Pastry chef David Winterbottom moved from the UK to New Zealand with a dream of running his own bakery business and enjoying a better lifestyle.
Ten years on, he is delighted to find himself doing both and still being within an hour of the capital city. “We can drive into Wellington from home for the restaurants and dining and everything else, but living and working back out on the Kapiti Coast you could be a million miles from anywhere.”
David has found doing business in the Wellington region full of opportunities. The company has an ongoing relationship with the Business Growth Team at Grow Wellington which began in June 2012. “The people there are very friendly and like others in Wellington willing to give you lots of help and information.”
The business took part in the Visa Wellington on a Plate Supplier Showcase, run by Grow Wellington in conjunction with the Wellington Culinary Events Trust. This was a great opportunity to show product to buyers and search for new industry markets, explains David. “The hospitality trade is very active in Wellington and there’s a high number of restaurants and cafes per capita.”
He is aiming at new offshore markets too. “We have got plans to export which would be a great area to take the business into.”
David lives and runs his business in Otaki around one hours commute from Wellington.
These days he employs seven full-time staff at his business Kapiti Artisan Bakehouse. The businesses produce 1600 handmade loaves a day for a nationwide market. Ingredients are completely natural with no preservatives, additives or artificial colours and are produced using traditional methods like overnight fermentation.
It’s a lengthy process, David explains, but one that results in a product that appeals to bread lovers all around the country. Transportation of product is no problem from Wellington.
“We’ve got great links in this region with major highways running through the region so we can get out products all through New Zealand.”
The bread is refrigerated and arrives fresh, David explains. “So when the customer bakes the loaves off it’s just like having homemade bread”.
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