Franchise aims for more dough

By KARYN SCHERER

Australian-based franchise chain Bakers Delight wants a bigger slice of New Zealand's bread market as part of its ambitious plans for growth on both sides of the Tasman.

In Auckland this week for a board meeting, the chain's managing director, Braedon Lord, said Bakers Delight was confident it could persuade New Zealanders to increase their already spectacular appetite for bread.

New Zealanders eat nearly $800 million of bread products each year - an average of 50kg each.

This was well ahead of Australia, but bread shops' share of the New Zealand market was still well behind, said Mr Lord.

Even with in-store bakeries at supermarkets helping lift demand for more sophisticated products, bread shops had only 11 per cent of the market, he said. In Australia, the figure was around 27 per cent.

"New Zealanders, like Australians, are becoming more discerning about the quality of products they're buying and there's not that niche filled here as we see it."

Bakers Delight was founded in Melbourne in 1980 by baker Roger Gillespie and his wife, Lesley.

It now has 350 bakeries across Australia, and 12 in New Zealand.

It plans to open a further six in New Zealand over the next three months, and 30 more over the next two years.

Mr Lord said it wanted eventually to have about 600 bakeries on both sides of the Tasman.

The company is privately owned, with a board that includes McDonald's Australasian chairman, Peter Ritchie.

It claims its New Zealand bakeries are turning over an average of $10,700 a week - a figure Mr Lord admitted was below many of its Australian outlets.

And he said the company had learned some lessons since establishing its first New Zealand bakery in Pakuranga in 1995.

It was forced to close an outlet at Newmarket's popular Two Double Seven shopping centre, and some other franchisees had initially struggled. But the chain was now living up to its name, particularly in areas such as Mt Eden and Milford, where turnover had doubled over the past eight months, he said.

The company was now satisfied further growth was possible in New Zealand.