Main Street Cafe Huntly wins award for rhubarb and raspberry pie at NZ Pie Awards 2025
While Linton-Brown couldn't remember how many pies she made on the days they sold out, she believed it was hundreds.
Linton-Brown, originally from Auckland, fell in love with pastry when she was still in high school.
But it wasn't until 2022 that she opened her own cafe. It's a family-run business, with her children heavily involved as well.
For the family, the awards win came after 'rough' times and challenges, which meant Linton-Brown had been almost ready to close the cafe's doors.
'We've been broken into, which cost us a lot of money, and recession for our business was tight too.
Huntly's Main Street Cafe won Gold for their rhubarb and raspberry pie at the 2025 Bakels NZ Pie Awards. Photo / Malisha Kumar
'It was either dig my heels in further or close my doors,' she said.
But closing up shop did not come easy to her.
'I'm no quitter.
'I don't want to give up, and I kept that capacity in me to keep pushing forward.'
Having overcome those challenges made the national pie award win taste twice as sweet.
'We dug our heels in, and it was hard. But I'm incredibly grateful I did.'
Other Waikato winners were the Baker Tīrau, taking silver for its steak and cheese pie and Hamilton's High Bakery and Cafe, which won silver for its vegetarian pie in 2024, and this year won silver for its bacon and egg pie.
The sign outside Huntly's Main Street Cafe. Photo / Malisha Kumar
The High Bakery and Cafe posted on social media: 'We did it again'.
'Thanks [to] our loyal customers for believing in us, supporting, and enjoying our pies.'
Lunchbar Eighty 8, also of Hamilton, won bronze for its creamy paua pie in the Gourmet Meats category.
Auckland's Rosedale Bakery & Cafe won the Supreme Award for its potato top pie.
The first Pie Awards were held in 1996 to inspire the baking industry to keep on innovating.
The Bakels Supreme Pie Awards have now grown to around 600 entries across 11 categories, which are blind-judged by a panel of industry experts.
Malisha Kumar is a multimedia journalist based in Hamilton. She joined the Waikato Herald in 2023 after working for Radio 1XX in Whakatāne.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
3 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
From refugee to mini pastry empire: Baker creating pies 'that inspire me'
Serey Chum's steak and cheese pie placed third out of more than 400 entries at the Bakels NZ Pie Awards. Photos: Geoff Sloan From humble beginnings, 73-year-old baker Serey Chum has built a mini pie empire - and earned acclaim for his top-quality pies. At the prestigious Bakels NZ Pie Awards held recently, his steak and cheese pie was third out of more than 400 entries in its category. Referred to as the 'Pie-Olympics' due to the high number of entries, 520 bakeries nationwide submitted 4600 pies for judging in 11 categories. 'I'm very excited to win our first medal in any competition,' Chum said. Chum's journey to bakery success was not straightforward. Driven by the dream of a better future for his wife Mey and four children, Chum and his family fled their homeland of Cambodia on foot, taking only what they could carry. In the early 1990s, Cambodia was gripped by political unrest, with Khmer Rouge insurgents still active and the government imposing strict controls on citizens. 'We never felt safe, it was like North Korea. There are no freedoms like here (New Zealand). No freedom to talk or do anything.' The month-long escape to Thailand involved sleeping rough and foraging for food. The Cambodian government forbade people leaving the country. 'If we got caught it would have been bad, but luckily we were okay,' Chum said. The family was granted refugee status in Thailand and migrated to Sydney in the mid-1990s where Chum worked as a storeman and machine operator. He had seen pictures of New Zealand and heard it was a great place to live. 'It's four seasons in one day. Beautiful green country, peaceful.' In 2001, Chum and his family moved to Christchurch after he was offered a job at smallgoods business Hellers in Kaiapoi. 'I worked there for a while and then went into partnership with my friend Tao Leng who had bakery experience,' Chum said. The pair opened a shop, Bakery on Bower, in North New Brighton in 2002. It was there Chum discovered his passion for pies. He studied, took courses, and refined his skills. 'From that day on, I made the pies that inspired me. I wanted to learn more about them.' Chum's son Oudom said his dad was a very hard worker. 'I remember my dad at the beginning. He would work seven days, sometimes from 4am to 10pm, perfecting pies.' Serey Chum bought Aorangi Bakery two weeks before the February 2011 earthquake. Photo: Geoff Sloan Chum always had the goal of one day owning his own business. 'When the opportunity opened up for him, he gave it 110%,' Oudom said. After three years at the Bower Bakery, Chum was able to buy out his partner, with a plan to expand the business. Just two weeks before the February 2011 earthquake, he purchased Aorangi Bakery on Greers Rd – a move that saved his business after the Bower Ave shop was badly damaged. 'It must have been a premonition, because when the earthquake hit, our Bower Ave building was badly damaged,' Chum said. The Greers Rd branch was undamaged. He later acquired Woodend Bakery in 2016, and in 2019 added Sockburn Bakery to the business. Chum took over Lincoln's Rustic Bakery Cafe in August last year, changing its name to Selwyn Bakery. Oudom manages it, while Mey and daughter Pisey operate Aorangi Bakery and nephew Dara runs Sockburn Bakery. Chum manages the Woodend branch, which recently doubled in size to supply baked goods to the other locations. Fifty staff are employed across the four bakeries. 'This year was a hard one for us, with the economy a bit slow at the moment,' Chum said. 'But we still sell around 1000 pies a day across the four bakeries.' The Selwyn Bakery. Photo: Geoff Sloan They offer about 30 different pie options, including a new corned beef silverside pie added this month. Most of the ingredients are sourced from North Canterbury. 'We use quality ingredients, to make it worth the money customers pay for it,' Chum said. The bronze medal pie was created by Chum's nephew Soth Mai, who perfected the recipe with feedback from his Selwyn Bakery workmates. 'One month before the competition I practised making pies daily and let them taste the results,' Mai said. 'They let me know what to improve – the colour, the texture.' The pies have earned Chum a loyal following – not just from locals, but from sporting stars like Dan Carter, Richie McCaw, Sam Whitelock and Will Jordan. 'Regular customers are just as important,' Chum said. 'Without the support of locals, we wouldn't be here.' Despite the success, Chum is not slowing down, with plans to enter every category in next year's pie awards. 'Next year we will have more time and more space and the plan is to enter all the categories, this time with new product. 'I'm hoping we can work towards a gold medal in the next couple of years,' he said.
