Brown Sugar Cafe 2024

21/04/2026

BROWN SUGAR CAFÉ TAIHAPE – WE’RE HIRING ☕

Experienced Barista (part/full-time)
Experienced Orders Cook (part-time)

Fast-paced café — we’re looking for people who can step in and handle busy service.

We are especially interested in applicants available on:

Barista: Sundays & Mondays
Orders Cook: Mondays, Fridays & Sundays

One Weekend Day + some public holiday availability required.
Rostered shifts, with some flexibility available with notice.
Additional hours may be available to cover leave and peak periods.

👉 Send CV to [email protected]

or apply in person

10/03/2026

Kia ora everyone

Unfortunately the germs are winning at Brown Sugar this morning and we simply don’t have enough healthy humans to open the café today.

Rather than run a skeleton crew and risk sharing the bugs around, we’ve made the call to close for today and let the team recover.

Thank you for your understanding — we’ll be back tomorrow with coffee, cabinet food and hopefully a much healthier team.

The Brown Sugar cafe team☕️

27/02/2026

What a fortnight it has been!

We planned for the scheduled power outage. We did not plan for a weather bomb, a civil defence emergency, and now a perfect storm of limited staff availability...but here we are.

Rather than run a stretched service and burn out our team, we’ll be closed tomorrow. Saturday 28 February.

All going well, we’ll be open Sunday 1 March , 9am–3pm.

Thanks so much for your continued support ... we appreciate it more than you know. Brown Sugar Cafe Team

16/02/2026

We’re Open from 9am Tomorrow TUESDAY 17 Feb 2026.

After today’s severe weather and State of Emergency, conditions are easing, and we know a number of travellers are currently stuck in Taihape with SH1 south closed.

We’ll be opening from 9:00am tomorrow to provide somewhere warm and welcoming.

Please note we are operating under water conservation restrictions and may need to adjust service depending on staffing levels and conditions. We appreciate your patience and kindness toward our team.

A massive thank you to all our local emergency workers, council workers, and contractors who are out there clearing roads and restoring power, as well as to the farming community, who are often the first to clear the many rural roads in our district. You all rock!

Stay safe, everyone—and thank you for supporting local 💛

15/02/2026

CLOSED TOMORROW, MONDAY 16 FEBRUARY - SAFETY FIRST

Rangitīkei District Council has issued a State of Emergency due to severe weather and the risk of landslides and road washouts.

For the safety of our team—many of whom travel in from rural areas to Taihape we have made the decision to remain closed tomorrow.

We appreciate your understanding. Please stay safe and take care if you are travelling.

We will provide updates as conditions become clearer. 💛

The Brown Sugar Café Team

09/02/2026

Opening Hours Update ☕

Thanks so much for your patience and understanding — it really means a lot to our team.

We’re still a bit short-staffed, so we’ll be continuing with reduced opening hours for now.

🕘 9:00am – 3:00pm, 7 days a week

We’ll share an update as soon as anything changes.
Thanks for sticking with us 🤎

Brown Sugar Cafe Team

04/02/2026

We’re currently recruiting for two full-time roles at Brown Sugar Café:

☕ Experienced Barista
🍳 Experienced Orders Cook

Both roles are minimum 32 hours per week and include weekend and public holiday availability.

Full details and applications are via Trade Me:
Apply for Experienced Orders Cook: https://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=5767514895

Apply for Experienced Barista: https://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=5767557467

30/01/2026

A heads-up for our locals and regular travellers!

Our team has been working hard right through the Christmas period and summer holidays, and with some recent unplanned staffing changes and illness, we’re operating with limited capacity at the moment.

To look after our small but awesome team who are holding the line, we’ll be operating reduced hours for next week:

🕘 9:00am–3:00pm
📅 Monday 2 February – Sunday 8 February (including Waitangi Day 6 February)

Thanks for your understanding, patience and continued support - The Brown Sugar Cafe Team

26/01/2026

Taihape Sports and Outdoors

We’re on the hunt for an experienced short order cook to join our busy Brown Sugar Café team.
Permanent role, great team, and plenty of action. 🍳👇. See comment below for link to trademe job listing!

26/01/2026

We’re on the hunt for an experienced short order cook to join our busy Brown Sugar Café team.
Permanent role, great team, and plenty of action. 🍳👇. See comment below for link to trademe job listing!