Goodtime Pies in Napier needs workers to help them make a million more pies a year

Goodtime Pies managing director Eric Hill and new product development manager Paul Barber unload a tray full of pies at their Napier factory. Photo / Supplied

A Hawke's Bay pie-making company will be baking a million more pies a year after signing a new supply deal.

Goodtime Pies' bakery already produces 13 million pies, rolls and savouries each year.

But next month the Napier bakery will be a lot busier thanks to the new deal brokered with one of New Zealand's most loved gourmet pie brands - the name of which is commercially sensitive.

Goodtime managing director Eric Hill said despite Covid-19 interrupting production and its supply chain, the business was in expansion mode.

"Covid made us have a hard look at our business and we have come out stronger," he said.

"We have the footprint and potential production capacity but will definitely need a bigger team."

Goodtime supplies Z Energy with pies, while the other arm of the business - Focus Distribution - supplies more than 1000 smaller customers including dairies, cafes and schools throughout the country.

They also supply larger, industrial canteens through a supply deal with Compass catering.

Under the new production arrangement the bakery will produce more than 60,000 pies a day.

Hill said they were approached because of their expertise in pastry and dedication to make pie-making.

"We've built up a reputation for our pastry quality as well as our fillings so it was a natural fit."

Hill said their bakeries in Napier and Christchurch could also handle the numbers needed to supply supermarkets nationwide.

The business employs more than 100 people, but with its current rate of expansion more staff will be needed.

Hill said he hopes the change in the shift pattern established during Covid-19 will help to recruit additional staff.

When the pandemic caused the nationwide lockdown, Goodtime condensed their weekly shift pattern into four 10-hour shifts to reduce the number of days their Napier team spent outside their home bubble.

"When we moved back to full production after lockdown, we asked our local team whether they'd like to continue with the four-day week and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive," he said.

"We trialled it and it was incredibly successful. Now everyone gets a three-day weekend every week - it's like gold."

Goodtime also have an award-winning vegan range, which was created with Z in 2015. Hill said it was a popular staple for Goodtime customers.

"Changes in diets, preferences and an evolving industry means we have to be flexible and adaptive in our business," Hill said.

He said the company's exciting expansion would bring many new opportunities for their suppliers and partners in New Zealand, "and of course opportunities for the people of Hawke's Bay".