Sunflower Cafe manager Kellie Nathan says the offer is aimed at getting people to "tell their friends".

A new cafe in central Auckland is grinding down the competition by offering free coffee.

It has been two weeks since Sunflower cafe on Wyndham Street opened, and the offer has many people asking "what's the catch?".

Cafe manager Kellie Nathan says the offer is aimed at getting people to try their coffee and if they like it to "tell their friends".

"It's hard with a new business, you don't know what you are getting. If they come back we've done our job. Even people yesterday, their coffee was so good they got another one."

In her nine years of making coffee, Nathan said "free coffees all day" is not something she has seen in Auckland.

"We're competing with the cafe next door. They give away free muffins. How do we compete with that? We do free coffee," she said.

The idea was suggested by their Roma coffee roaster's supplier, Kent Rich, who said there can be an expectation that people will run in the door to a new cafe.

"The reality is that it is a tough environment and you need to do something a little bit different to get people to step over that threshold."

Rich said they had supported the store in the venture to get people "hooked" on their coffee.

"The whole idea is really to get some repeat business for the following week and the following week after that.

"It's really tough for an individual cafe to compete so I guess that's where you come up with a few different stunts to get people through the door."

Rich said compared to paying for advertising, free coffee was a relatively "cheap stunt".

"You've spent whatever you spend to set up a cafe. To be honest, a week of free coffee is pittance [compared] to that sort of cost."

A local cafe owner is not too concerned about the offer affecting their company, adding Sunflower almost "hit the jackpot" in their location following the announcement of construction of a new building across the road in November.

A Wellington business owner, Jade, was lured by the free coffee offer on her way to a nearby meeting.

"I do feel a little bit naughty because I just came in, sat there and had a free coffee. What I have done is instagrammed it and snap chatted it to friends," she said.

"I think it's pretty bold, as a business owner myself. It's a pretty risky innovation. However, the staff are great and the coffee is great so I wish them well."

- Jordayna Brewer is an AUT journalism student