A popular Richmond café has decided to “pop-up” in Nelson city.
Coffee on Queen owner Matt Redwood says the popularity of his café has tempted him to test the Nelson market with a pop-up café in the City Centre Arcade.
"We’re dipping our toes. We're going to come in and put a wee pop-up shop here for six months and see what happens."
Despite entering a competitive café market, the owner says Coffee on Queen's appeal comes down to service and familiarity.
"We've always been non-PC, fast, efficient, sort of a bit like the Cheers bar. We know your name. We know who you are.
"And that's been our motto and we just don't want to change that. Like there's some amazing cafes in Nelson, and we're just trying to complement it. Just trying to fill a little void that we can see in there."
The business is holding a soft launch this week to fine-tune systems and train staff before ramping up operations.
"We're just going to test the systems, make sure they work, get our new barista used to what's going on."
The menu and offering will be gradually expanded over the coming weeks.
"Then next week we'll just add a little bit more, and then the week after, but more until we find our sort of niche, and then we'll be away laughing."
The owner also sees opportunity in a city centre adapting to the ongoing Bridge St upgrade.
"Richmond went through that 12, 13 years ago. We were shut for a year and plus, and all those businesses survived, and now we're booming. So I think it's going to be great. I know there's a lot of pushback on at the moment, but in another two years we'll forget about it and we're done."
