Ōtākaro Orchard needs more money before cafe can open

Wednesday, 4 March 2026

The Ōtākaro Orchard building, on Cambridge Tce next to the Avon River, has yet to open.

Christchurch’s Ōtākaro Orchard needs more money before it can open, but it will not ask ratepayers to cough up this time.

Work started on the orchard building, on Cambridge Tce, in 2019, but it has yet to open after stalling a number of times due to a lack of money.

Two opening targets were missed last year and a promised January announcement never happened.

Hayley Guglietta, chairperson of the Food Resilience Network which runs the project, said they have learnt the hard way not to give self-imposed deadlines as things can take longer than expected.

She urged people to remember she and board members volunteered their time and had donated thousands of hours to getting the orchard in place and the building completed.

“We are unable to work full time on the project.”

The orchard’s building is intended to house a cafe bar, greengrocer, information centre, community spaces, and headquarters for the network’s work on food resilience.

Food Resilience Network chairperson Hayley Guglietta says she and board members have donated thousands of hours of their time to getting the orchard in place and the building completed. They also built an internal wall using handmade bricks.

The building itself is complete, but the network needed to find more money to finish the internal fit-out to enable a cafe and education hub to open, Guglietta said.

Last year, she said the cafe/bar could be the city’s next Dux de Lux, the popular bar that operated at the Arts Centre up until the earthquakes in 2011.

This week, Guglietta said an “experienced, well-known and successful” Canterbury hospitality operator had been secured, but they would not be named until funding arrangements for the fit-out were confirmed and contracts executed.

More money was needed to complete the fitout, but Guglietta would not say how much was needed or where they proposed getting the money from. Both were commercially sensitive, she said.

“We have had funding offers but want to take a little longer to find the right source of funding to ensure the project is financially sustainable. That's the responsible approach.”

However, Guglietta did rule out going to Christchurch City Council for additional money.

“We will not seek further ratepayer funding for the building.”

The network has received about than $760,000 in funding from the council, including $308,500 in grant money for various projects, and a $200,000 Three Waters Better-Off grant paid for by Government and distributed by council.

In March last year, the council granted the network $100,000 and forgave an existing $150,000 loan plus outstanding interest.

Guglietta said the last council grant was to complete the building, not fit it out.

It had asked the council for $350,000 and received $100,000.

Despite the project stalling, the orchard was active. It had 90 fruit trees and more than 150 species of edible herbs, berries and native plants. It was maintained by volunteers, and hosted schools, community groups and businesses.