Café Rochester turns one

Ms Froon was working two days a week at the café when the previous owners advised staff that they were going to close.

After hearing the news, Ms Froon suggested to her mum that they could take it over.

The mother and daughter duo had always joked about opening up a café together but it had seemed like a pipe dream.

“I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for us,” Ms Froon said.

One year on, Ms Gledhill and Ms Froon have been blown away by the support of the community.

“The customer base has grown quicker than we had ever planned,” Ms Froon said.

“We had no idea how successful this would be. It’s honestly surpassed our expectations.”

The pair explained that the café had gradually evolved.

When they took over, they decided to open up the café and make it more spacious; they added comfortable couches and installed a bain-marie as well.

They now also hold regular community group meetings such as a mothers’ group.

A part of Café Rochester’s charm is that all the food is homemade.

“Everything we make, we make it fresh and we make it from scratch. Every warm meal, slice or cake, we create ourselves,” said Ms Gledhill.

This has meant that there has been a fair amount of experimentation.

“Sometimes we’ve trialled a recipe that we weren’t sure of and it’s been an absolute hit with our customers and other times we’ve thought something would work and it hasn’t,” Ms Froon said.

When they opened the café, the mother and daughter had no idea what kind of atmosphere they wanted to create for their customers.

They explained that one time a good family friend came into the café and said that it was just like having another home cooked meal at Ms Gledhill’s home.

Ms Gledhill said “that’s when it clicked for us that that is exactly what we want our café to feel like — homely”.

The pair said the support from local residents had been “truly overwhelming”.

Ms Gledhill and Ms Froon have made it a priority to give back to the community that supported them throughout the pandemic.

During lockdowns, Café Rochester staff began delivering family-sized meals throughout the community.

“We’re still delivering to elderly people who want an alternative to meals on wheels. We deliver to them most days after we’ve finished our shift,” explained Ms Gledhill.

As to what they have enjoyed over the past year, Ms Froon said that she had enjoyed the social element of building relationships with regular customers.

Ms Gledhill has enjoyed “cooking, the odd compliments and putting smiles on people’s faces by giving them something that we have created”.

To celebrate the café’s first birthday, each customer who bought a takeaway coffee was given a large biscuit instead of a mini one, which is what customers usually receive when they purchase a coffee.

Café Rochester also charged only $4 for coffees on the first birthday.

Ms Froon, who shares the same birthday as Café Rochester, spent the day working.

Café Rochester is open 9am to 2pm Monday to Friday, 9am to noon on Saturdays and is closed on Sundays.