New Wellington cafes finding recipe for success

Monday, 24 February 2025

Panellists at Vision for Wellington’s first event said the city needs leaders to listen, be respectful and bring in innovation.

Two iconic Wellington venues left empty after the spate of hospitality closures in 2024 will have new life this year.

Olive on Cuba St will reopen as the Cuba St Tavern thanks to Richard Walshe and Scott Benton, the pair behind Thorndon’s Thistle Inn.

And popular Egmont St Eatery will become a new diner for pizza and pastry spot Völco, which first opened in Kelburn in July 2024.

The two openings suggest the tough recession of last year, which saw the closure of several Pōneke favourites, could be easing.

Walshe and Benton bought the Cuba St site in December, almost 20 years after Olive first opened.

In an email to customers this week, they said they hoped their new tavern, “opening soon”, would be a “community hub”, open six days a week until late.

Olive café on Cuba St, photographed in 2022 - soon to become the Cuba St Tavern.

“We're here to create a new kind of place, to serve an age-old need of connection,” they wrote. “A good bar is never just a bar - it's a spot to gather, feel like you're a part of something, and enjoy life together.”

Kelburn bakery Völco, which expanded to The Terrace and Thorndon Quay in late 2024, is the work of chef Kirran Buckland and the father and son team Tony and Anthony Parun. Tony Parun is the founder of Brezelmania.

Specialising in Neapolitan style pizza and pastries, the Egmont St offering will be more a sit-in diner rather than the take-out joints they’ve been successfully operating so far, Tony Parun said.

Tough economic headwinds haven’t slowed them down, Parun said. They hope to be open in four to six weeks. “It is very tough times, but we decided, when is the right time?”

Notable eateries including Mabel’s, Myrtle, and Concord closed in 2024, as remote working and the public service’s downsizing affected people’s disposable income and their presence in the city.

Chain businesses were not saved from the cull, with Wishbone going into liquidation in 2023 and Pandoro announcing its closure last year.

Super Deli barista Gabe Stuart says the small bakery on Featherston St has developed a strong customer base.

However, with government workers encouraged to come back to the office, the city’s retailers are more optimistic, following a busy summer shopping season.

Cuba St Tavern and Völco join new bakery chain Soru, which took over Pandoro’s former locations on Willis St and Allen St, and bakery/coffee shop Super Deli which replaced the Wishbone outlet on Featherston St last year.

Wishbone on Featherston St closed last year but now has a new life as Super Deli.

Then there is Le Ciel Bakery and Patisserie, new since mid-February, and Bellagio Café, which launched mid-2024.

Hospitality NZ chief executive Steve Armitage said that while Wellington’s hospitality sector had faced challenges in recent years, it was encouraging to see renewed confidence with new cafés and eateries opening in the CBD.

“While some well-known chain eateries have closed, it’s not uncommon for smaller operators to step in, bringing fresh ideas and interesting new takes on hospitality that help keep the scene vibrant.

“The fact that hospitality and retail businesses continue to lease CBD locations reflects that despite recent challenges, the passion for the industry remains, and it’s great to see operators investing in the city’s future.'

Le Ciel Bakery owner Shuchi Bhardwaj says she is enjoying working on Featherston St.

Super Deli barista Gabe Stuart said the eatery had been doing well, with a strong customer base in the surrounding CBD area. “We’ve got a lot of regulars.”

Owner Robert Crisp also has Sixes & Sevens in Taranaki St and Coucou in Island Bay.

Super Deli does only takeaway, which meant it fit perfectly into the narrow venue, Stuart said.

Further down Featherston St is the just opened Le Ciel Bakery and Patisserie.

Owner Shuchi Bhardwaj said the bakery’s Tory St location had done so well, she had decided to open a second store.

A Vietnamese egg coffee, as offered by Bellagio Café on Featherston St.

The Featherston St location was great, she said, with busy lunchtime crowds coming in from the surrounding offices and businesses, and a supportive hospitality environment from the cafés and coffee shops surrounding them.

Bhardwaj, who is from Tanzania and trained at Le Cordon Bleu, said her bakery had worked hard to offer a range of dietary options, including gluten free cakes made from almond flour.

It was important to the chef that everyone had options when they ate out, she said.

Her mother was a vegan, and she knew how difficult it was to find food for her to eat while dining out, Bhardwaj said, especially meals that weren’t just starchy carbs.

Also on Featherston St, Bellagio Café manager Nicholas H. said the eatery had struggled to find its footing during its first year, but was doing much better in 2025.

The café is next door to Bellagio Spa and was owned by the same company, although the two were separately managed, Nicholas said.

It offered coffee and Vietnamese food, with healthy lunch options and Vietnamese coffee - including Vietnamese egg coffee, which was popular in Hanoi, Nicholas said.

The drink comes with an egg cream on top which is cooked by the heat of the coffee, and was proving popular with customers.