Cafe owner swaps hot drinks for hemp
Experimental fare is all well and good, but at the end of the day, sometimes people just want a latte and a cheese scone.
That’s just one of many lessons Claris Jones-White has learned during four years of cafe ownership.
Jones-White opened her first 7010 Your Local Cafe on Nelson’s Collingwood St in 2015. A year ago, she opened a second cafe, 7010 2.0 on Bridge St.
Now she’s selling up, intending to boost her involvement in New Zealand’s growing hemp industry. It’s an area where believes she can really make her mark, working with growers and producers to develop and sell hemp products.
As her interest in the sustainable crop has grown, the time she has been able to devote to her two eateries has diminished.
‘‘I thought I could cut down on the time I’m [in the cafes], but I can’t,’’ she said. ‘‘Every day the cafes are growing and growing, but because it’s growing so well I can’t manage both.’’
The business would work best run by a couple or a team of two, she said.
‘‘It’s really perfect for someone put their mark on it and breathe new life into it.
‘‘With a little bit more investment, you could expand.’’
The last four years had been a steep learning curve, Jones-White said.
‘‘I’m the queen of mistakes. Instead of taking a minute and thinking about it, I react on the spot. If anyone wants to start a business, come to me and I’ll tell you what not to do.
‘‘You can go out of your way to make extraordinary things, and then you look at your sales at the end of the day and see the best sellers were a cheese scone and a latte, the real staples.’’