Tauranga company BakeShack's commitment to regular new technology and process upgrades has helped build its capabilities to the point where it can produce more than 6000 pies a day at its Hewlett Rd retail shop and bakery.
"As business keeps growing, we have to keep up with it," said Iain Bent, BakeShack's general manager, who founded the company in 1999 with five people, and now has a staff of 33 bakers, counter staff, packers and drivers.
The company supplies fresh pies, sandwiches, pastries and cakes to a range of wholesale clients from Taupo/Rotorua/Whakatane to Auckland and the Waikato to Coromandel, as well as to local retail and wholesale customers.
Developments have included installing a hi-tech automated pie-making system, manufactured in Australia to Mr Bent's custom specifications. Once cooked, the pies go directly into a new blast cooler installed by BakeShack last year.
"Our pies are cooked at 230C then go straight into the cooler to prevent any bacteria contamination during the danger zone, which is just after they come out of the oven," he said. That's in keeping with a commitment to establishing its own food safety programme, which Mr Bent said was at a higher level than council requirements, and included annual external audits by Quality Auditing Services.