The Daily Café in Te Puke has been named the 2018 Meadow Fresh New Zealand Café of the Year at a special announcement event held in Auckland yesterday, March 7.
For the sixth year running, the Meadow Fresh New Zealand Café of the Year Awards highlighted the diverse, the delicious and most delightful of café culture, shining a light on outstanding cafés across the nation.
The Daily Café is owned by The Search Party Charitable Trust, a registered charity. Its not-for-profit ethos focuses on giving back, with all profits going to the local Te Puke community through community and crisis meals; lending a helping hand and training. The focus of the four local trustees Marty and Chrissi Robinson, Richard Crawford and Andrew Reid, is on making the local community better than it is now, serving Te Puke and promoting goodness to grow there. Even the coffee beans used at The Daily Café give back, with every coffee sold providing one week of fresh water in Cambodia through the Good Trust.
More than a cafe and more like a community centre, The Daily Café was a two and a half year project to create – a dream that became a reality in 2016 due to the support of the community behind them.
Judging, tasting and deliberating was conducted by a highly-experienced panel.
“What a find! Tucked away just off the Te Puke highway, sits one of the most interesting cafes we came across. Its cheekiness brings an immediate smile as you approach through an outdoor seating area into a vast mélange of mismatched seating. The service is coordinated and uncomplicated. The sweet and savoury fare is home-made and certainly tasty. When the food and coffee arrive, you know someone in the kitchen knows how to satisfy a Kiwi appetite with generous portions. Instead of having 30 different menu items, The Daily Café provide three to six fresh meals daily to choose from, made of good wholesome food according to the season and reasonably priced. The freshness of the garden vegetables – often from the community garden across the road or from the community members, the use of the herbs from the café’s garden and the menu that changes daily show a commitment to excellence that is as welcome as the discovery of its generosity,” says lead judge, Kerry Tyack.
Along with being announced the 2018 Meadow Fresh Café of the Year, The Daily Café was also presented with the National Best Regional Town award after winning the Upper North Island region Best Regional Town award in December.
The Daily Café will now enjoy the prestige of winning the title of 2018 Meadow Fresh NZ Café of the Year, a trip to Melbourne, an editorial feature in Dish magazine and marketing materials to promote and support the win.
Katherine Jensen, Meadow Fresh Marketing Director says “Congratulations to the trustees, manager, staff and local community of The Daily Café – the 2018 Meadow Fresh NZ Café of the Year! We are extremely proud to sponsor the awards that acknowledge the important role cafes play in New Zealand’s culture and lifestyle. We truly have a dynamic Kiwi café scene throughout the nation. It is with great pleasure, we also announce the national category award winners of the 2018 Meadow Fresh NZ Café of the Year Awards.”
2018 MEADOW FRESH NZ CAFÉ OF THE YEAR | The Daily Café | 3 Commerce Lane | Te Puke
2018 NATIONAL CATEGORY AWARD WINNERS:
Best Regional Town | The Daily Cafe | 3 Commerce Lane | Te Puke | Western Bay of Plenty
Best Rural | Orepuki Beach Cafe | 33 Stafford Street | Orepuki | Southland
Best Suburban | Sweet Vanilla Kitchen | 49 Pretoria Street |Lower Hutt
Best Metro/CBD | Welcome Eatery | 181 Grafton Road | Grafton | Auckland
ICG Classic Kiwi | Nick’s Café | 30 Constable Road | Waiuku | Auckland
Meadow Fresh People’s Choice Award | Portershed Cafe | 322 Lincoln Road | Addington | Christchurch
Unilever Food Solutions Innovation & Sustainability Award | BearLion Foods | Christchurch
“It has been a stellar year for the café society of New Zealand. The great have remained great and the new have excited with their confident innovation and commitment to providing good food and drink. Consumers are clearly loving the opportunity to rock on up to enjoy some of the best coffee in the world, served in relaxed and often uniquely Kiwi atmospheres. A prominent trend is the venue that seamlessly transforms from a casual café in the day to a trendy bistro-like diner in the evening, making good business sense and giving the punters a great reason to make a return visit. Another notable development is the appearance of world class cafés in the provinces and rural districts around the country. Their existence is spreading the café love and bringing benefits for locals and travellers alike. Long may it continue!” says Kerry Tyack.
