Once, long ago, in the days before café culture….
Paula Miles started making ‘real’ coffee back in 1971 when she had a school holiday job in the Takaka Tearooms. Photo: Gerard Hindmarsh.
Last month was the 30th anniversary of the establishment of one of Nelson province's longest-serving cafés, the Wholemeal Trading Company of Takaka. Before this bastion of alternative culture came to town, there were only a couple of tearooms in Golden Bay. However did we, and all the holidaymakers, ever manage?
"Quite easily!" says Paula Miles of East Takaka, whose first holiday job (aged 14 and still at Golden Bay High School) was working in the Takaka Tearooms. This shop was part of the old Takaka Theatre building, occupying the space where the Wholemeal kitchen is now. "Most people came in for pots of tea, rolled ice creams and milkshakes. Not a lot of people ordered coffee back then, but we did make filter coffee when asked. I reckon we were the start of the café culture in Golden Bay."
The manageress of the those tearooms back then (1971) was Tau Perkins, sister of well-known local identity Andy Joseph. Paula recalls her boss as wonderful to work for: "Everybody loved her; she had a great personality and had a loyal clientele. Mind you, the only other tea rooms in the town was the Col-Inn just up the road, where Feel Good Food is now."
Paula later went to work for Cos and Jan Jeffries, who in late 1978 set up the Wholemeal Trading Company. This was originally conceived as a bulk food co-op by a group of young settlers who moved onto a block of land they called Te Paamu (The Farm), at East Takaka. The Jeffries seized the opportunity to lease the by-then-defunct tearooms that Paula had earlier worked in, and set about converting it into a hub for Golden Bay's new settlers. The café's name came during a late night "session" of shareholders around the fire. Gourmet theme evenings with a set menu quickly grew in popularity, and art added to the flavour, with many emerging artists holding their debut exhibitions here.
Wayne Green, the Wholemeal's owner for the last 20 years, says that although the café has stayed fairly true to its original ethic and look, it has had to change and grow with the town.
"Keeping up with the coffee culture has been a big one," he explains. "Especially now, of course, we're competing with half a dozen other funky cafés all within a few hundred metres."
Wayne gives himself credit for installing the first dedicated espresso coffee machine in the Bay. He also dropped the bulk foods in the early 90s and revitalised the menu, adding more exotic cuisine from around the world. The recent expansion of the Wholemeal Café into what was the theatre auditorium led to a marvellous rediscovery. The false ceiling was removed to reveal the original embossed metal panels of the high-vaulted ceiling that now adds a decidedly crowning ambience to the café experience.
Demand for caffeine in Takaka now seems insatiable. During the busy summer season, 25 employees sharing two shifts at the Wholemeal can serve, along with food, over 1,000 coffees a day. During winter, customers go down to an average 200-250 per day. Seven-day-a-week dining offers full breakfast, lunch and dinner menus, quite an upgrade from three decades ago, when Friday night was largely it. Then the fare was herb teas, smoothies, an assortment of vegetarian food and sweet treats, namely bliss balls. Décor furnishings were vinyl beanbags and low tables made from old doors, all surrounded by hessian-covered walls.
Paula's job at the Wholemeal during this earlier time had been mainly to bag up bulk foods for the original owners. Later she worked in the kitchen and as a barmaid at both the Junction and Globe Hotels before taking up a cooking job in Taupo. After a stint as a cook for a mining company in Papua New Guinea, which also entailed sourcing all supplies, she came back to live in Takaka where she took over Milliways restaurant in 1989 and renamed it the Cabbage Tree Café. Catering work around the district followed.
"Amazing really, it all started for me making milkshakes and pots of tea in the Takaka Tearooms."
Gerard Hindmarsh
