Freaky Cafe
Freaky Cafe serves restaurant-quality fast turnaround eats alongside carefully considered jams.
It’s not just coffee and kai, we are serving music to our customers too.
Freaky Cafe is a feisty newcomer to the Auckland cafe scene, serving restaurant-quality fast turnaround eats alongside carefully considered jams. OneMusic caught up with Freaky's Diva Giles to learn more about the beating heart of the cafe.
How long has Freaky Cafe been open, and what was the journey leading up to opening the doors?
We bought it as a going concern and ran it as it was for a month. We got to know the customers, the neighborhood and then we closed for a week to renovate and rebrand as Freaky. That was 3 months ago. But the journey to get here started when I got back from my mini OE to waitress at Prego in Ponsonby where Logan was cooking. When he finished his apprenticeship we went to London together, worked in some great establishments, The Dairy is famous for it’s food and should be better known for it’s music. We did our best to eat Europe, always with an eye to run our own place one day. We came home and it took about nine months hunting, haggling and researching before finally opening Freaky.
What is the best thing about running a cafe?
Easy, being able to play whatever music we want!
What is the most challenging thing about running a cafe?
The lack of certainty about income from week to week, but that is getting easier now we are a bit more established. So it’s the challenge of costs and pricing. We use really quality ingredients but have to be competitive with cheap city eats. It is important to us to serve food and coffee that is sustainable and ethical as well as delicious and we have to do it at a price our customers can keep coming back for.
What are the three things you like most about living in Auckland?
Always being close to the water and Jacinda walking past while we’re eating Lucky Tacos on a Saturday. Logan loves the volcanoes, “Volcanic City!” and me I love our Maori and Pasifika vibe, our uniquely pacific city. Mauri ora whanau!
In the mix of things that make up Freaky, how important is music?
We actually talk about this all the time. Music is one of the most important factors for us, it helps create a vibe. Music takes a lot of thought and energy, we have get the music recipe right. It’s not just coffee and kai, we are serving music to our customers too.
Have you noticed differences in customer behaviour in relation to the music you play?
We play quite a bit of disco and R'n'B which always gets people dancing. Nicky, who is a lovely customer of ours is always Shazaming songs and chatting about music with Logan, our Freaky DJ. It’s great getting recommendations from people too, We've been introduced to some great tunes from our customers. When a gig is in town, a favorite artist has a new release, or a music legend passes we have “tribute day” and play that artist from open till close.
Do you play different music at different times of the day?
In the morning we play more cruisy chilled out vibes, then at lunchtime we change the pace and the style. It’s breakfast with Lord Echo and lunch with Ladi 6 and Fat Freddys. For us and our customers music can turn really turn your day around. Before and after service it our time to play, We get to boogie with Biig Piig or Erykah Badu at 6 am and Teeks helps us relax while we clean up after service.
What are three artists or bands you are excited about at the moment?
Rejjie Snow is awesome, he makes regular appearances on our speakers. Really excited about Tom Scott’s new album and there’s a fun song by a French singer that we love- Makeba by Jain.
What is Freaky Cafe's Desert Island Album? If there was only one album you could play all day, every day, what would it be?
A Horsemeat Disco mix is always a good idea, gets everyone grooving and brightens up the day. Can we bring our Buttermilk Pannacotta and make it Dessert Island instead? Come visit!
You can find Freaky Cafe at 15 Wakefield Street, Auckland Central. Pop by for a bite to eat, a coffee and some carefully considered jams.
Illustration by Jonnie Ritchie