Located on Market Street in Blenheim Central, Bocky Boo Gelato Cafe serves a variety of house-made gelato, refreshing sorbets, desserts, and freshly brewed coffee. It provides a welcoming local spot for an afternoon treat or an espresso in town, holding a strong 4.7-star rating from over 90 customer reviews.
Blenheim's town centre has its own branch of one of New Zealand's cheeriest gelato stories. Bocky Boo Gelato Cafe sits at 85 Market Street, serving house-made gelato, sorbets, desserts and coffee from 10am to 9pm, seven days a week. Like every Bocky Boo store, it runs on a simple promise: a fun place, run by families, for friends and families.
The first Bocky Boo opened in Whangarei, started by Chris and Ruth De'Ath after the family returned to New Zealand from four years of Mission and Aid work overseas. They saw a city centre that needed a fresh injection of life, and wanted a business that could keep supporting aid work from home. Bocky Boo was the result — a gelato cafe where the whole household mucks in. Chris, Ruth and all four children have worked in the business at various times, and their youngest was pretty stoked to become a shareholder at the age of ten.
Growth was anything but smooth sailing: the business knew just three Covid-free months in its early life, re-inventing itself at every alert level so the "famous licks at Bocky" stayed available to anyone and everyone. In November 2022 a second store opened in Rangiora, in partnership with the van Berkel family — kindred spirits who shared the passion for a family business and a desire to support mission and aid work, in a town the De'Aths had called home for 25 years. From there the family of stores kept growing, reaching Blenheim and, most recently, Halswell in Christchurch — all under the same ethos, with franchisees invited to "be a Bocky Boss."
The heart of the Blenheim cafe is the gelato cabinet. Gelato is made in house, with sorbets churned alongside for a fruitier option, and the range follows the flavours the brand is known for — check the Flavours page or ask in store to see what's scooping today. Around the cabinet sits the rest of a proper dessert cafe menu: barista coffee for the grown-ups and the commuters, waffles and cafe desserts for anyone wanting something more substantial, and gelato cakes — the brand's answer to the birthday question — which can be ordered online ahead of the big day.
Bocky Boo also travels. The team offers gelato carts and catering, plus pre-ordered gelato scoops and tubs, so the same scoops that fill the Market Street cabinet can turn up at parties, weddings and community events around Marlborough.
What people tend to remember is the atmosphere. Bocky staff are known for creating a welcoming, fun, friendly space — the kind of cafe where kids press their noses to the cabinet and nobody minds. The branding leans into the fun too, right down to the house pro tip: only ever eat gelato on days that end in Y.
Practicalities are easy. The Blenheim cafe is open 10am to 9pm every day of the week — long enough for an after-school treat, an after-dinner wander or a weekend family outing. You'll find it at 85 Market Street in Blenheim Central; call 03-927 3165 or email [email protected] with questions, and follow the store's social pages for flavour news.
Whether you come for a single scoop, a double with coffee on the side, or a full gelato cake for the party at home, you're taking part in the same idea the De'Ath family started with in Whangarei: good gelato, made by a family that genuinely enjoys sharing it.