The Lab

Independent Wellington cafe with an in house bakery located on Victoria Street.

21/03/2024

When our bakers get creative. 🧑‍🍳 Featuring a hot cross-Croissant bun with spiced custard filling! Limited numbers available get it quick.

09/01/2024

Happy New Year 🎉 everyone, hope you have had an awesome Christmas and New years break! We are super excited to serve yall some good food and coffee. All our stores are open and ready to rock & roll ☕ 🍳 . See you soon ☺

30/10/2023

Great coffee? You know where to find us.

10/10/2023

It's an All good x The Lab collab!

Come get a carton of free oat milk with every oat coffee purchase. (limited to one per person). We are starting at 9 am till it's all gone.

See yall there! 😁

31/08/2023

Starting the day with a dose of creamy goodness 🥑🍞 and a flat white.
"

28/08/2023

Wellington showing up with the sun this morning 🌞. Indulging in the simple pleasures: a delightful blueberry danish paired with a steaming cup of coffee on a perfect day ☕️🥐

29/06/2023

From the oven to your plate. Our kitchen team is super amazing working hard to bring all the yummy foods to our store everyday!

02/04/2023

To celebrate our launch in The Hub at Victoria University Kelburn, we are collaborating with to give out 100 free coffees in their new vegan edible cups.

First come first served so be quick!!

Only available at The Lab University (Kelburn Campus).

19/01/2023

From kitchen to table to belly.😋

fnb

22/12/2022

It's our last trading day for the year (23/12) and we would like to thank all our lovely customers for your support all these years.We would also like to give a big shout out to all our super staff members working so hard during these challenging times we owe it to ya (yall know who you are ☺).

We will be back at it next year 💪

Customhouse Quay - 9th Jan, Mon
Victoria Street - 9th Jan, Mon
Presshall- 9th Jan, Mon
Uni Kelburn- 11th Jan, Wed
Pipitea- tbc

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 🎊🎅😀

11/12/2022

Wishing everyone a safe and happy festive season! It has been another great year, thank you Welly for having us.

- The Lab Crew

24/08/2022

Epic shot of our WOAP Krispy Kow burger 🍔 🤤
Charcoal panko deep fried beef patty with bacon, burger sauce, caramelized onion, smoked cheese, dill pickle. Served with. Onion rings. 🔥
by 📸

12/08/2022

We are so excited for WOAP this year as we got ourselves 3 amazing burgers from 3 locations (20 customhouse quay, Victoria street and Press Hall).

First up! : Black Bird
Tender charcoal panko deep fried chicken with pickled daikon radish, seaweed slaw, black katsu curry mayo, on a house made charcoal bun.🤤
Paired with Garage Projects new Chipper Hazy Pale Ale.

We will be open on Victoria Street this Saturday from 9 - 3pm.
(we have limited numbers so come fast)
See you soon.

31/07/2022

We have been getting multiple requests fo years to open at pipitea campus and now here we are! 😎

We are opening from 7.30am Monday.
We are also giving away 50 FREE COFFEES ☕. First come first served! 🏃

24/04/2022

Hey team! We are closed on ANZAC Monday, we will be open on Tuesday morning!

06/03/2022

Just want to give a big shoutout to all our customers and regulars that have been giving us so much support even through these trialing times.

Thank you all so much! 💪

We are operating as per usual, come in and say hi 👋.

27/02/2022

The look Phillip has when he sees a good sandwich!

Feat. Grilled chicken sandwich with kimchi slaw

02/02/2022

We got Eggs Bene all day every day!

26/01/2022

Wellington is back to its usual rainy self again. We have fresh muffins and warm smiles, behind a mask of course ☺.

25/01/2022

We are open as usual at all our stores under red light 🚦. Remember to mask up and get your vaccine pass ready ☺.

24/01/2022

First day of operation under red light 🚦
Click and collect from our Victoria Street store is available. Remember to mask up, sign in and get your vaccine pass ready.

https://www.thelabfnb.co.nz/order-online #/

19/01/2022

Fresh deliciousness always.

