The Goodtime Pie Co.

We believe that “If it’s not fun it’s not worth doing” so this document and all the supporting documents are written in a fun, story sort of way, our apologies if you don’t get it, it’s just who we are….!!!

Because we care about our people, our customers and our products we have created this document and posted it on the web so that we can all share The Goodtime Pie Co.’s view of the world.

We are proud to share OUR HISTORY which spans three generations of bakers.

Without our customers we wouldn’t have a business, so looking after the people who buy our products is built into our DNA.  Customer care is central to everything we do.  We don’t promise anything we can’t do or provide, but we go all out to deliver on what we have promised, on time, and to meeting or exceeding our customer’s expectations.

We deal straight. We believe our customers want to be treated with honesty, openness and integrity, and that doing this creates the conditions for long-term profitable relationships for both of us.

We also believe our customers expect real value for their money and we want them to feel they are receiving it.  The way we run our production is a key part of achieving this.

OUR MISSION is to make the “Best Pies in the World”. We want every pie that leaves our place to be the best of the best. Our plant and processes are at the leading edge of bakery innovation and we work relentlessly to stay there. We even make a lot of our own machinery to achieve this.

Along with process and machinery upgrades we are always on the lookout for better ingredients. Our policy is to plough any savings back into the product so enabling further product quality gains. See what we have done so far here

3 Generations of Passionate Pie Makers

Gordon Pollett and his wife Maude had a bakery based in Wellington called Marie Therese during the second world war and beyond. Leo Pollett was Gordon’s second son who worked in his Dad’s bakery from the age of 14. They became one of New Zealand’s larger bakeries. During the cold winter months, they used to supply meat pies to the American soldiers who were camped on the cold Wellington foreshore during the war. The soldiers really looked forward to their early morning “cockle warming” treat.

Leo continued the tradition and eventually opened his own bakery which he called Santa Maria Cake Kitchen, in Napier in 1968 where Phil worked before and after school from the age of 13. After repeated warnings from his Mum who said “whatever you do don’t become a baker” Phil left baking behind and became a qualified engineer.

People would travel across Napier driving past many other bakeries to get Leo’s pies, they were so good. Before Phil left to become an engineer he and Leo had frequent conversations about starting a business that made only pies. Leo reckoned it would be such an easy business model.
Fast forward 5 years. In December 1977 Leo decided to make his dream come true so rung Phil who was in England working as an engineer and offered Phil a partnership in a “pies only” business. Hawkes Bay Pie (Wholesalers) Ltd was started in February 1978 with Leo and Phil as partners.

We developed a very successful business together until 1984 when Leo decided to retire after 41 years of baking. Phil bought the shares and changed the name to The Goodtime Food Company Ltd. The business quickly expanded to the Wellington region and then progressively through the whole country.
In 2015 The Goodtime Food Company bought its Christchurch based sister company, Sunnydays Foods, who had been operating under licence to The Goodtime Food Company Ltd for the prior 10 years.

In 2016 The Goodtime Food Company changed its name to The Goodtime Pie Co. Ltd and is now one of NZ’s largest commercial wholesale pastry goods manufacturers which in the past 12 months made 12 million pies. Quite a leap from our humble beginnings. We produce a wide range of over 130 frozen pastry products.

Phil is well recognised in the NZ Pie Industry, and has been a judge for the annual Bakels NZ Pie Awards for some 13 years. The Goodtime Pie Co. has been awarded many NZ Pie awards over the years (without Phil being one of the judges!)