Old uni pals converting former church into cafe to congregate in
It’s a new dawn for an old church building in Oakura as it gets transformed in to a trendy new cafe.
The renovation of the church, which is most well known as being The Crafty Fox, is the first big business venture for Rosanna Tills, 29, and Seth Marshall, 30, and they’ve roped in all the family and friends they can to help.
Tills, who is originally from over on the east coast, has her dad out there with a hammer in hand, her cousin’s doing the design work, and her mum is back home making light shades.
“Even though she’s far from home, home has really come with her,” Marshall said.
The cafe will be called Dawn, partially after Marshall’s grandma, and they hope to open in May. My granddad was a stock agent and he would get wool and on sell it, he’d put the word Dawn on it with an old stencil and we have that old stencil.
“It’s also a new dawn,” Tills added.
The pair met at university in Dunedin and even though they say they weren’t the best of friends while studying, it hasn’t stopped them from going into business together.
Marshall had been managing his parents’ business the Ahu Ahu Beach Villas for the last three years when the possibility of taking over the lease of the old church building came up. However, when he went to have a look he thought it was too big of a fish for him to take on.
Fast forward to Tills coming through Taranaki to visit and the pair decided why not, they’d give it a go.
“We talked about it and were really into the idea and said why don’t we roll with it until there’s a hurdle that we can’t pass,” Tills said.
“We decided we were happy to sink some costs into figuring it out,” Marshall added.
Of those costs, Marshall joked he was drowning and in way over his head.
He just wanted to find a way to make everything work and still have time to surf.
Tills moved here in August and they’ve been busy transforming the building, which was originally a church built 102 years ago.
“It’s a fascinating thing renovating an old church and trying to retain what the building is but also make it your own,” Marshall said.
Tills, who has worked in the film industry for the last five years, went to culinary school and has always wanted to open a cafe. She was still doing the odd film job to keep cash flow up while they work to open.
“By day it will be a cafe doing predominately healthy takeaway lunches with the intention to grow. Things like fresh sandwiches, toasties, and salads
“We hope to open evenings eventually too and are keen to do gigs here.”