Welcome to The Kirk Cafe
Book online or call 021 910 978
The best ingredients
We use fresh quality local produce where possible.
Fresh baking daily.
Book online or call 021 910 978
Amazing meals & great entertainment
We hope to see you soon!
We’ve always found that there’s something uniquely inspiring about the energy created by a bunch of people who are having an amazing experience together and all vibing on the same wavelength. That’s why at The Kirk Café, we wanted to build a community filled with kindness, fuelled by quality and sustained by respect.
So we created an experience focused café, serving contemporary fusion food, attentive service and incredible coffee.
Contemporary fresh NZ fusion food
Amazing Team
Award winning meals, delivered by an amazing team
Benjamin Teyssier
HEAD CHEF
Benjamin Teyssier grew up testing his mothers’ baking, licking the wooden spoons from the delicious dishes she would create.
From Montages, the largest ski resort in France, Ben started his life as a graphic artist but clearly cooking was always in his blood.
His mother, Christina is English and trained at Le Cordon Bleu cookery school in London, while his father Marc is French and worked as ski patrol on the slopes of the French Alps.
“Food for me is about harmony. There is a balance to it. Food is also about creating, flavours, textures and colour”
Ben came to New Zealand for travel and worked around the North Island at various restaurants.
He started in Palmerston North and eventually moved to Raglan; Ben loves to surf.
In Raglan is where he met Kersti Mead-Johnstone in 2016. Both were working in a café there, Kersti Front of House, and Ben in the kitchen.
Kersti was in the early stages of opening her own café so with the mix of both skill sets it seemed a fantastic match.
“Food is about fresh ingredients. Everything should be made from scratch, its especially important to me”
Kersti Mead-Johnstone
OWNER – FRONT OF HOUSE
Kersti started her hospitality career at 14 years old, washing dishes in a local Pub in the depths of the English countryside whilst still at school.
She loved the fast-paced kitchen environment and the vibe of a busy restaurant.
When she was 17 her family moved to the Highlands of Scotland where Kersti did some Tertiary study in Hotel Management, which enabled her to work in some one of Inverness’s top Hotels – The Kingsmill’s Hotel and Culloden House Hotel.
Her love for Hospitality followed her to New Zealand when she emigrated in 1996 from Inverness, Scotland with her family.
Kersti worked at a few restaurants when she first arrived in Hamilton and in 1997 was employed by an entrepreneur at iguana Street Bar and Restaurant. There she gained valuable experience in managing not only people but life skills.
“ I can honestly say the experience I learned for the 9 years I worked at iguana has moulded the person I am today”
Kersti left iguana in 2005 and worked as a tutor teaching hospitality. From there she still worked within the industry often holding 4 jobs down at a time – tutoring, working nights and weekends at various cafes.
Kersti says “it doesn’t feel like work when you love what you do!”
In 2016 an opportunity came along to open her own café. That is when she met Benjamin Teyssier at that time working as a Head Chef in Raglan.
The Kirk Café opened its doors on 14th January 2017.
Kersti works on the floor as barista, serving customers, a dishwasher and general cleaner. She firmly believes in being a role model, setting examples of how to work hard
“I would never ask a team member to do something I wouldn’t do myself”