NZ Herald
4 days ago
- NZ Herald
Cambodian bakers sweep 2025 Bakels Supreme Pie Awards
Apart from those at the top, it's hard to ignore the many Cambodian names in the full pie awards lists every year, as well as those joining other baking competitions. The bakers themselves believe their country of origin has made them resilient and hard-working. Cambodia's French colonial history has also given them palates sensitive to pastry. Support from within their community has also been key. It is not uncommon for someone to work in a bakery run by a family member or a friend when they first arrive in New Zealand and pick up baking – that's how eight-time supreme winner Patrick Lam got a break. Patrick Lam (second from right) winning the supreme award in 2023. From left: Jessica Lam, Darren Lam, Lay Phan Ho, Patrick Lam and Lawrence Lam. Photo / Supplied Lam, who runs bustling bakeries in Tauranga and Rotorua, left Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge regime and went through 'a very difficult and traumatic time'. After staying at a Vietnamese refugee camp then living in Australia for some years, Lam and his family finally settled in New Zealand in 1997, where he learnt baking from his brother-in-law and started his business the same year. He says Cambodian bakers are often 'very hard-working' and 'take a lot of pride' in what they do. 'Many of us have come from backgrounds where resilience and resourcefulness were essential, and I think that carries over into our work,' Lam says. So is among those who have thrived after mastering baking techniques at a relative's bakery. Supreme winner of the Bakels Supreme Pie Awards in 2025 Samraksmey So and his wife, Sothdalika Sao. Photo / RNZ, Yiting Lin He picked up his skills from his pie-making brother-in-law, Bunnarith Sao. This year, So's potato top pie outshone that of Sao's to take out the gold award. So says many new migrants follow the footsteps of those who have established their business and life here, which explains why there's an increasing number of Cambodian-owned bakeries in New Zealand. 'I think my people work hard,' says So, who needs a pillow for his legs when he sleeps at night after standing for long hours in the kitchen. He says sharing ideas with family like Sao, as well as diligent research and testing on his own, helps improve the quality of his baking. 'Everything I do is by my heart and about love,' he says. 'I want everyone in New Zealand [to] know about me and about my brand, and the shop [to have good food and good pies].' After receiving a highly commended in the 2024 awards, So spent a year studying every detail to perfect his 2025 entry. He worked with a chef from a five-star hotel to get it right, and worked past midnight cranking out test pies before finally nailing his swirled potato top pie with a centre of fondant-style cooked potatoes finished in au gratin layers. Bunnarith Sao. The success of the younger Cambodian bakers has made him very proud. Photo / Supplied Another apprentice of 52-year-old Sao, Sok Keo from Milldale Bakery in Wainui, north of Auckland, also won gold this year for his steak and cheese creation. Sao has been running his bakery in New Zealand for 21 years and has bagged plenty of prizes himself. Sao says many Cambodians come to New Zealand for a better life, and are prepared to work hard. '[Baking was] the last option for my life,' he says, explaining it was hard for him to find a job in NZ so he had to learn baking from a friend to make a living. 'Sometimes [we must] force ourselves to do the job. We can't choose it.' The exposure to European tastes during French colonisation has helped Cambodians develop an instinct for good baking, Sao says. 'The Cambodian people, [our] tongue...I know [our] brain and [our] tongue know that flavour.' The very first female baker to win the supreme pie awards, Sopheap Long, also acknowledges the French influence. Sopheap Long winning the supreme pie award in 2021, with her husband Bunna Hout. Photo / Supplied 'I've never seen a pie in Cambodia till I came to New Zealand,' she says, 'but the cake, the artisan bread, they're seen in Cambodia because [there are] a lot of French bakeries over there.' She still remembers being 'over the moon' with her victory in 2021 – becoming the first woman to win in the award's quarter century history. It took lots of research and experimenting to successfully nail the perfect pastry, the filling and at just the right temperature. Pies being sold at Rosedale Bakery and Cafe in Auckland's Northshore. Photo / RNZ, Yiting Lin 'If you're talking about pies now and the pie like 20 years ago, it's really different,' Long says. 'The classic ones are still popular, like steak and cheese, mince and cheese, potato top pie or mince pie... but nowadays the pie is different because people are looking for something different.' When Long dines out, she often considers whether the meal she orders could be put into a pie, such as beef stroganoff. '[There are] very modern, very fancy pie right now,' she says. 'It's not like 25 years ago when I first came in New Zealand. So yeah, [I'll] keep learning.' She says she often talks about pies with her Cambodian baker friends. '[We] just learn from each other. [We] look up to each other and inspiring each other to do better and better.'
