Pop-up restaurant at Greenpark School in Tauranga wowing diners

Year 5 pupils Tayla Holton, 9, and Jack Crozier, 10, helped to plan and run Greenpark School's exclusive pop-restaurant Ngaru. Photo / George Novak

A pop-up restaurant at Greenpark School is wowing diners with the hospitality and cooking skills shown by the pupils running it.

This week 150 pupils aged 9 and 10 have set up their own restaurant, complete with paying guests, in part of the school's new technology suite.

Senior teacher Ben Brock said he, four other teachers and the 150 pupils have been involved in the pop-up restaurant, called Ngaru.

"Absolutely everything is being done by the children, not just preparing, cooking and serving the food, but they also printed and sewed their own bandannas for extra hygiene in the kitchen, and printed the tablecloths and napkins."

Brock said the children also created the surf-themed artwork decorations, and have been involved in every aspect of running the restaurant.

Teams of 30 pupils from five classrooms each take a turn running the restaurant, while their teacher acts as head chef, he said.

Brock said invited guests paid what they thought was fair for their three-course meal and the menu changed daily as the next class took over running the restaurant.

The restaurant, which opened on Monday and runs until November 2, had already made $725 on its first day, with the money raised paying for surf lessons next term.

Brock said this was the second year the school had launched a pop-up restaurant aimed at expanding the children's learning and life skills.

Most of the children were foodies and regular watchers of food programmes such as MasterChef, and they relished the chance to be involved.

Classmates Parav Saily, 9, Jack Crozier, 10, and Tayla Holton, 9, helped greet guests and with some of the cooking. They were buzzing.

Jack said he had wanted to become a chef since he was 6 and being involved in Ngaru had inspired him to work hard to achieve that goal.

Tayla, a fan of the Great Kiwi Bake Off TV programme, said she had "loved the whole experience".

Among the invited guests were Fletch, Vaughan and Megan from ZM Breakfast show

Vaughn said he was impressed by the children's hospitality and cooking skills.

"We could be talking about the next top restaurateur or next Gordon Ramsay, although I haven't heard any swearing coming from the kitchen," he quipped.

Guest Kaywyn McKenzie said: "It's amazing. I haven't had this kind of service for a long time. The children are so highly organised and attentive, and the food was great too.

"I think it's really great to see the school thinking outside the box to enable the children to learn these sorts of life skills which can be transferred to other parts of their lives."