Tuihana Cafe / Foodstore

We’re all familiar with how to pay with Eftpos or a credit card, so much so that only a tiny 9% of the payments made at the cafe are cash.

You may have noticed the reader we've had on the counter for some time: this supports Visa payWave and Mastercard paypass.  Both are contact-less payment methods.

What does this mean exactly? Instead of having to swipe your card or insert it if it’s a chip one, you can just hold your card near the reader for a second and the payment is complete.  There is a daily limit (dependent on your bank) and your card needs to support it – it should bear one of the logos below if you card is supported:

Click here to watch a video we recorded to see how fast the payment is.

We asked ASB, our bank, some questions about this new technology:

What % of cardholders have paywave/paypass on their cards?
We can’t disclose the number of ASB card holders that currently have Contactless functionality on their cards, but all of our Visa Debit, Gold and Platinum, and MasterCard Low Interest, Standard and Gold products are issued with Contactless functionality.

What % of merchants support the above [contactless functionality]?
The number of merchants that support Contactless functionality is growing as terminals that are certified as ‘Secure for NZ’become available to market. Currently the big players are Event Cinemas,K-Mart, Bunnings, and The Warehouse, with more in the pipeline.

How fast is contactless payments?
The best speed seen is under 2 seconds from presenting card to being accepted.

What campaigns has ASB done to inform customers of what paywave/paypass is?
For ASB customers, we have had various in-branch collateral available since we introduced cards with Contactless functionality. Any cards that are issued to customers are accompanied with relevant information about how the new functionality works. We also have info on asb.co.nz which includes the basics about how Contactless works and frequently asked questions. We have also recently blogged about cards with Contactless functionality.

From a merchant perspective, we offered a promotion to terminal resellers and merchants before the 2011 Rugby World Cup for our first Contactless terminal sites.

We are currently working on managing the changeover of merchant terminals [to Contactless terminals] on a group-by-group basis, depending on what the merchant’s needs are. We’re looking at factors such as lost sales due to time in queue (customers waiting for sales to be processed and then abandoning their purchases), and additional throughput in busy areas such as bars, lunch bars, supermarkets. Currently these are reviewed on a case-by-case basis and then the relevant actions are determined.

If you have any queries, please ask here or feel free to ask us in the café – we’re happy to explain it in person.

2012 was a blast! Read what we had planned last year here.

Yes, we've been slack. We've been so busy that we're nearly two weeks overdue with this post.  Hopefully the cool stuff we have instore will make up for our tardiness.

So what can you look forward to from Tuihana this year?

Last year we launched our new menu with lots of fresh, new ingredients.  This year we are looking at pushing the envelope ever further, by making nearly all our sauces and spreads on premise.  You will see lots of things get fresher.  As always, we love to hear your feedback.

The demand for catering is ever increasing, so we're developing a new catering menu, which you'll be able to order right from our website for your next function.   We may be previewing some of the yummy options at Thursday's coffee cupping evening...

At the moment, we're changing our kitchen to make more space for cold and frozen storage.  We're also trying to move things around so that our kitchen is more productive, and we can get food out quicker.  Since the beginning we've not had enough power points in the kitchen, so tomorrow we're getting our resident electrican to fix the problem once and for all.  No more blown fuses for us!

The improvements are not just behind the scenes.  The labels in the food cabinet are changing, we will be making water and glasses much easier to get to, plus we're adding in another bar leaner area with power plugs for your laptop and other electronic devices.  We're not revealling too much at this stage, you'll have to visit the cafe to see these changes for yourself.

We haven't forgotten about our presence online - the newest addition is our new mobile site.  With this you can easily see our the daily photos of our yummy food, browse our menus, read our reviews and contact us.  If you're looking for the cafe, it also has a handy Google maps function, giving you the directions from wherever you are right to our doorstep.  We'll blog about the new mobile site in the next few weeks (if you really can't wait, get a sneek peak here).

Once again, our biggest thanks to all our customers, you make our day totes amazeballs :)

From the chirpy peeps at Tuihana:

Nate, Leslie, Noonoo, Cantilena, Kat and Philippa.

As we get closer and closer to Christmas and the summer holidays (where did the year go?!), we are getting a stack of enquiries about using the cafe for private functions.  Since we've been quite lazy and missed a blog post for October, we thought this would be a perfect topic to play catch-up on our blog :)

The first question is always about cost, and our response is always, “what is your budget?”.  Whether it’s a 21st party, or a product launch or a surprise 60th (all events we’ve done in the past), we can work the catering so it best suits what you can spend.  In most cases, there is no room hire charge.

For food, you can have the option of a full sit down dinner/dessert or just nibbles.  In the case of nibbles, our staff bring them around to your guests which stops big bottlenecks around one food table; this also lets people continue chatting in small groups around the room.

The next big, and some would say, most important thing: booze. We are licenced (we’ve got a full selection of beers and wines) and can put on a bar tab to suit your budget.  As your function goes on, you can raise/lower the tab depending on how quickly your guests are going through it.  Our licence allows us to keep partying it up until 3am.

Decorations and layout – it’s up to you! We can put the tables in a large square or remove them completely so you have a dance floor (we can help organise a DJ).  We allow you to re-arrange the café to exactly how you want it.

Timing is a common question.  Most of our evening functions opt to start around 7pm, finishing up around midnight.  If you'd prefer something during the day, we’ve also done a few lunches around 1pm.  We have the capacity for 50 people.

If it’s a business event, we offer free WiFi, allowing all your attendees easy access to the internet on their laptops, phones and tablets.  The café also has plenty of white wall space suitable for projecting onto.

Parking is also a breeze.  In the evenings our neighbours are nice enough to let us use the full building’s car-parks (about 100 of them, most of them covered).  This removes the hassle of trying to find a car-park on the road, and it’s far more secure and very well lit.

Finally, location.  We are based at the city end of Dominion Rd, 2km from the Sky Tower.  For people travelling from all over Auckland for your private function, Tuihana is very much a central point to catch up.

This answers most of the common queries we get, as always, if we’ve missed anything, please ask away in the comments section below or drop into the café/call us (630-4374) to have a chat.

This morning, after months of hard work, we're pleased to launch our new loyalty system.  

We didn't want our customers to have to carry around another card, or remember a code; the system simply ties into your eftpos/credit card.  After registering, all of your purchases are linked against your card (we can save up to four different cards).  Each $1 spent is worth 1 point, and we've setup a whole lot of rewards when you hit particular thresholds.

Over the next two months we'll be phasing out the coffee cards where you collect stamps for each coffee.  This new system is much better as all your purchases, not just coffee, earn you points.

It's very quick and easy to sign up, and you only have to do it once.  Please click the Become a Tuihana VIP link on the front page of our website and sign up your details there.  Alternatively, you can signup by txt - just txt tuihana your-email-address to 4664.

As always, we're happy to run you through it next time you visit us at the cafe.

Enjoy!