Chur Bae

The newest addition to City Works Depot, an ode to casual dining, incorporating nostalgic flavours and ingredients in every dish to remind you what simple food tastes like. We're beyond excited to welcome the Bae brothers to the Ozone Family, with over 10 years of experience in the hospitality industry, the brothers were ready to make their mark. 

​​Pouring our Empire Blend Monday - Sunday, we had a chat with the Bae Brothers, Johnny & Chowder. 

Kicking it off with the easy question, what’s your coffee order?
Two batch brews please!

How did you come up with the name ‘Chur Bae’
When it came to naming our cafe, it took us a while to settle on a name that best represented our personality. There were other names that we had in mind but deep down we knew that there would be a name that suited us better. Johnny always joked about CHUR BAE but as we sat with the name, we thought it was perfect for us. CHUR is another word for sweet as or thank you and it obviously originates from the kiwi slang and it only made sense to use this word as we wanted to keep our name casual and more inviting. BAE is our surname and we know it sounds like a joke but really! It’s our surname. As you’d already know, BAE is originally an acronym for before anyone else but we added our own twist to it: “Before Anywhere Else!” come to CHUR BAE.

Opening Chur Bae has been a lifelong dream for you both, when did you first discuss the idea?
We’ve been thinking about this radical idea of opening our own cafe for the past 5 or 6 years but the dream definitely became more of a reality when we started to work in the same cafe together. It still doesn’t feel real that CHUR BAE has finally come true and we can’t say how much we appreciate the people that are willing to support us on this journey.

What did you do before Chur Bae?
Before CHUR BAE, we worked together at Dear Jervois and that’s where we learnt that cafes are more than just a place for people to have a cup of joe. We wanted to provide a space where people feel welcomed and make them feel like they’re a part of a family. And this is why we specifically wanted to start a cafe, its unique space that allows you to build relationships with people that you thought you’d never get to know but it happens organically just by serving them a cup of coffee.

Why did you want to open an Eatery/coffee shop?
We wanted to open CHUR BAE because hospitality is something that we only really known. It’s something that we’ve seen and grown up with from our parents as they’ve always been the kindest and caring people to everyone really. It’s hard to say one thing that made us open CHUR BAE but we know one thing for sure is that we love what we do.

What was the most important thing for you when building the Chur Bae dream?
The most important thing when it came to building the CHUR BAE dream was having the right team. We knew that having a great team would put us on the right path to make CHUR BAE a true hit. Young, our partner and head chef, is one of Johnny’s closest mates all the way back from high school and we are very fortunate to have him take the kitchen team under his wing and dish up food filled with love. Our barista Chloe, she’s awesome, not only is she serving gorgeous coffee but giving the warmest greetings to customers as soon as they walk through the doors. Joowan, our sous chef, also deserves an honourable mention for coming up all the way from Hamilton for CHUR BAE! Shoutout to the rest of the crew at CHUR BAE too. 

What’s a must try on the menu?
Ooooo.. Must trys on the menu?! All of them! But IF we have to pick one. Chowder: Mushrooms with BAEcon. Johnny: Croffle with BAEcon for the sweet toothers out there!