Recently we had the pleasure of working with Air New Zealand to celebrate the launch of their direct Chicago flights.
With our flagship US store being in the other Windy City, it was a great opportunity to connect and share a slice of the Mojo way with some of the local Chicagoans. Two of our team, Dale from Wellington and Georgia from Auckland, were lucky enough to head over on a smooth Air New Zealand flight to take part in the festivities.
We asked them both to share some thoughts from their time away...
Tell us a little bit about your trip and what you did while you were there.
G: The trip itself was to be a part of a 3 day Air New Zealand activation which showcased their new direct flights to Chicago. Aside from making coffees and giving people a better idea about New Zealand, we also went on an architectural tour along the river which was really interesting, along with a little shopping and some more sightseeing
D: The trip was short, sweet and awesome. There for 5 days, we arrived late at night to be met by Steve (Mojo big boss). We were up and out the next morning, down to the Mojo café for breakfast and a catch up with the staff. Then it was time for the Air New Zealand x Mojo activation -we made over 600 coffees a day and talked to hundreds of Americans about coffee about what a flat white is, about New Zealand and Mojo in Chicago (lucky we had lots of coffee on tap!)
After the event was over, we celebrated how our hard work over drinks in the Willis building, 70 floors up!
What are some key differences that you noticed between the coffee culture in Auckland and Chicago?
G: I think a big difference that I noticed was that their filter style coffee is a lot more popular than in New Zealand. A lot of people didn’t know what flat whites/ lattes etc were and if they were familiar with the name they didn’t know what it actually was. They also had nitro coffee which I’d never seen or heard of before. I was interested to try it but sadly didn’t get the chance.
What was a highlight of the trip?
G: A personal highlight was being up in the Willis Tower in time for the sunset, the view was amazing and you could see across the whole city. During the event, I also loved meeting lots of people and hearing the stories of their life or how they ended up in Chicago themselves.
D: The highlight for me was the contrast of being in a new environment; Chicago's cityscape is unrecognisable with buildings that look like they are on steroids. Then you walk into the foyer of the Willis Tower (where Mojo is) and I’m home. I sipped my flat white and people watched with Fat Freddy’s playing.
What do you enjoy about working for Mojo?
G: I love working in hospitality but the key thing about Mojo that I like the most is the sense of community and the support that you get from all other staff members. I enjoy moving around stores meeting everyone and the customers are all really lovely so it makes the days better and considering I had very little coffee experience when I started I think I’ve learnt quite a lot in the past 8 months that I’ve been here.
D: The connection with our customers, being able to chat to them about their daily lives and uniting over a commonality- coffee!
