needed. I then moved into the pre-emptive environment, where we now work on software solutions that predict market changes, to give our clients a competitive advantage.’’
Why did they buy a cafe´ in Nelson? ‘‘After working in engineering and then a software business set up with others, I sold my shares about two years ago,’’ Gary told me. ‘‘At the time, we had a three-year-old son, Ardan, and a daughter, Kaia, on the way, so we had to make some decisions about what we wanted for our kids.
‘‘We decided to take some time out from what we were doing – and it wasn’t all spent laying in the sun on the beaches. It was renovating a house, studying for an MBA, while we set up another software business that we still have. We also did a chunk of this while on a 10-month trip overseas.’’
Jess had moved to Nelson with her family when she was young, before heading off to university. However, her family has very strong intergenerational roots here – think Brightwater and Bryant’s Rd.
‘‘The reason we moved here was we’d always wanted to spend time with our kids, get them outside more, and show them the value of experiences over material things,’’ says Gary.
‘‘Jess had always dreamed of living back here, and I fell in love with the region every time we visited. So when we had kids and school loomed, it was time to move from Sydney, and Nelson was an obvious choice.
‘‘We looked at a couple of businesses around Nelson, and this one had some decent fundamentals but needed some fresh energy.
‘‘Then, even though Jess was from here, she hadn’t lived here for 20 years, so
we had to establish ourselves in the community. What better way to meet people than being in a super-social cafe´ ?’’
Something else that has impressed me with Gary’s attitude to the business is his focus on setting standards, treating his staff well and making sure everyone is having fun.
‘‘Fun means different things to different people. I want customers to have fun while they are here. Staff need to have fun, too – they understand their role in the business and set high standards for themselves, so we make sure they are appreciated when they do a great job.’’
The new owners have made some changes, and Gary says there are more to come.
‘‘This is month four for us. We made a conscious decision to change nothing at the beginning, just look and listen and find out what people think about the place.
‘‘There is a perception that a new owner will come in and change everything, but the reality is we initially changed nothing – except me being on the floor.
‘‘My number one thing is I want to have fun. I’m not interested in owning a business that is a chore. I want to be around people having a good time, and staff and customers want a fun, buzzy atmosphere.’’
Gary says a top priority is to build a great team of staff.
‘‘We let people know what’s going on and challenge them to not be left behind as the business moves forward. We want to take everyone on the journey with us. It’s about changing the energy in the cafe, letting people show their personality when they are working, and rewarding success.
‘‘The goal is to get everyone on a living wage. Most are already on or above that, and having staff who are paid well is hugely important to me.
‘‘Hospitality is often a minimum-wage environment, and that doesn’t say, ‘I appreciate you’. Sometimes it doesn’t make much business sense, but I’m telling them I appreciate them, I want people to know it’s a great place to work and they are appreciated when they do a great job.
‘‘I value people over profit. A lot of the buzz I get is watching people develop – it’s hugely rewarding when you see someone improving themselves.’’
At Morri Street Cafe´ , the staff make everything in-house. Head chef Tahlia Brooks pulls the strings, with a great eye for detail and a philosophy based on simple food to share with friends.
The cafe´ also has a French pastry chef, Estelle, who turns out beautiful fresh treats every day, and a new chef, Kadin, who has been there for about 10 weeks. ‘‘He’s a young guy with experience here and overseas, who loves baking his own bread and making chilli jams that rock,’’ Gary says.
It’s a young team, with huge passion and big ambitions.
‘‘We have asked the team to put a lot more of themselves into the food rather than just cooking old favourites, and we are about to undertake a major upgrade in the cafe´ ,’’ Gary says.
‘‘New kitchen equipment, new furniture, updated service counter, new decor, and of course a new iteration of the menu that has been created by the current team, with lots of classics and a plenty of interesting new dishes.
‘‘It’s an evolutionary change, but it’s a well-conceived plan and includes input from our staff. We have talked to customers about some of the plans, and they are loving the things we are talking about.’’
The man who originally hails from Dublin and has worked on every continent except Antarctica and the physiotherapist whose spiritual home is Nelson are bringing fresh ideas, huge energy and respect for their staff to an old Nelson favourite. Watch this space.
‘‘We made a conscious decision to change nothing at the beginning, just look and listen and find out what people think.’’