NZ Herald
6 days ago
- NZ Herald
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown urges Government to reconsider bed night levy to reboot city's struggling economy
Bridges urged the National Party-led Government to consider serious policy or fiscal stimulus across New Zealand, especially in major cities, to help 'get things going'. The bleak state of Auckland's economy was underscored by a Herald story this month showing a 6.6% drop in card spending in the central city between April and May 2024 and the same period in 2025. The picture was even starker on Karangahape Rd, where spending plunged by 22.5%. It had been the worst winter ever, said Helen McIntryre, who has owned a gift and furniture shop on K Rd for 34 years. Brown backed Bridges' call for the Government to take stronger action to support the economy during these challenging times, noting Auckland's 6.1% unemployment rate had implications for the rest of the country. He said introducing a bed night levy would deliver immediate stimulus by boosting tourism and attracting major events to Auckland. 'There's no reason the Government couldn't make a bed night levy an urgent priority and have it in place by next year,' Brown said. 'The sector supports it and so do most Aucklanders.' Brown has been calling on the Government to approve a bed night levy for some time, but Tourism Minister Louise Upston has ruled it out, saying there would be no new taxes. Today, Upston acknowledged Bridges' comments and noted the ongoing interest in a bed tax. However, she reiterated that 'a tax is not something I'm pursuing this term'. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Tourism Minister Louise Upston are not keen on a bed night levy at this stage. Photo / Dean Purcell 'The most pressing challenge for New Zealand tourism is that we simply don't have enough visitors, and I'm focused on growing those numbers. 'This Government is firmly committed to growing the economy, including Auckland's, and tourism remains a key part of that strategy,' the minister said. So far this term, the Government has hiked the international tourism levy for visitors to New Zealand by nearly 200% from $35 to $100, and announced international tourists would be charged $20 to $40 at four popular destinations – the Tongariro Crossing, Cathedral Cove, Milford Sound and Aoraki Mt Cook. Asked about Bridges' call for a stimulus package on RNZ on Monday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said progress would 'come through to the big cities eventually'. 'I know it's difficult – particularly in our big cities... we've got to keep doing everything we can, but open to more things and discussing more things, but I think at this stage it's keep doing what we are doing,' he said. Herald business editor-at-large Liam Dann backed Bridges' call for a stimulus package in a weekend column, arguing that Auckland's economy is 'broken' and urgently needed Government attention. Karangahape Rd shop owner Helen McIntyre says this winter has been the worst in 32 years. Photo / Jason Dorday Dann suggested the Government could allocate funding to revive three 'dead' buildings in the midtown area – St James Theatre, the vacant Smith & Caughey's building, and the Sky World indoor entertainment complex. He argued restoring these sites would breathe life back into the city and keep skilled workers employed while the broader economy recovers. Hospitality New Zealand chief executive Steve Armitage said Auckland had faced significant challenges in recent years, particularly across the hospitality, accommodation, tourism and events sectors. He supported the introduction of sustainable funding through a levy as soon as possible to create a dedicated and reliable revenue stream to promote tourism, attract major events and conferences, and stimulate spending across hotels, restaurants, retail and entertainment venues. However, rather than adopting an Auckland-only approach, Armitage said Hospitality NZ favoured a nationwide system applied fairly and consistently. A national framework would better support tourism-related activity, including the attraction and delivery of major and business events. Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown and Hospitality NZ want a bed night levy to attract more events, such as Kinky Boots at the Civic Theatre. Photo / Jason Oxenham Localised models risk creating unnecessary complexity and inconsistency, Armitage said. The mayor said that when Auckland did well, the country did well, saying NZ's underlying problem was a low-productivity economy that wasn't exporting enough to the world. His goal was for Auckland to lead the country on a path to prosperity, saying his 2025 manifesto identified key opportunities for growth in technology, housing and tourism. Recently, Brown launched the Auckland Innovation & Technology Alliance to attract investment and strengthen the city's position as a competitive hub for tech and innovation. He's also working with Housing Minister Chris Bishop to make use of land for faster and smarter growth. Employers and Manufacturers Association head of advocacy Alan McDonald told RNZ there were some signs of recovery led by the primary sector and in the regions, but in Auckland, which was more about manufacturing and services, hospitality, tourism and education were all down. Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
