Michelle and Ross Hancock are ready to go on Glasgow St. Photo / Bevan Conley
Michelle and Ross Hancock have come from Marton on a mission - to make good, simple food.
The couple have opened Reset Cafe on Glasgow St, filling the space Cuban Belle once occupied.
“We’ve pushed the reset button on life and that’s really where the name came from,” Michelle said.
“Before this, I had an upcycling shop called Molly’s and Ross was a farmer.”
She said they had gone “old school” with the menu.
The menu features burgers along with an all-day breakfast, toasted sandwiches and a kids’ selection.
“There will be a lot of sandwiches ready in the cabinet, with margarine in them because you don’t seem to get that these days.
“If you get a croissant the lettuce will be on the side. The lettuce won’t be heated. All the things I hate when I go out somewhere, that’s what I’m not doing.”
Members of the public had been coming to see what was going on in the space, and they had been rewarded with a free coffee for their efforts, she said.
“They made the effort to come in and say hello so they got a coffee, no worries at all.
“Hopefully they keep coming back.”
Ross said when people went to eat out, they wanted to be acknowledged and see happy staff.
The cafe will open from 7.30am to 4pm, Tuesday to Saturday.
“Eventually, when we move over here and get things up and running, we are going to open three nights a week with a different menu.
“It’ll be like going to the pub for a meal.
“We have a liquor license and we’ve leased the building, so let’s make the most of it.”
Michelle said the couple thought opening a cafe would be a way to semi-retire, but a visit to a smaller-sized establishment in Feilding made them realise that probably wouldn’t pan out.
“We went in there and I thought ‘Oh, they seat less than us’, and then ‘Oh s**t, how many people are working in there?’.
“There were six. We looked at each other and said ‘we are going to need help’.”
They have since hired two more workers.
Ross said he and Michelle were enjoying working together, but it was a good thing Reset had a liquor license.
They are now looking for somewhere permanent to call home in Whanganui.
“We need to move here so the trip home is only five minutes of not talking instead of half an hour of not talking.”
Reset Cafe opened this week at 85 Glasgow St.
After more than 50 years, the association is still achieving its aims.