Forget Me Not Cafe will serve its last cheese scone on Friday after 43 years in King Edward St.
Owner Karen Sinclair said "tough times" led to the cafe’s closure.
"There’s a lot of ups and downs behind the scenes of running a cafe, it’s not cheap."
"It’s just time to move on."
She said it had become increasingly hard to keep the cafe running after Covid-19.
The cafe is known for its scones, using a recipe created by previous owner Bruce Tritt. As they are closing their doors, Mrs Sinclair is set to reveal the recipe.
It will be available at the cafe on Monday.
Mrs Sinclair said the secret was getting the texture right for the scones.
"You can’t have it too dry and you can’t have it too wet."
The cafe once made 24 trays of 13 scones in a day.
Patrons would have the scones with all sorts of condiments including Vegemite and even black sauce.
She said it was very emotional saying goodbye because the cafe had been a part of her life for a long time.
"It’s going to feel a bit weird, we’ll miss it."
Mrs Sinclair plans to take a break and explore her options for a while before jumping into anything new.
Not waking up at 3.30am every day was going to take some getting used to, she said.
Mrs Sinclair said the staff were like family to her.
"Pat’s been like a mother to me ... over the years keeping me going in the right direction."
Patricia Mcvicar, 68, had worked at Forget Me Not Cafe for 29 years and was looking forward to retirement.
She said she had a "lump in the throat" saying goodbye to the cafe.
She loved being a part of the South Dunedin community and talking to customers was always entertaining.
There were customers who had been visiting the cafe since she started working there who still popped in from time to time.
mark john@odt.co.nz
