Eye on pies sees business revived
There has been a takeaway shop in Nelson’s Gloucester St, serving the semi-industrial location around Vanguard St and St Vincent St, for as many years as I can remember, and various owners have produced a wide range of variable-quality food.
After being closed for a few months, a new owner has stepped in, rebranded the shop, and rejuvenated the food offering.
Andy Ly’s family owned the business for many years until they sold it in 2015. Andy says he grew up helping in what was then the Gloucester St Food Parlour, so he is very familiar with the location and the sort of food the local customers want.
Andy’s family story starts long before he spent hours before and after school helping his parents, who arrived in Nelson in 1994 as refugees from Cambodia.
‘‘Our parents had absolutely nothing. They worked several jobs doing whatever they needed to do to get established in Nelson. They saved as much as possible to save enough to open a business.’’
Andy is obviously very proud of his family and the opportunities they created for him while establishing what is arguably one of Nelson’s largest family food enterprises. Having started at the Gloucester St Food Parlour, his parents, aunties and uncles now own a number of food businesses in the region.
Andy’s journey has included a Bachelor of Aviation degree from Massey University. ‘‘I initially qualified as a pilot in New Zealand, and further qualified in Australia, the United States and, most recently, Cambodia.’’
He landed a job with one of Cambodia’s leading airlines. ‘‘And then Covid came along, which halted my flying career.’’
His family had bought the Gloucester St building in 2010, when they still owned the business, ‘‘so when the last owners decided not to extend their lease, our parents asked my brother and I if we wanted to take it on and rebuild the business’’.
Andy and his brother Minh own the business, but Andy runs it, with help from his mother at busy times. He works very long hours, arriving at 4.30am each day, opening the doors at 6.30am, and closing at 3pm.
‘‘Then I work when I close the doors – everything needs to be cleaned, I need to get fresh supplies for the next day from local suppliers, and then start preparing food for the next day, too.’’
As well as rebranding to Gloucester’s Bakehouse and giving the premises a bit of love with a coat of paint, the food has been the biggest change. While the business still sells classic lunch bar food Kiwis love, the quality has improved hugely.
‘‘We bake the bread for our sandwiches and rolls fresh every morning at our other bakery, because it has all the equipment and the facilities there are just bigger. We then bring it over to Gloucester’s Bakehouse to prepare all the sandwiches and rolls fresh and ready every morning.
‘‘We get a lot of positive customer reviews and feedback for our sandwiches, but mostly the star of the show has been our pies.
‘‘We hand make all our pies and pastry in house – just the pastry alone takes about two days to make each batch.
‘‘It is a very time-consuming and costly process, especially now, with prices of raw products and supplies increasing nearly every week – and that’s why many other bakeries buy pre-made and pre-rolled pastry. But for me, it’s about the quality of the product – home made with love and care, using old family recipes.’’
The freshly made doughnuts and handcrafted artisan pies are cooked to a golden, flaky, crisp perfection, and are packed with homemade fillings that have chunks of meat (or whatever your favourite flavour is), not just gravy with a few scraps of meat.
Andy gave me a steak and kidney pie to try. With large pieces of kidney and big pieces of steak, it has to be one of the best pies I have had in a very long time.
He has quickly developed a strong following for his food, especially from local businesses.
‘‘I want to be part of the local business community. They come in every day, so I like to give them something as a treat. I give them samples of new products to get some feedback – because they know me, they can tell me the truth without offending me.
‘‘My relationship with customers is really important. Showing my appreciation like this is a good thing to do, and they tell other people about the quality of the food, which helps grow my business.’’
I asked Andy what his customer’s favourite flavours are. ‘‘Our best sellers are steak and cheese, mince and cheese, and our gourmet breakfast pie. That has whole free-range egg, hash brown, breakfast sausage, cheese, onions, and hollandaise sauce – it weighs close to 450 grams, and tradies love them early in the day.
‘‘Customers also come in for our sausage rolls, too. When I opened a couple of months ago, I used to make about 10 a day. Now it’s 50 to 70, and numbers are growing every day.’’
Andy says he intends to rebuild the business into what it deserves to be.
‘‘There has been a food store here for decades. I know how popular it was when my family owned it, so I know it can be a successful part of the food scene around Gloucester St.’’