Cake Kitchen’s new culture

Photo: Chris Hillock/Fairfax NZ

The Cake Kitchen was a Hamilton landmark for 35 years. Now the building is home to a cafe that had its origins in Christchurch.

Coffee Culture opened last week on the corner of Boundary and Brooklyn roads in Claudelands.

There are 14 Coffee Cultures in Christchurch, one in Timaru and one in Dunedin. This is the company’s first franchise in the North Island.

‘‘We had chosen Hamilton out of all the potential places in the North Island for expansion,’’ said Sacha Coburn, wife of company founder Chris Houston.

The company began 18 years ago, and the couple have overseen steady, but not over-the-top expansion.

Coburn said each of the stores had a carefully chosen owner-operator.

The Hamilton cafe is owned by local couple Kelly and Kara Fleming.

Coburn said Houston first met Kelly Fleming in a fortuitous conversation while sitting next to each other in an aeroplane.

Coburn said she and Houston moved to Hamilton two and a half years ago to scout out the best locations and oversee development of the first North Island franchise. ‘‘When you pioneer, you have to go.’’ The franchise certainly wasn’t opened in a rush. Coffee Culture bought the building in March last year.

She said she had a lot of respect for the Cake Kitchen business, run by David and Margaret Hutchison.

‘‘The Cake Kitchen location had been such a hub in the community for so many years,’’ she said. ‘‘We love taking these older buildings and just transforming them.’’

The building has had a transformation, with all new (but rustic-style) brickwork, and an interior renovation.

‘‘One of the things we’re really good at is seeing potential.’’

It features recycled floor timber in the ceiling and existing window frames have been touched up but kept intact.

‘‘We like giving new life to old. It’s cheesy, but it’s what’s really exciting about it as a project,’’ said Coburn.

‘‘You can see the commitment to quality from a property development point of view.’’

She said the building will still look good in 20 to 30 years’ time.

Coburn said Hamilton was a preferable business location, and she had already seen a lot of business people in the cafe, which served a lot of out-of-towners thanks to its proximity to Wairere Drive.

‘‘We’ve been really happy with the Hamilton City Council, how easy it is to do business here,’’ she said.

The cafe employs around 15 staff, in a mixture of full-time and part-time positions.