Bernie brings bikkies to town
A Timaru businessman hopes to promote the town in supermarkets across New Zealand after buying a Porirua-based biscuit-making plant and shifting it south.
‘‘Any brand that says [on the packaging] it’s based in Timaru is good for the town,’’ Bernie Sugrue, owner of Bernie’s Bakery, said.
More than 20,000 biscuits have been churned out of the Washdyke bakery in the week since Sugrue took on the contracts of McColls Foods Ltd, which supplies biscuits of various flavours and sizes to supermarkets, dairies, and tuck shops around the North Island.
The biscuits are only available in the South Island through Provender but Sugrue is already in talks to change that.
Sugrue said although the previous owner had sold up because the operation was losing money, he was confident he could make a profit – especially since he already had overheads sussed.
‘‘I thought it was a good fit for what we’re already doing. We’ve just absorbed it into here,’’ Sugrue said.
He simply needed to sign on three more employees to get the ball rolling, but said he had former Porirua staff members helping in the meantime to bake about 3000 biscuits a day.
With plans to expand the biscuit-making side of the business by ‘‘30 or 40 per cent’’, Sugrue wanted to create even more jobs for South Cantabrians.
And any apprentices he took on would be able to experience another facet of the bakery business, he said.
Sugrue saw the Porirua plant advertised for sale when he was hours away from flying to Las Vegas, in the United States, for a bakery trade show – so he took a detour to Wellington to hash out a deal.
He bought the brand on his birthday – September 6 – and had
‘‘I’ve just got a lot of development to do on it to make it profitable, but that’s what I thrive on ...’’ Bernie Sugrue
two truck-and-trailers bring biscuit-forming machines, ovens, mixers, and flow-wrapping machines from Porirua to Timaru on October 14 and Wednesday.
‘‘My Vegas gamble was buying this business,’’ Sugrue joked.
‘‘I’ve just got a lot of development to do on it to make it profitable, but that’s what I thrive on: buy, build, and opportunity.
‘‘I’m enjoying doing business in Timaru and it’s great to see another brand come into Bernie’s Bakery.’’