Get to know - Best Bakehouse

There is nothing better than the inviting smell of fresh bread! With that, we welcome you to Best Bakehouse. Situated in beautiful Pāpāmoa, you will find a bright coloured bakehouse with an ethos of baking from scratch. Their warm and bright coloured wall creates an eye-catching backdrop for their delicious baked good.

We were lucky enough to chat with Anna from Best Bakehouse to chat all things bread, best sammie combinations, interiors and more…

Hi Anna, thanks for chatting with us! Firstly, can you tell our readers a bit about Best Bakehouse and how it all came about?

Best Bakehouse is a little bakehouse with big ambitions in Pāpāmoa, Bay of Plenty.  It’s shaping up to be a kooky space where the team are friendly and efficient, the coffee is banging, cakes are fancy and sourdough is the real deal. It’s the combo of all the things I love about hospo. 

If you could describe Best Bakehouse in three words, what would they be?

Quality, conscientious and tasty

I can see that creating food from scratch is important to you, can you tell us why?

I’m not a trained baker and I’ve never worked in a big scale bakery so small batch from scratch baking is all I know and all I’m interested in. It’s pretty scary the amount of bakeries in NZ that use pre-mixes that are full of weird additives.  If I don’t know what it is or where it comes from I try and avoid baking with it. 

Your bread looks amazing, what is your go-to loaf and sammie combination? 

Steak sando on our soft oat sourdough is boss.

I love the bright colours in your cafe interior, what was the inspiration behind this?

Our 6 meter bright orange wall in our compact space was the perfect way of creating a fun inviting feel. It’s a tight, narrow site so we went for more of a good time, not a long time vibe. We’re situated on quite a busy road so customers generally pop in for a coffee, a quick bite and chit chat then off they go. 

Thank you for using decent packaging! We’re stoked that you use our Full Package Bins too. Can you please tell me why you decided to add this to your store and what have been the benefits so far?

I was actually contemplating not providing single use coffee cups at all but realistically as a society we’re not there yet.  Reusable cups and plates are increasing but we still have a long way to go. Being sustainably minded is a core value for me and my business but I know more sustainable practices won’t happen overnight but I’m hopeful they will happen. Using the Full Package scheme is our way of taking some responsibility for our packaging and where it ends up. So many compostable products end up in the landfill especially in places like Tauranga where commercially composting isn’t an option. The Compostable bin in store is a good way of engaging our customers in conversations about waste and sustainability. 

I’d love to learn more about your wholesale options, can you tell me more about this? (why you started doing wholesale, what you offer etc) 

We started our wholesale sourdough business Better Bread 5 years ago because there was a gap in the Bay of Plenty market for quality bread. We’ve always prioritised organic and/or sustainable ingredients where feasible and supply our local organic stores, packaging free stores and conscious cafes. 

If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be and why?

I’d be right here in Pāpāmoa. It’s a hard hustle with a new bakery and an 8 month old baby, everyday is long and full but this is what I’ve chosen to put my energy into so I’m giving it my all. 

Lastly, can you please tell our readers how they can support you?

People can support me by supporting their local food businesses that champion quality ingredients and good business practices. It’s a hustle making quality food feasible so we need the vote with our wallets and hopefully quality food will become the norm. 

Thanks so much for your time! We can’t wait to visit again soon.