Sarah Hussey — co-owner of The Perc Central, in Stuart St, and The Perc Exchange, in Princes St — has opened a new cafe in the University of Otago Plaza Building, next to Forsyth Barr Stadium, named The Perc Plaza.
It officially opened its doors on Thursday and Mrs Hussey said there had been "people everywhere".
The former occupant, the Plaza Cafe, next to Unipol, had closed during the Covid pandemic but the space had now been completely renovated with new furniture and natural wood decor.
"This is definitely the biggest one we’ve ever done before," Mrs Hussey said.
"And it’s definitely the most beautiful as well."
Mrs Hussey said she had noticed a "pretty massive gap" in the market near the stadium.
She had seen the space was vacant, made a few inquiries, and found out nearly 300 University of Otago operations group staff were set to move into the building over the next couple of weeks — which could make a "pretty captive audience", she said.
While she had felt nervous about opening another cafe as it was not the best time economically, Mrs Hussey said it was an opportunity they just had to take rather than shy away from.
There was "ample parking" at the Plaza and the previous cafe had been known for being children friendly, she said.
As a mother , she said it was quite hard to find places to bring your children in Dunedin, and was expecting "lots of mums and kids" to visit.
But she also expected their clientele to be "a real mix" as the whole university and polytechnic were near the cafe, along with Sport Otago, the Otago Rugby Union and others.
Despite being on the stadium’s doorstep, Mrs Hussey said she had not really thought about whether any sporting stars could come walking through their doors.
The Stuart St cafe had already attracted big names in rugby such as Ian Jones and Richie Mo’unga, she said.
"Lots of All Blacks come and visit us. We had the English team in there recently playing cards before the big game.
"I guess it would be even more inviting being so close to where they’ll be playing."
