Eighteen months after its creation, Koru Café, healthy restaurant space associated with a bookstore and a coworking space, remains a unique place in Reunion. Maya Picard, founder of this coffee shop like no other, does not, however, refrain from duplicating, eventually, the formula in Saint-Pierre.
A concept combining bookstore, coffee shop and coworking is new, and undoubtedly not only in Reunion. Among his sources of inspiration, Maya Picard first cites the coffee shop corners integrated into large bookstores in New Zealand, a country she knows well. It also evokes a certain exotic urban style encountered in Paris, Madrid, etc. In all cases, we are far from the simple original idea which was to install one or two armchairs with a small coffee service within the France Loisirs bookstore. Maya Picard has management training in hospitality and catering. From Bordeaux, where she goes to follow additional training as a barista and creation of a coffee shop, she came back with a radically different project. This project, this is the one we see when entering the Koru Café. A truly exotic place, open to the outside. Fast food restaurant with a square counter complemented by a few tables along a wall window. The decoration is soothing with its colors and plant ornament. Upstairs, coworking spaces, comfortable, elegant, typed, were set up in premises which until then remained unused.
A clientele from 10 to 90 years old
“I wanted customers to feel like they were traveling when they came here. Koru, the emerging fern, is a Maori symbol of new life, new start, new cycle. It's the first word I learned in New Zealand. He gave meaning to my project when I returned to Reunion. » With, 18 months later ? “Things went better than expected. Despite two months of closure due to confinement six months after opening. Or rather thanks, because I experienced a real boom upon recovery ! » The advantage of this “three in one” concept, is that it allows several audiences to mingle. “The bookstore brought me my first customers. Today, the whole forms a whole and my clientele mixes. It ranges from 10 to 90 years old ! » From 10 years old in fact, because the Koru Café, which offers breakfast, lunch and snack, has carved out a reputation : we eat well and good there.
“The catering clientele tends to come from the neighborhood. Most of them are people who work or live nearby.. » For the coffee offer, Maya Picard is in charge. It is supplied by the company Zistoir. (ex. Southern Coffee). For the quiches, salads, pies and other sweet desserts, she uses quality caterers, mainly women. The Koru Café aims to be a showcase of several know-how and creations. Their list can be discovered on the establishment’s website.
Le coworking, a big family
The other big idea, le coworking, also attracts people. Mainly by word of mouth. The space consists of a meeting room with 12 seats, a small five-seater and a four-seater lounge, to which is added an open space where six people can sit side by side. Each room has its own decor and personality. The attractive offer including the pack of 30 days a year for 300 euros did the rest. Coworking finds its customers. Antenna Meeting, Orange, to name some of its best-known users… An insurance company rented the entire floor to hold workshops. A customer works on site every day. “He has coffee with us every morning. We are becoming a big family” smiles Maya Picard who nevertheless considers it possible to further develop this coworking part. As for the creation of a second Koru Café, coupled with the France Loisirs bookstore in Saint-Pierre, it’s still just an idea while waiting for the young Dionysian establishment to walk with confidence on its two legs…
