New challenge for cafe couple
The Riverside Community Cafe is looking for new managers, with the current lessees moving on after nearly three years.
Husband and wife team Aaron Banks and Yara Hunt are in their final week at the rural Lower Moutere cafe, which will close on August 4 until a new lease begins in September.
Hunt said that while it had been a bit of a juggling act for the couple, raising four children while operating the cafe, it had been a great experience.
‘‘It’s been really positive with what we’ve been producing here, and our customers are regulars, which is awesome.
‘‘We appreciate everyone who comes over from Nelson in the weekends. They’re a big part of our customer base.’’
Hunt said that while she and Banks had both been involved in the hospitality industry for a long time, this was the first time they had worked together on a venture.
‘‘This was our first experience together, which was sometimes hard but really cool. Just finding our strengths in each area and complementing each other in that.’’
The couple are leaving Riverside to start up a new cafe in Motueka, which they hope to have open by mid-September.
‘‘Riverside is such a beautiful place but comes with a lot of history already, which belongs completely to the Riverside community,’’ Hunt said.
‘‘It’s just time to create something for ourselves fully from scratch, which is pretty exciting.’’
Banks said that with the move into town and to a larger kitchen, they would be able to do some new things they hadn’t previously been able to do.
The Riverside Community Trust Board is currently looking for a new lessee to run the cafe, with the site becoming available for lease in September.
Riverside spokesman Colin Cole said there was plenty of interest so far, although there had been nothing definite in terms of offers.
Converted from a refurbished 1880s homestead at the Riverside Community, the cafe first opened in December 2000. It stands on part of the wider Riverside Community site, a sustainable community founded by Christian Pacifists in Lower Moutere in 1941.