Are you missing us as much as we miss you?,
The mornings are the hardest, we miss walking into a bustling cafe where the smell of fresh ground coffee and pastries fresh out of the oven fill the air, we miss the chitter chatter of families enjoying a shared breakfast and the queues of giggling children lining up for their favorite macaron. Now our mornings leave us walking into a skeleton of a building, one which once smelt of home now carries a damp aroma. The emptiness echoes, our customers displaced and four lonely tables have become our workspace.
This flood is a new challenge. We usually come into work having a clear idea of what we need to do. We set up the patio by taking tables and chairs out, setting up the coffee machine, cooking our croissants, pain au chocolat… until you guys come and from there it's business as usual (Flat white, ham & cheese croissant…)
Now we are waking up a little later. It's nice but we are also discovering the lovely Auckland traffic which we have never encountered before. We are now working Monday to Friday which is something that we are all enjoying on the social side, more time to spend with family and friends, attend different concerts, festivals, BBQs and markets. On the other hand you experience how busy everything is and how little time you have to run errands. Trust us when you have a day off in the week whatever errands you’ll need to do it will be done in half a day.
We also feel new pain in our bodies that coincide with our new duties. We are used to burns, sore feet & legs… but now we are getting back pain, neck pain but mostly butt pain due to sitting so much
Our jobs here have transformed, once chefs and front house staff we've now had to become experts in different areas.
Week 1 Cleaning expert: Was cleaning the cafe from floor to ceiling. Listing all the food wasted and equipment ruined by the flooding.
Week 2 Stocktake surveyor: Listing stock of drinks and equipment damaged for insurance company.
Week 3 Movers: We moved everything that wasn’t damaged to the storage unit.
Week 4 Contractor: Breaking wooden counter and tearing the lino up.
Week 5 to present: Office duties: (yes that's where the body pain starts)
Probably the most challenging of all the tasks yet as we are not used to working behind computers.
We are working as restaurant designers and this is no easy task. To try to project yourself in an empty space and imagine where everything is going to go in our new fit out. The hardest point of all is that we have to agree on a style and ambiance that we want to bring, we all have our own ideas for the cafe vibes. But its ok we are French we love to argue with each other
We are creating a more cozy and inviting atmosphere - Yes, we did listen to your feedback from our first build. We've added new seating options, some comfortable lounge chairs so you can enjoy your dessert in style. More tables and chairs on our terrace to soak up the sun, opened up more space along the windows so you really can enjoy our beautiful Rocket Park backdrop and also opening our kitchen so you can see the behind the scenes magic