Bun-tastic bakery steps in at former Egmont St Eatery spot

Friday, 16 May 2025

A new CBD eatery has opened its doors following the closure of a popular Wellington diner last year.

Bakery chain Völco has opened a new eatery at the site of former Egmont St Deli & Diner, which closed in 2024 due to what its owner described as a lack of opportunities in the capital.

Head of retail and chef Kirran Buckland said Egmont St’s Völco, which opened a week ago, was doing well, the first weekend “cranking” with brunch-seeking customers.

The eatery was focusing on being a brunch spot, Buckland said, offering twists on the classic brunch staples.

Mince on toast with bone marrow, chimichurri and a fried egg; prawns on toast with accompanying bisque; and a soft shell crab with milk bread, hot maple butter, and pickles were just some of the meals the Egmont St venue offered.

“People can expect different stuff, but a little bit of the classics as well,” Buckland said.

As Les Mills Taranaki was just around the corner, the eatery was seeing a number of people coming in for coffees and pastries and ruining their recent workouts, Buckland joked.

Völco has eateries in Kelburn, The Terrace, Thorndon, and now Egmont St. Owner Anthony Parun said each location offered unique food to customers alongside Völco’s range of pastries: Kelburn makes pizzas, and Thorndon offers made-to-order sandwiches.

The bakery’s most popular product was its cinnamon rolls. With the large baked goods costing $6 a pop, the Kelburn bakery sold about 100 a day, Parun said, and numbers were already starting to rise at Egmont St.

The popular Egmont St Deli & Diner had left some “massive” shoes to fill, Buckland said, as the eatery had been well known and had done an amazing job in the space.

“There's pressure for sure … But we're different, so we want to bring our own stuff to it.”

Parun said Völco was started by his parents, after his German father come to New Zealand to retire following a successful tennis career.

Two decades ago, his father had been sharing a beer with a friend and the two had started talking about how it was impossible to get a decent pretzel bread in New Zealand - which eventually lead to Völco, Parun said.

Although Völco had just opened a fourth eatery, Buckland said times were still tough for the business, the same as for most hospitality providers in the capital.

Something that had worked for them was the price point: with the bakery offering large food items at an affordable price, while still being high quality, he said.

“People don't want to spend $20, $30 nowadays on lunch. They just don't. You can still get a full feed for $10 here, and then a coffee on top of that,” Buckland said.

“We try and keep things as low as possible cost-wise. But we don't implement discounts for people. We don't implement loyalty cards … We want to sit at a price point where that's a discount already.”