Kiwis to take bite out of 'national dish'

Paul Barber (left), Goodtime Foods product manager, Jessie Stanley and Bill Dalton with part of the first shipment heading to Australia. Photo / Supplied

The first of five 40-foot (12m) containers crammed with pies is on its way to Australia from Goodtime Foods' Napier bakery.

The pies have been produced for Auckland gourmet pie-maker I Love Pies, which won an order from international membership warehouse club Costco.

Costco warehouses in Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide will stock the 48-pie frozen pie boxes.

I Love Pies started in farmers markets and now has wide-ranging retail outlets, including Countdown and New World supermarkets.

Co-founder Jessie Stanley said Costco was approached a year ago but the order was too large for its Auckland operation, which also had export-compliance issues, so the matter was put to tender.

"Goodtime Foods was a natural choice for us because of their dedication to quality, an impeccable manufacturing facility and focus on doing things the right way," she said.

Costco had a business model unavailable in New Zealand. People paid to join a club and diverse supermarket offerings were usually bought in bulk, ranging from a "diamond ring to a 100-pack of toilet paper".

Goodtime Foods managing director Phil Pollett said exporting to Australia was a lifetime goal.

"For us, a major focus for the future is to build an export-specific bakery capable of producing 50 million pies every year using our own designed-and-built pie machines," he said.

"The entire Goodtime staff is excited to be involved with I Love Pies ... and it marks the beginning of what we hope will be an on-going and mutually beneficial relationship."

The pie flavours are Angus beef mince and onion, Angus steak and rosemary, Moroccan lamb and spinach and creamy vegetable korma. Three of the pie flavours were new but all would be available for the domestic market in the 48-pie box due to client interest.

Ms Stanley expected the relationship with Goodtime to continue, with more opportunities in Australia, Asia and the US, the home of Costco.

"We hold similar values and are really passionate about pies and, importantly, we can share a laugh ... having that rapport is important to us too."

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton said "as a connoisseur of pies", he was proud to acknowledge Goodtime's success.

Goodtime sells millions of pies a year and expanded its Onekawa bakery to keep up with demand. Major customers include Z Energy, a supermarket brand and the Government.

The meat pie has been described as Australia's national dish but Kiwis eat 15 a year, compared with Australians 12.