A new owner & name - it's all change at Mud Ducks

Wanganui's information centre cafe is to re-open this weekend - with a new owner, a new menu and the new name of Mud Ducks.

Tim Watson is the owner, and has a lease on the Moutoa Quay site that he can renew for 12 years.

The place will start as a cafe, but may later become a bar or restaurant, he said. It would still have a menu and cabinet food, but the menu would be different. Items being discussed are lambs fry and bacon and kippered hoki for breakfasts, and duck burgers for lunch.

Mr Watson has six staff to help him run it. He said all had experience in the Wanganui cafe scene and some had worked overseas as well. They include his friend Ruth Sicely as chef, and his Scottish aunt Kathy Dague as baker.

The cafe opens at 8.30am seven days a week.

Mr Watson didn't want a boring name for his new business. He said Mud Ducks was partly the result of his uncle suggesting Mudbucks as a variation on the popular United States chain Starbucks. It was also a reference to the muddy river outside.

Mudbucks didn't get his approval, but he and his brother played with other ideas and he liked Mud Ducks.

"I wanted something that was different."

The cafe is in the process of getting a liquor licence, and a bar has been installed in one window.