New Zealand cafes doing more than serving the perfect coffee video

MONIQUE FORD/FAIRFAX NZ

Lola Graham-Wiggins, 17, is a barista at Stories Espresso, a social enterprise in lower Cuba St.

For a while, the story behind Wellington's Stories was a secret. 

The cafe, housed in a shipping container, appeared on Cuba Street's footpath last March.

Stories soon made a name for itself serving beautiful brews in a novel space. In August, a sister cafe, Georgia, popped up in Victoria St. 

Since opening, the cafes have employed 20 young people who have graduated Zeal youth trust's barista training programme.

READ MORE:
* Wellington's container cafe gets people talking
* Cafe Agora a way of contributing to Frankton in a tangible way
* Christchurch cafe helps around the world

 
 
Stories' presence in lower Cuba St has revitalised the area.
MONIQUE FORD / Fairfax NZ

Stories' presence in lower Cuba St has revitalised the area.

Wellington High School student Lola Wiggins-Graham works at Stories two days a week. She remembers being offered the gig by founder Scottie Reeve.

"He sent me a Facebook message saying, 'Yo friend, want a job?'"

The cafes' revenue funds Zeal's work creating urban communities of young people and teaching them creative skills such as photography, filmmaking, and event management. More importantly, perhaps, the business gives those keen to work but lacking experience the chance to prove themselves behind a counter. 

Cafe Agora is located on the ground floor of City Bible Church in Frankton, an industrial area of Hamilton.
KELLY HODEL/FAIRFAX NZ

Cafe Agora is located on the ground floor of City Bible Church in Frankton, an industrial area of Hamilton.

Reeve says they didn't advertise Stories' founding premise for the first three months of operation. 

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"We understood that for this to be successful it had to stand on its own feet as a hospitality business, not as a charity," he says.

"Sympathy will only get you so far."

The container cafes are among a number in New Zealand that exist for a higher purpose. 

In Hamilton, a flat white at Cafe Agora will set you back $4.50. The proceeds buy more than a caffeine hit.

Fifty cents goes to whatever charity Agora's supporting that month (in June, it's Western Community Centre). The beans are sourced from Thailand, grown by a non-profit organisation which supports former sex workers, and farmers in remote areas. Manager and head chef Israel Cook says the cafe serves up to 250 coffees a day. 

Over the past six years, the trust has donated about $80,000 to more than 50 community groups, paying for kids whose parents are in prison to go on camps, and publishing a children's book from within a local hospice. 

"We didn't want to just have a cafe to make money - that's not our goal. Our goal is, obviously, to give back."

Last month, Agora hosted fundraisers for earthquake victims in Ecuador and Kumamoto, Japan, where barista Takashi​ Ueno grew up. 

Cafe Agora baristas Takashi Ueno, right, and Fernando Bonil.
KELLY HODEL /FAIRFAX NZ

Cafe Agora baristas Takashi Ueno, right, and Fernando Bonil.

Another staff member, Fernando Bonil, came to New Zealand from Colombia. He'd graduated Agora's barista training programme for refugees in Hamilton, and, Cook says, "was quite keen".

"We thought, 'oh well if that's some way we can help him and his family, we'll give him a job'.

"He's been working here for four years."

In Christchurch, Addington Coffee Co-op has been reinvesting in the community since it opened a decade ago. 

Today, 70 per cent of takings are earmarked to give away. 

The cafe is one of Christchurch's most popular, providing a coffee-scented haven in the city's west, particularly after the earthquakes.

Age Palmer is one of 12 co-founders of Addington Coffee Co-op, and its manager.
STACY SQUIRES/FAIRFAX NZ

Age Palmer is one of 12 co-founders of Addington Coffee Co-op, and its manager.

The cavernous, living-room style space on Lincoln Rd is the most visible item in parent company Liminal's portfolio, which includes a fair trade, organic apparel retailer, coffee roastery, and laundromat.  

Unlike Agora, which is run by a charitable trust, Liminal is a "normal business", Co-op manager Age Palmer says. 

Except, it's not really. 

"The business as a whole exists really for other people," he explains.

"When you're starting off from that point of view, and you're not starting off from a point of view of making a profit for shareholders or making a cafe that's going to be the coolest in the world, it is a different business model from the outset."

Proceeds from the cafe's in-house roasted coffee are reinvested into the communities where the beans were grown. The same goes for Liminal's clothing and bags. 

Addington Coffee Co-op manager Age Palmer says the cafe's clientele is "a melting pot".
STACY SQUIRES/FAIRFAX NZ

Addington Coffee Co-op manager Age Palmer says the cafe's clientele is "a melting pot".

"It's a 'no strings attached' kind of investment."

Closer to home, the Co-op supports education in Addington, and gives people who struggle to find work a fair go. 

"We've been open for a decade and there's been a tonne of people who may have come from a pretty rough spot... They've put in the effort themselves, and we've just provided the framework and the economic engine to make that happen."

"Sometimes people just need to know that actually someone believes in them and that if they put in A, they'll get out, B, and life can actually work out."

The Liminal name comes from the architectural term for a space between two spaces. In the same way, Palmer says the Co-op's underlying model "bridges worlds".

"[There's the] corporate, capitalistic, profitable world - we're in that world too, we're running it like that.

"But we're also living in this world, where we're trying to change it, and make it better."

Cafe Agora

Find them: 13 Kent Street, Frankton

Hours: Monday to Friday, 7.30am - 3pm

Serving: La Mai coffee, cabinet food and a la carte all-day breakfast, made in-house.

Addington Coffee Co-op

Find them: 297 Lincoln Rd, Addington

Hours: Monday-Friday, 7.30am-4pm; Saturday-Sunday 9am-4pm. 

Serving: Jail Breaker coffee from the on-site roastery, cabinet food, and a la carte brunch made in-house.

Stories Espresso

Find them: 40a Cuba St (lower Cuba St)

Hours: Monday-Friday, 7.30am-3.30pm; Saturday 9am-3.30pm

Serving: Newtown's People's Coffee, and Leeds St Bakery's baking. ​

Other conscientious cafes in New Zealand

People's Coffee in Newtown, Wellington 

One of only two fully fair trade accredited business in New Zealand according to its website, People's Coffee sends proceeds from its cups of coffee to communities where the beans are grown. They also run barista training courses at Arohata Women's Prison in Tawa. 

Just Food Cafe in Te Ara Hou Village, Hamilton

A social enterprise of Anglican Action, this cafe is "satisfying a thirst and hunger for ethical food and social justice" in the Waikato. They offer "good coffee and kai" Monday - Friday, and cater events. 

Crave Cafe in Morningside, Auckland

Run by a collective of Morningside residents who aim to make their neighbourhood a better place to live, Crave's profits are reinvested in the community, "helping to destroy poverty of any kind".

Do you know any cafes giving back to their communities? Tell us in the comments section.

 - Stuff

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