Cocoa Black cafe branches out into North Canterbury
“People love the smell when they walk in.”
A cafe taking neighbourhoods by storm in Christchurch has a new premises in North Canterbury.
Cocoa Black launched in Waikuku last Friday, making it the fourth site for the cafe, which first sprung up in Merivale in 2018.
Since then, owner/operator Yong Ren hasn’t been able to get enough of reaching nearly every corner of the garden city.
Bishopdale got its own Cocoa Black in February 2023, soon followed by Wigram in November, and another is set to open in St Martins later this year.
Ren laughed as he said “my wife just keeps telling me off”. “Every time I tell her I’ve got another site she says ‘no’. I say, ‘I just can’t stop’.”
The food is made at each of its premises using the same recipes to keep it consistent. A popular snack flying out the doors is the cheese scones, which Merivale Cocoa Black sells more than 100 of daily, Ren said. “People love the smell when they walk in.”
The cafes use local Christchurch roastery AllPress for their coffee and offer a brunch menu at all except the Merivale premises.
When Ren opened the original Cocoa Black in 2018 – named after a chocolate and pastry school in Scotland – he was working as a taxi driver for Blue Star, a job he said he enjoyed.
“I like chatting,” he said, noting how it led to him becoming the regular taxi driver for many customers.
But when the first Covid lockdown struck in 2020, he was forced to keep his cab doors closed to the public.
He used the down time to learn to cook and bake cafe-style food, having only had experience cooking Chinese food before.
As soon as the cafe was allowed to reopen with restrictions, he worked his way up in own cafe, starting as a kitchen hand and gradually building up his skills.
“I really enjoy what we’re doing now. I see my lovely customers every day and talk to them.”
Ren’s customers mean a lot to him, so he only closed on Christmas Day, and never added a surcharge on public holidays, he said. “I don’t want to upset my customers. That’s the way I’m doing business.”
*The newest Cocoa Black is at 1473 Main North Rd, Waikuku.