On The Up: Volare bakery celebrates trilogy of achievements - including hot cross bun award

In the lead-up to Easter, Hamilton’s famed traditional bakery Volare has a trilogy of achievements to celebrate. Four months into its 16th year, the business has opened a new store, moved into a bigger bakery and won the Silver Award in Baking NZ’s Great New Zealand Hot Cross Bun Competition. Maryana Garcia visited the Gallagher Drive premises this week to see what all the fuss was about.

“Plenty of spice, plenty of fruit, plenty of butter.”

That’s what makes the perfect hot cross bun, according to Volare bread department manager Dion Mackwood.

The Waikato Herald met Mackwood as he swept the bakery floor at the tail-end of a shift that began at 1am.

“Easter is such a hard time in all bakeries,” Mackwood said.

“Your normal production doesn’t stop. It actually increases and then you add hot cross buns on top of that.”

Volare bread department manager Dion Mackwood (second-left) said the Silver Award for the bakery's hot cross buns recognised a 'massive amount' of teamwork. Photo / Maryana Garcia

This “massive amount of work” made winning the Silver Award meaningful.

“It was acknowledgement of a lot of hard work from the team.”

Volare’s hot cross buns last placed in the competition in 2016 when they were awarded first place.

Since then, the recipe hadn’t changed much, Mackwood said.

“We may have just added a little bit of fairy dust and that’s about it.”

Mackwood said this year’s award proved the quality of Volare’s hot cross buns hadn’t changed over the years.

“It’s even better,” Mackwood said.

“If we can punch you in the face with a burst of flavour, I’m quite happy.”

Volare's award-winning hot cross buns, pictured here just before packaging at the business' new bakery, are ready for Easter. Photo / Maryana Garcia

New premises, same recipe

The news comes as Volare moved production into a new bakery and opened an attached store this week.

Volare marketing manager Holly Phillips described the space at Hamilton’s Gallagher Drive as “lighter and brighter” with more customer parking, a coffee window and more space for customers to sit down.

“It’s been really busy,” Phillips said on opening day.

“We were a little bit nervous but it’s been sunny and bustling.”

Phillips said the old bakery was “bursting at the seams”.

“We’re growing. We’re getting this big new bakery but we are still true to what we were.”

Volare bread department manager Dion Mackwood at the business' new Gallagher Drive store. Photo / Maryana Garcia

Mackwood said it was nice “not to be working on top of people”.

“We made it through Covid, made it through three buildings. That’s really cool.

The best part of the new arrangement, Mackwood said, was the coffee.

“But another thing that I really enjoy is the odd interaction with customers.

“When I go around and order my coffee, I usually chat. It’s good to get that direct feedback.”

Mackwood said there were three things he wanted customers to experience.

“Flavour, quality and consistency. Probably in that order,” Mackwood said.

“That’s the trilogy. If you can achieve those three things in any business, you’ll do well.”

Maryana Garcia is a Hamilton-based reporter covering breaking news in Waikato. She previously wrote for the Rotorua Daily Post and Bay of Plenty Times.