Auckland cafe KIND, favoured by Jacinda Ardern and named for her motto, closes

Dame Jacinda Ardern’s favourite Auckland cafe has closed its doors, blaming spiralling costs and excessive rent for its demise.

One of Dame Jacinda Ardern’s favourite Auckland cafes has permanently closed its doors, citing spiralling costs and excessive rent as the reasons for its demise.

The eatery was popular with Morningside locals and is named after a quote from the former Prime Minister.

KIND Cafe & Eatery’s name was inspired by Ardern’s assertion that “you can be strong and you can be kind”.

Ardern even took US late-night television host Stephen Colbert to the cafe when he was filming in New Zealand in late 2019.

In a post to Instagram yesterday, owners Cathie and Nigel Cottle announced the permanent closure of the business.

“We are closing the doors for good tonight.

“Economic conditions, spiralling costs, and excessive rent are all factors in our decision to close. We have been going backwards for too long, hoping things will change but they haven’t, they aren’t.”

KIND was founded as a social enterprise to make the Morningside neighbourhood a greener and healthier place to live. It had been operating for seven years.

The cafe’s post thanked its regulars, neighbours and customers for their support.

“We wish we could have kept going, but it was not to be.”

Ardern’s love for KIND

The owners of KIND are also behind the Crave cafe in Morningside.

Journalist and author David Williams, on behalf of the Under the Hood series for Crave, interviewed Ardern in 2021.

The pair chatted about her choice to bring Colbert to the cafe.

“You brought Stephen Colbert to KIND last October. Was that because it’s called Kind?” Williams said.

“It’s because it’s my local,” Ardern said.

“Literally, it is the place on a Saturday where, if I’ve got a morning off, we’ll put Neve in the pram and we’ll walk around and grab a coffee and then walk home.

“It’s just a part of our little routine when we’re here. I literally took him to my local.

“I do love the philosophy of KIND and Crave. My local is my local because of its philosophy as well.”

Ardern and Colbert were spotted together filming at the eatery in October 2019.

A customer who was there at the same time told Stuff she realised something was going on when she saw a large security presence converge on the cafe.

The pair walked up and down a ramp outside the cafe a few times before ordering coffee.

KIND’s business model was designed to give back to the community, with 80% of the profits reinvested in enriching the Morningside community.

KIND was a mostly vegan cafe that specialised in healthy food options catering to a variety of dietary requirements.