Meraki Café pops up

New student-run, pop-up café in AKO Café space.

Meraki cafē will be open Tuesdays and Thursdays (9am – 3pm) until mid-September.

A group of Bachelor of Culinary Arts students have “taken over” the popular Ako space for two months, to run their own pop-up cafē.

(Ako is usually run at set periods by our NZ Certificate in Food and Beverage Service (Level 3) students.

The new venture is a major project for four BCA ākonga – Duncan Manfrinati, Georgia Anderson, Eryn Bannister-Russell, and Sarah Pask.

“We’ve wanted to vamp up the space and transform it into something where we could do some coffee and pastries and some yummy food, and we actually get to keep the money,” says Eryn.

“So we're actually set up as a proper business now.”

Everything is baked fresh by the students including breads, gluten-free options, and specialty coffees.

Meraki is a Greek word, meaning to do something with love, passion and put part of your authentic self into the work that you do.

“So we're trying to do that through being generous with our food portions, not trying to overcharge people,” says Eryn.

“And we got some local art commissioned for us by one of the art students here at the Polytech.”

The culinary arts students admit it’s been a learning curve already, with the project involving much more than just baking.

“It's actually figuring out what people want to eat, actually being able to sell it, persuading people from The Hub to come across the road and check us out.”

"But we’re enjoying it and it’s a great business project."

Meet the friendly Meraki team (L-R) - Duncan Manfrinati, Georgia Anderson, Eryn Bannister-Russell, and Sarah Pask