12/01/2022

Happy new year! Hope everyone is having a good start at work!

08/09/2021

All our stores are now open for level 2 ✌️ ! Remember to bring your masks with ya and sign in at the door! Have a wonderful day! ☀

05/09/2021

Not sure what to have for breakfast this week? We have a great takeaway selection! Link in bio

02/09/2021

Working from home on a sunny Friday? We got your smoothie and muffin fix!

Feat. Mango Sunrise
Click and collect link https://www.thelabfnb.co.nz/order-online

31/08/2021

The Lab updated their website address.

31/08/2021

Hey team! We will be open at our Victoria Street store at level 3 from 8am to 2pm (order at the door). Click and collect is also now live thelabfnb.co.nz/order-online see yall tomorrow! ☺
Link also in bio!

Claim ownership or report listing

Our Story

THE LAB BEGAN, FITTINGLY, AS AN EXPERIMENT…

…an experiment to elevate the quality and variety of food available to the
students and staff at Victoria University.

It was a simple premise, devised by a pair of VUW graduates, who saw the need for a greater range of appetising, affordable food & beverage options on-campus. Thus, to fuel the next generation of creative and academic minds, in February 2015:

Beginning with a foundation of speciality coffee, noodle salads and cold-press juice, The LAB quickly became the beating heart of all things food & drink at Vic. Stripping away traditional cafe boundaries, we encouraged our staff and customers to engage and have fun with us - including taking music requests, encouraging menu suggestions, and even giving away leftover food for free on Friday afternoons.

A LOT OF CAFES CLAIM TO
CREATE A UNIQUE ATMOSPHERE.

WE WALK THE WALK.

By 2017, The LAB had grown from a start-up café, to an iconic spot. With long queues around the corner every single day, and a much expanded menu, including smoothies, in-house baking, bagels, wraps, noodle-soups, and the best cheese scones in Wellington; we knew it was time to open a second location. Along came:

Then-known as LAB Central, The LAB Press Hall was a big step; a leap into the central waters of Willis Street. With a distinctly different clientele and new vibe, Press Hall allowed us to get back to experimenting. Thanks largely to a significantly bigger kitchen, we continued to develop our ‘Flux Bowl’ concept- a contemporary lunch offering that we had been conceptualising at The LAB Victoria. The word Flux, meaning continuously changing, aptly represented our intention- to provide a range of fresh, contemporary dishes made with locally-sourced ingredients, according to season.

NOT PRETENTIOUS.
NOT EXPENSIVE.
JUST BETTER BANG FOR BUCK.

Throughout 2018 we continued to develop our style, and at the end of the year we were stoked to open an exciting third location:

XXCQ gets its name from 20 Customhouse Quay- the address of the (then) brand new Deloitte Building, in which we opened. Smack-bang in the middle of Wellington’s business district, LAB XXCQ is mostly catered towards busy corporate workers. In a world where time is money, all too often food is deprioritised.

NOT ON OUR WATCH.

The LAB XXCQ provides a sit-down breakfast and lunch spot, where business meetings can occur alongside (not instead-of) quality food and drink. It’s fast, it’s busy, it does more than ‘get the job done'. And that brings us to the here and now. May 2020; and the launch of our latest project:

Our first ‘classic’ Wellington Café. Unlike our first three locations, The LAB Victoria St. is completely its own entity. Unattached to any institution, it is purely and simply a relaxed place to come and enjoy a brilliant brunch, or a cup of coffee. With a brand new menu, space for any size of group, and no pressure to leave, this is your spot to sit-down and relax.

WELLINGTON IS OUR HOME.

IT’S YOUR CITY.

SEE YOU SOON.

Contact the restaurant

Click here to send a message to the restaurant

Website

http://thelabfnb.co.nz/order-online

Opening Hours

Tuesday	08:00 - 16:00
Wednesday	07:30 - 16:00
Thursday	08:00 - 16:00
Friday	07:30 - 15:00
Saturday	08:00 - 16:00
Sunday	08:00 - 16:00