City landlords hook tenants with caffeine fix

By COLIN TAYLOR

Motivated city landlords are tracking down cafe operators to implement the latest trend - espresso bars in office block foyers.

Cafes and "convenience food" suppliers had a 9.5 per cent increase in sales last year and the cafe-lobby trend offers great opportunities to budding baristas.

Atomic Coffee Roasters set up an espresso bar in the Cuisine Markets at Auckland's Viaduct Harbour but it didn't do well because of lack of parking and low pedestrian traffic.

The company was invited by the owners of Shortland Chambers to set up in its 18 floor tower on Shortland St.

"They wanted to regenerate the building and surveyed their tenants who said they wanted a decent coffee place - so they came to us," says managing director David Thomas.

The owners were so keen to sign up Atomic Roasters, they offered assistance with the interior fitout and exterior changes to the building.

"It was a big investment for us but now we're doing up to four times the turnover of our old location," says Thomas.

He says landlords previously viewed CBD buildings only from the perspective of rentable office space.

"The foyer was just an area people walked through to the lifts."

Now several large city buildings, including some banks, have set aside areas in their lobbies where cafes are operating.

Thomas says office workers want coffee made on site by skilled baristas.

Chris Upton co-owns the Prime espresso bar and bistro in the imposing level four foyer of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Tower.

He says locating in the expansive marble and glass space was a complete reversal from the snug Cafe Melba he sold in Vulcan Lane.

"After we were approached by the leasing agents for AMP, we researched cafes in office buildings at Darling Harbour in Sydney," says Upton. "We knew there would be more than 2000 people working in the tower and if we got the service and product right, the business would succeed."

Sixteen months later, Upton says the business has done extremely well in areas he didn't anticipate but, to his surprise, "breakfasts are not the rush they were at Melba". But catering for working luncheons and corporate functions has beaten his expectations.

"Functions in the evening both in the lobby and in the restaurant have done incredibly well," he says.

Cocktail functions are held in the lobby for up to 500 people and sitdown dinners for 200. The restaurant takes 100 for dinner and 140 with a marquee on the deck.

Upton says AMP "made it viable" for him to set up in the tower block and support his business by using it.

"In return, I think we give them what they want. We enhance the building and help attract new clients."

Simone Forde is viewed as a pioneer of the cafe-in-the-foyer concept. Forde set up the Pavilion espresso bar and bistro in the Royal Sun Alliance building.

She credits her trail-blazing to "a visionary developer", Kiwi Income Property Trust.

After selling Pavilion, Forde was approached by a leasing agent to set up Park Espresso in the ANZ Tower. She also established Pod at the University of Auckland.

If building owners want to attract tenants they have to offer services as good as those in the building next to them, Forde says.

"It's the trend of the moment and we certainly have no regrets."