Zookeepers Cafe's days at current Tay St site numbered

Friday, 12 July 2019

Paul Clark of Zookeepers has been running his quirky cafe for 29 years. The business is shifting as his current building is due to be demolished as part of the Invercargill CBD rebuild.

Invercargill cafe owner Paul Clark says it is an odd feeling given his days operating Zookeepers out of its current Tay St site are numbered.

The Zookeepers Cafe was expected to close its doors sometime in the next couple of months to make way for the inner city block demolition, which will be developed into a largely undercover retail and food and beverage precinct.

Clark hoped to operate out of another site in the future, although he conceded trying to recreate what they had built up at the Tay St site during the past 29 years would be challenging.

Zookeepers Cafe owner Paul Clark has been running his quirky cafe in Invercargill for 29 years.

'You think about a lot of things. I'm 64, what do I do? You also think about the staff you've got to take with you if you can.'

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Clark met this week with HWCP Management Ltd - the company behind the inner city development - to talk through relocation options.

The Richardson Group has offered Clark a building across the road in Tay St, which he was considering.

The problem is that it's not set up with a commercial kitchen. A complete fit out mirroring what the Zookeepers Cafe had now could be in the ballpark of $400,000 to $500,000, he said.

Clark was investigating the possibility of having a mobile caravan kitchen incorporated inside the new building.

Whatever did happen to the Zookeepers Cafe, Clark said he was fully supportive of the inner city development in Invercargill.

Clark opened Zookeepers on September 13, 1991, and was somewhat of a pioneer for the cafe scene in the city.

Zookeepers is known for its quirky setting which included its corrugated elephant sculpture above the front entrance, a large blue polar bear, or the various colourful bits and pieces which lined the walls inside the cafe.

Setting up such a unique offering in Invercargill which was deemed very conservative in the 1990s, proved challenging for Clark.

'It was really tough for 18 months, it was a struggle. [Zookeepers is] not conservative, we are out there so we found it tough.'

'I remember the day [we opened] vividly. We had a big party and I was wearing an earring with a giraffe hanging from my ear.

'We got known as a gay bar after that for some reason, which caused a bit of a problem.

'I could have gone conservative in those days but I went with my nature. It's held that trend all the way through which is good.'

Naturally Clark was proud he had survived those tough times and had become an institution in the Invercargill food and beverage scene.

'A lot of cafes have opened up after us and are going strong and making good coffee. Once upon a time, there was only one or two making good coffee, it's pretty competitive now.'

During Clark's 29 years operating Zookeepers he has been a big supporter of the Tour of Southland, which was highlighted by the various memorabilia he has collected and now displayed on the walls of the cafe.