The Black Forest Cafe in the heart of the town has reopened, much to the delight of locals.
The cafe was opened and operated by Wendy Becker in 2006, and quickly became referred to by locals as the "best little cafe in New Zealand".
It closed in September 2015 after Mrs Becker became ill and her daughter and son-in-law took over running the cafe until it sold in 2019.
Last year it opened as Yeet Cafe, but that closed earlier this year.
Seeing an opportunity to stop working nights, local chef Kirsty Sloan picked up the baton and reopened the cafe — under its original name, the Black Forest Cafe.
Ms Sloan has come full circle, having earlier worked for Mrs Becker in the cafe and later for Mrs Becker’s daughter.
"I decided if I was going to work that hard I may as well do it for myself," she said.
The decision to return the cafe to its original roots was an easy choice, she said.
"For me, it was always been the Black Forest, and that’s how people know it. It had a really good reputation for many, many years as the Black Forest."
She opened the cafe on July 4 — just before the school holidays, which was "chaos but good".
"It’s been really nice to have the support of the locals. People have been amazing — even those I don’t know that have come from out of town."
While staffing was a challenge at the moment, the cafe was still operating six days a week.
