Ex-All Black Christian Cullen bursts on to Kapiti caffeine scene

Christian Cullen

Burst Café on Rimu Road is known for its colourful customer service and larger than life team, and now another head-turning face is behind the reins.

Taken over by ex-All Black Christian Cullen this month, Burst Café is now one of a handful of business ventures at the hands of the longstanding Paraparaumu resident.

"I was looking for something locally, because I was born and bred around this area, and I'd been coming to Burst a bit over the years and saw it was always busy," said Cullen, whose post-All Blacks investments include various properties and Wellington-based bars Four Kings and the Five Stags.

Taken over from previous owners of five years Dean and Angela Anderson, Burst Café will continue to run as usual and offer the same services, which includes its drive through window.

"I don't know how to make coffee, so I'll be behind the scenes, but we've still got Ang and Kelly to run the place, who have been here a while and were the reason my mates and I kept coming back.

"They've got a great vibe and knowledge of the customers, and now they've got more responsibility running the café, and are pretty on to it."

Cullen said the concept of a drive through cafe, and the staff's customer savvy approach, which includes regular front of house dress ups, was a motivator behind his latest business venture.

"I like that it's different.

"I drive around the country a fair bit and don't see things like this, where you can just drive up and get a coffee and sandwich or muffin, and the turnover is quick."

With his wife Mandy still running her Paraparaumu Beach-based children's clothing store Babyphunk, and with four children under seven, a recent rugby stint in Cape Town, South Africa, was his "first time running around on the field in five years".

Having headlined the Cape Town 10s on February 6 and 7, among a group of international sporting legends at Hamilton's Rugby Club in Green Point, Cullen said "it was a bit stupid because if you haven't been running around a lot, she gets a bit harder".

"At the moment I'm ticking along.

"This opportunity came up, at the right time, and I figured with all the new roads coming through, because of the expressway, it's just going to get busier and busier."