A New Plymouth couple have created the perfect work-life blend after turning their garage into the neighbourhood coffee bar.
Proof and Stock’s Tāne Morgan and Adrianna Greenhill both come from hospitality backgrounds but working 9 to 5 for someone else provided a double shot of inspiration.
“The fact that I was getting told what to do was – I didn’t like that,” Morgan told Seven Sharp.
“I started to develop an uncontrollable twitch in my eye, and it was at that point where ‘OK, if this isn’t a sign, I don’t know what is’.”
“When we found out we were having twins, it was like, ‘Now’s the time,’” Greenhill added.
She said Proof and Stock’s first customers were their neighbours.
“We were pulling massive hours, opening at 6.30am and then having to roast because we’d sold out…
“We’d have so many days where we sold out of coffee.”
Morgan said while they initially started out with around 15kgs of coffee beans for the week “and then it wouldn’t take long before that was sweet for one day”.
The couple eventually invested in a roaster which matched their ambitions, borrowing the neighbour’s garage too.
Cups, lids and coffee grinds are all composted on-site, and the soil is given to community gardens. Even the plant-based milk cartons get a second life.
“Profit margins matter but I think you can spend time to sort of balance out the scales a little bit,” Morgan said.
Five years on, the café isn’t just pouring hundreds of cups per day – they’re also providing employment and a social hub.
The pair are now looking to start up a barista school for young Māori with guaranteed employment at the cafes they supply to.
“Coffee’s a great way to bring people together,” Morgan said.
“And the coolest thing out of that is that we’ve learnt their names, we’ve learnt their children’s names, where they go to school, where they go to work so it’s become more of a family dynamic,” Greenhill added.
“And we never argue,” Morgan quipped.
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