Running a cafe always seems a precarious and hard line of business to be in. People can be fickle where they take a coffee and business can not always be guaranteed. However there seems to be a growing number of cafes in New Zealand and my husband and I are pleased about this. We like a cheese scone and a sausage roll. We appreciate these businesses with their friendly staff and delicious goods. We have sampled quite a few cafes as we have travelled around.
As travellers, with time on our hands, the coffee experience is often more drawn out than rushed. We often say as we sit on the pavement out in the sunshine “We could be anywhere in the world”. Maybe not anywhere but we feel lucky to be able to sit peacefully sipping our drink, viewing the inhabitants around us without the danger experienced in some places on this planet.
We also have the time to notice, not necessarily understand, the system the cafe use to dispense the coffee and cake. Systems vary. In some places you put the food on your plate, in other places only looking is allowed. Some cafe systems ensure you get the food first, in others the liquid precedes the carbohydrates. Sometimes the cheese scone and the coffee coincide with each other, sometimes they do not. Sometimes the staff member who takes the order also makes the coffee. Sometimes it is the job of another person. Sometimes heating a sausage roll is a prolonged affair.
Identifying orders also differ depending on the establishment. Sometimes a wooden spoon with a number on it is enough to signal ownership of the sandwich and sometimes your name is required. Sometimes the croissant or smoothie is delivered to where you are seated, sometimes a round contraption on your table rings and vibrates signally it is you that needs to rise and forage for the food.
Systems differ in each cafe. Some systems enhance the cafe experience, some systems bring on a little frustration.
No matter. Drinking coffee in a cafe is a bit like living in a caravan. The systems used to navigate this life, whether efficient or not, do not detract from the overall good feel of the experience.