Five days of hard work are over for Garry Kristiansen and his partner, Lee Tweeddale, with the opening of Kristy's Cafe in London St on Thursday.
Mr Kristiansen's first cafe was in Raetihi, where his reputation as an ace pie-maker and cook spread far and wide, especially among truckies travelling the
North Island.
They would pull off State Highway One and detour into Raetihi for one of the famously large feeds or a pie or two.
Mr Kristiansen admitted yesterday that he and his "invaluable" partner were suffering from a lack of sleep.
The couple had been working day and night for five days to get the new cafe up and running.
They said they had simply outgrown their small pie and coffee shop in Victoria Avenue - and that was after just 15 months.
And the new cafe has meant a large team of staff has been hired to keep the cafe running smoothly.
"This is a much bigger operation ... three times as big as anything I've done," Mr Kristiansen said.
As well as having its own parking area, the cafe sits cheek-by-jowl between Motel 151 and the St Johns Garden Centre on London St.
An attractive covered walkway that runs between the garden centre and the cafe leads to a second outside dining area amid cool and inviting fernery.
After just two days, groups of customers were filing into the cafe at regular intervals.
"It's great. Day two and people just keep on coming in."
Even though it has been a "mission", including getting tables made by a local joiner out of macrocarpa from Kai Iwi, Mr Kristiansen reckons it's going to be a great move.
"Couldn't do without Lee and all my great team though. It's as much about Lee and the team as it is about me."
Kristy's Cafe is open seven days a weeks from 7am to 5.30pm.
