Crave Cafe is a not-for-profit eatery built around a simple idea: one of the basic cravings of humanity is to connect, and outstanding coffee, superb food and engaging conversation in locally-crafted spaces are a brilliant way to do it. The cafe is owned by a collective of neighbours — a 'whanaungatanga', or sense of family connection through shared experience — rather than a hospitality company. It was started after locals were asked what their neighbourhood needed most, with addressing social poverty topping the list, and every dollar of profit goes back into the community.
The kitchen keeps things fresh: the menu is updated regularly to incorporate seasonal ingredients and the team's own 'chef-ly experiments', while the cabinet is updated daily. Alongside the main and drinks menus there is a dedicated kids menu, and the space suits everything from a quick flat white to long lunches and business meetings — regulars praise food that is always good and well-cooked, plentiful servings and remarkably fast service, even at busy weekend peaks.
Crave's community focus extends well beyond the counter. Twice a year it hosts street parties with free food and free coffee to help neighbours connect, and it partners with Loyal Workshop in Kolkata, selling their ethically crafted leather bags and satchels in-store. Catering for events, private meeting rooms and functions are on offer too, and gift cards plus its own coffee through Common Good Coffee make it easy to take a little of the experience home. Every visit quietly supports the neighbourhood — #somegoodinourhood.
Crave Cafe exists for a simple reason: people crave connection. The idea behind the cafe is that outstanding coffee, superb food and engaging conversation — served in locally-crafted spaces — are a brilliant way to show 'manaakitanga', a spirit of hospitality embracing welcome, kindness, generosity and respect, especially to those visiting.
Crave is not owned by a hospitality company. It belongs to a collective — a neighbourhood 'whanaungatanga', or sense of family connection through shared experience. Some years ago a handful of neighbours decided they wanted to make their suburb a better place to live. They asked locals what the neighbourhood needed most, and the answer was clear: addressing social poverty. So they chipped in and started Crave, with every dollar of profit going back into the community.
That model took shape in Auckland's Morningside, where Crave grew from Crave 1.0 — a tiny 20-seat space — into Crave 2.0, doubled in size by punching a giant hole in the wall into the 'Nana's lounge' space. That version gained a stage for events, a PA, an upstairs bar and meeting area, and a huge custom community table built as a physical expression of the cafe's values. In September 2016, after months of planning, renovating and painting up a grimy old tyre warehouse, Crave 3.0 opened across the road on the corner of Morningside Drive and McDonald St. The spirit shaped in those spaces — belonging, a seat for everyone, a table worth gathering around — is the spirit carried wherever Crave pours a coffee today.
The kitchen keeps things fresh, literally. The menu is updated regularly to incorporate seasonal ingredients and what the team cheerfully calls 'chef-ly experiments', and the cabinet is updated daily. Alongside the main menu and drinks menu there is a dedicated kids menu, so the cafe works just as well for family breakfasts as it does for business meetings.
Regulars clearly rate it. One business-meeting regular describes food that is 'always good, well-cooked', with plentiful servings and service so quick the plates land 'barely before you blink' — impressive, they note, considering how busy the cafe gets on weekends. Another regular sums up the draw more simply: in a fast-paced world there is real peace and happiness in helping others, and that ethos sits at the core of all that happens at Crave.
Community is the whole point, and it shows. Twice a year Crave hosts street parties with free food, free coffee and, in its own words, free love — a chance for neighbours to actually meet each other over a cuppa. The cafe also partners with Loyal Workshop in Kolkata, India, selling the group's ethically crafted leather bags and satchels in-store and using its leather straps on the team's aprons; Loyal Workshop exists as part of a programme helping women escape the sex trade.
Crave also caters. One customer hired the team for a 60th birthday with around 50 guests on a fixed budget — Crave brought the food and cooked it in the hosts' own kitchen, so everything arrived fresh and hot while the hosts actually got to enjoy their own party. Private meeting rooms, functions and venue hire are available too, and tables for up to 12 can be booked online, with larger groups welcomed by arrangement.
If a visit isn't enough, Crave sells gift cards, and its coffee is available to take home through Common Good Coffee, its online shop. That is the quiet appeal of the place: the coffee and food stand entirely on their own merits, and every cup quietly funds street parties, community initiatives and a stronger neighbourhood. As the team puts it — happy days. #morningsideforlife #somegoodinourhood