Caffe Roma History

Caffe Roma was opened one day earlier than intended on the 28th June 1993 at 7am - it snowed. Caffe Roma was started by Duncan Clark, Janet Gearey, and Ralph Simpson. Duncan and Janet had worked previously at another cafe in Christchurch, and Ralph, a long time friend of Duncan, had previously worked for IBM and was involved in professional photography and advertising.

The concept behind Caffe Roma was to establish a classically European styled coffee house that specialised in coffee, breakfast, brunch and lunch. An old building was found, with wooden paneled walls, high ceilings, timber floors, two large stone open fire places that are lit in winter, leadlight windows, and a beautiful view out the windows over the Avon River.

Almost ten years later, Duncan is the only one of the initial owners left and still works in the caffe. Caffe Roma has a very loyal, regular clientele and a fine reputation in all the areas it set out to establish.