New jobs: Coffee chain eyes Rotorua stores

CAFE: The building at the Redwood Centre where The Coffee Club is planning to open a restaurant. BEN FRASER 040913BF8

The Coffee Club is coming to Rotorua and is planning to open two restaurants - one at Redwood Centre and the other in the central city - creating up to 30 new jobs.

The company's network property director, Brad Jacobs, said they were working with a couple of parties to determine a franchisee for the Redwood Centre which they hoped to do by the end of the month.

They planned to open the cafe at the retail complex at the intersection of Tarawera and Te Ngae Rds early next year as they needed time to apply for a building consent and fit out the restaurant.

Mr Jacobs said they wanted to open another restaurant in Rotorua's CBD within the next two years.

The Coffee Club has 47 cafes in New Zealand including 30 in Auckland and the remaining in other centres including Tauranga, Taupo, Palmerston North and Hamilton. It opened its first restaurant in New Zealand in 2005.

The move to Rotorua was part of the company's plan to grow regionally.

Mr Jacobs said the Redwood Centre was a good-looking building and it was also good to be part of a new development.

About 12 to 15 staff would be employed at each of the cafes and recruiting for the positions at the Redwood Centre site would begin a month before it opened.

The Redwood Centre site is 180sq m with 140sq m indoors and 40sq m outdoors and will seat up to 95 people.

The cafe would initially open for breakfast and lunch and eventually open for dinner with a liquor licence on some nights each week.

Mr Jacobs said they were looking at Tutanekai St as a possible location for its second restaurant.

Rotorua Chamber of Commerce chief executive Roger Gordon said it was good to see a chain such as The Coffee Club coming to Rotorua.

"They are a very good brand. They operate a very good product. I'm sure it will enhance our supply of good coffee shops." Mr Gordon said he was also pleased to see they were planning to have a cafe in the CBD and hoped they would consider Tutanekai St particularly the block between the City Focus and Pukuatua St which had a number of vacant shops.