Watery Mouth Café Celebrates 8 Years!
Sunday 24 February sees Watery Mouth Café turn 8 years old.
Watery Mouth Café is known for its fantastic coffee, delicious menu and cabinet food and for its friendly and efficient service. We’re proud of our rating of 4.5 out of 577 reviews on TripAdvisor – testament to our popularity with both a loyal local clientele and with visitors to Marlborough.
The café has an extensive and growing special diet menu, an app to speed up ordering coffee – either in store or from your desk – and an enviable central location close to motels and shops and overlooking Seymour Square. We are also an active supporter of school and community fundraising efforts.
The Watery Mouth Café’s mission is to create the perfect environment in which to enjoy the mouth-watering sensation that comes when you look at, smell, and eat delicious food.
Q&A with café owner Juliet Partington, a trained chef and ex teacher, with years of experience in the industry
What has been the best thing about your 8 years in business?
Building a positive relationship with customers and employees. Both the customers and the fantastic team we have are the reason for the café’s success. Building relationships is such an important aspect of our business model.
What has been the hardest thing about your 8 years in business?
Unfortunately, with a 3% unemployment rate in Blenheim and tourism/hospitality being the number one income earner for the country, getting staff can be a huge issue, particularly chefs. It has been a very handy skill for the business that I can step into this role.
Not having CBD recycling has also been a huge hurdle that I am continually trying to get addressed.
What are you most proud of?
The positive comments we receive on TripAdvisor. This is truly a reflection on my staff and the culture we have developed at the cafe. Social media can be both beneficial and detrimental to any business. In the hospitality industry, people are more inclined to give feedback than in any other industry. We take all feedback seriously and if the comments are not so good it gives us an opportunity to improve.
What might people not know about Watery Mouth Café?
We do lots of off-site catering – for business events, birthdays, special occasions, you name it.
What’s the most popular type of coffee?
Flat white.
Who are your customers?
Lots of business people, lots of locals and tourists from all over the country and abroad.
What do you get the most feedback about in the café?
The delicious food and coffee and our super friendly staff! Always nice to hear. Also, Paddington Bear is quite popular, and customers like our quirky sense of humour witnessed around the café. Not to mention our challenging Hangman game for a free coffee!
What’s next for the café?
If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. I believe that consistency has paid off. Customers know that they are going to get the same good service, hot coffee, and delicious fresh food every time they come.
Feedback from happy customers who have enjoyed Watery Mouth Café in 2019:
Great cafe! Great Staff! Don’t miss out if your in town!!!! We spent both are mornings here for breakfast and coffee….Just great people working there…
Had a late brunch and the food was lovely. Great little eating establishment that does a great range of the all-day breakfast and good coffee. The cakes looked fabulous…maybe next time.
Breakfast
Great place great service excellent food
Found the place traveling through lovely group of girls running the place
Happy people in the morning are the best.
First of all. How could you pass up a restaurant named the Watery Mouth Cafe. I mean, really? The staff was great. I had the Avocado stack with poached egg and sweet potato. great. The sweet potato was shredded and prepped like hash browns under the avocado and poached egg- just great
The next time I had the French toast and was just as delicious.
Funny sign at the bottom of the stairs that said “Any unsupervised children upstairs will be given a shot of expresso and a cockatoo.” What ever! Loved it.