Fiona Hannah and Liz Beech from Cinnamonui have expanded their kitchen to cope with the demand for their cinnamon scrolls. Photo / Logan Tutty
Fiona Hannah and Liz Beech from Cinnamonui have expanded their kitchen to cope with the demand for their cinnamon scrolls. Photo / Logan Tutty
A staple stall at the Whanganui River Markets is expanding its production, a year after the business closed its cafe doors.
Cinnamonui, famous for its cinnamon scrolls, has expanded and moved into a brand new kitchen.
Formerly at the bottom of Victoria Ave, Cinnamonui moved on from its cafe justbefore the Covid-19 lockdown to focus on producing scrolls for markets in the region and suppliers.
Cinnamonui's Fiona Hannah felt all the extra work that came with running a cafe took away from their true passion.
"We tried do too much. We were spending too much time not doing scrolls. If you stretch yourself too wide, you don't do anything as well as you could," she said.
Hannah is joined by granddaughter Liz Beech, who together bake three days a week for online orders as well as preparing for the weekly river market.
The pair have assembled an industrial style kitchen in the basement of Hannah's home, allowing them to double their production. Previously operating out of Hannah's personal kitchen, space was a premium.
"We can bake more, simple as that. We won't be tripping over each other which is nice."
During Covid-19 alert level 3, the pair used their website to do deliver to locals.
"That went really, really well. Mother's Day was crazy. Since coming out of lockdown, the online side has slowed down a bit, but local support through the markets has been amazing.
"We are doing way better at the markets we were doing prior to Covid-19. You can see Whanganui is really thriving from all of the visitors."
Shirley McDonough checks out Fiona Hannah and Liz Beech's stall at the Saturday River Markets. Photo / Lewis Gardner
As well as their signature scroll range, the pair have become known for another sweet treat over the last few months.
"We do fudges. The fudge is going really well. We have played around for a couple of other ideas, but they are a surprise.
"But basically, we really want to concentrate on our scrolls. That's who we are and what we are."
The pair hope to continue building their brand online, attend all the markets as they can and get their scrolls into more cafes across the region.
"A couple in Palmy would be really awesome," said Hannah.
