Call made to back Carterton firms

CLOSING UP: Owner of Tarragon Cafe in Carterton, Kevin Shipp, packing up the closed cafe. PHOTO/ALISA YONG

A popular Carterton cafe has closed its doors after unsuccessfully searching for a buyer for two years.

Tarragon Cafe on High St closed down last week, with owner Kevin Shipp saying that, with the lease expiring in May, it felt like the right time to wind the business up.

"That's why we've closed now, because we've had a staff member leaving and we thought it was unfair to employ someone for just two months."

Mr Shipp said although the cafe was a meeting place for many groups it was not generating enough sales to keep going.

"We've lost quite a bit of money through the business - but that's all part of owning a business, you take on the risk and you try to manage that risk as best you can. Once the restaurant was closed, we tried to make the cafe work and we reduced our deficit down, but we never made a profit.

"If you don't get the clientele coming and paying, you can't stay open, because you haven't got the money to do so. If people in Wairarapa want businesses to stay here they have to support them financially."

Several other businesses in the town were also for sale or moving to other towns, he said.

People needed to get behind Carterton retailers and spend more money in the town, Mr Shipp said. "They don't realise that they've got to support it and encourage it to grow. There's going to end up being no retail shops in Carterton, because people are just going to drive through because there's becoming less and less to make you stop."

Established as a restaurant/bar after the demise of The Lounge Bar, Tarragon Cafe replaced Cafe Bambino and was intended to be a place where people could meet for a drink, he said.

"I thought if you had a bar/restaurant and a cafe you would get the income stream from the bar/cafe and the income stream from the restaurant too.

A trained chef, Mr Shipp said he initially had no desire to own a restaurant or cafe, but set up Tarragon so Carterton people would have somewhere nice to go.

But with inconsistent demand and often only walk-in customers at the restaurant, it became clear the business was not sustainable and the decision was made to put it on the market two years ago.

"We realised the restaurant and bar wasn't going to take off, so we wanted out.""

Of the four staff employed at the cafe, two have found other work and one has moved to Wellington.

Mr Shipp plans to turn his full attention to the auction house he runs next door to the cafe.