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What does it take to get to the L.A Judge Award?

Tuesday, March 18th, 2025

Young Bread Baker of the Year 2024 winner Delmari Janse van Rensburg has been training hard and is on track to compete in the upcoming L.A Judge competition, described as a potentially life-changing experience for young bakers. Delmari has been spending her time working on theoretical and practical preparation with the help of experienced bakers.

Ralph Thorogood provided Delmari modules to assist with her theory work. Nathan Roberts and Jo Jarkiewicz spent a day helping Delmari with maths and its application in scaling up, product plans and throughput calculations. A visit to Quality Bakers gave Delmari insight into and familiarity with plant bread bakery machinery, and she is looking forward to visiting Champion Flour Mill in Christchurch as well as Breadcraft near Wellington with Ralph Thorogood.

Bruno Falco from Bakels and Dave Bradley from Ara have been working with Delmari to perfect her bread plaiting skills, with a focus on designing and executing an excellent finished product.

Foodstuffs have also been supportive in terms of sending Delmari on training trips with external companies. Delmari says her manager Janine Bell has been really helpful, supporting her to practice after work hours. Foodstuffs opened their training facility and Todd Johnson spent time with Delmari on practical training. Foodstuffs have also paid for the time Delmari spent at the Young Bread Baker of the Year Competition and will support her by accessing the training fund when she competes in Australia.

Delmari says she is extremely grateful for the effort and time people are putting into supporting her with the build up to the Competition. We wish her all the best as she represents New Zealand in the LA Judge Competition.

Food Waste Action Week

Sunday, March 16th, 2025

It’s Food Waste Action Week (March 17–23rd March), and the team at Kai Commitment, the voluntary agreement driving action on food waste in New Zealand, have developed a new tool to help businesses get started on reducing food waste – Food Waste Rapid

This practical guide supports businesses at any stage of their food waste action journey – whether you’re just starting out or have a plan in place but are keen to align with the latest best practices.

The tool offers actionable steps to:
Identify areas where food waste occurs within your operations.
Implement strategies to reduce waste effectively.
Measure progress to ensure continuous improvement.

The tool is designed to help businesses achieve significant benefits, including cost savings, enhanced operational efficiency, and strengthened sustainability practices. Reducing food waste is also a great way to contribute to a more efficient, resilient, and sustainable food system that benefits everyone.

For more information on the tool or on food waste action more broadly, visit Kai Commitment’s website

Two winners named in 2024 Bread Baker of the Year competition

Thursday, November 21st, 2024

Media Release: 21 November 2024

Sadat Ali Rahimi of Coupland’s Christchurch has been named NZ Association of Bakers Bread Baker of the Year. Delmari Janse van Rensburg of New World Rolleston was named second in the competition and was awarded Young Bread Baker of the Year.

Both winners have won a grant of up to $15,000 to use for research on a bakery related subject. Delmari has also been nominated to represent New Zealand at the LA Judge Award in Australia in May 2025.

Ali has fond memories of his Grandfather’s bakery in Afghanistan and he wonders if that is why when he arrived in New Zealand in 2014 he took a role as a packer at Coupland’s Christchurch. Ali worked his way through the departments at Coupland’s and with hard work and support from the Coupland’s team he made his way to the bread plant. In 2023 he completed his New Zealand Certificate in Trade Baking (Plant Bread) Level 4. Ali enjoys working on all the different steps of the bread manufacturing process and enjoys the challenge of consistently making quality bakery products.

Delmari didn’t set out to be a baker, in fact she started a degree in Marketing but once she discovered baking, her passion for a career in the industry grew. Originally from South Africa, for the last four years, Delmari has worked in the bakery department at New World Rolleston. In July of this year, Delmari completed her New Zealand Certificate in Trade Baking Level 4. Within her role at New World, Delmari is involved in all stages of the baking process and enjoys the personal satisfaction of seeing the products she has created on the shelf.

The Competition is open to nearly or newly qualified bread bakery apprentices. This year is the first time that the competition has offered two classes of entry, a new open class with no age limit and the original Young Baker class where candidates must be no older than 30 years of age on 1 January 2024. Competitors were required to present a speciality bread and describe their product development process and how they would market their product. Entrants also completed a 90-minute theory of baking technology exam and a five-hour practical session.

Judging Co-ordinator Tania Watson says the “new concept of asking contestants to bring their own speciality breads to the competition worked well with some interesting concepts that were made well and tasted good too.”

Judge Grant Inns echoed the thoughts of the Judging Team by saying “the standard of the entrants was very high this year which is truly a credit to the amount of preparation that the contestants have completed.”

Judge Joe Jarkiewicz said, “he was pleased to see representation across all sectors of bakery industry – in store, craft and plant bakeries.” This has allowed contestants to share with their competitors the different processes they engage in within their bakeries.

Judge Nathan Roberts, a past competitor himself, was also impressed by the high standards this year and said, “that the addition of the open class to the Bread Baker of the Year Competition was a positive new dynamic.”

The Bread Baker of the Year Competition is sponsored by the New Zealand Association of Bakers and is designed to promote excellence in people emerging from their training.

ENDS ///
Follow us on Facebook: Young Bread Baker of the Year
For more information, please contact
Tania Watson – Judging Coordinator
New Zealand Association of Bakers
E: tania@bakingresearch.org.nz
M: 021 1659949

IBIE 2025

Saturday, March 30th, 2024

Welcoming baking industry professionals from every segment and in every role, IBIE delivers a world of benefits in one streamlined event. What do you need to enhance your efficiency, sharpen your skills and elevate your career? It’s all here at the largest, most comprehensive baking industry event in the Western Hemisphere.

Every three years, you have a powerful opportunity to discover the latest trends and innovations, connect with colleagues and exchange ideas with top baking and business professionals.

The industry’s newest advances from leading manufacturers and suppliers are all on display at the Baking Expo™. Talk to product experts and get hands-on demos to understand how the latest baking technology, ingredients and packaging trends can impact your business. IBIE’s 1,000,000 sq. ft.

Dunedin baker claims 2023 Best Young Bread Baker Award

Thursday, November 16th, 2023

Media Release: 16 November 2023

A Dunedin plant bread baker has taken out the 2023 Young Bread Baker of the Year Award. Tyrone Harvey of Quality Bakers Dunedin receives a research grant of up to $15,000 from the New Zealand Association of Bakers.

Tyrone competed over two days carrying out demanding theoretical and practical testing. While he was surprised by his win, he says he received a lot of encouragement from colleagues to enter. “Putting in the effort to prepare was worth it. I’m not sure what response I’ll get when I arrive back to work. Maybe they’ll get me to shout a BBQ.” Being reserved and preferring to be out of the limelight, Tyrone says the most challenging part of the competition for him was talking to the judges about the product he made.

Judges Joe Jarkiewicz, Grant Inns, Nathan Roberts, and Tania Watson said Tyrone was the clear winner who stood out from the rest because he did well in all facets of the competition. Judging Co-ordinator Tania Watson says Tyrone stepped out of his comfort zone to participate, was a good team player, and was conscious of health and safety in the bakery. “He was first to finish, he was organised, and he helped clean up too,” says Tania.

Tyrone has been baking since 2013. After five years at Countdown in Auckland and a short stint at New World, he joined Quality Bakers Auckland in 2019, then moved to Quality Bakers in Dunedin two months ago, where he is Chief Baker. He completed his Level 4 Plant Baking qualification this year. His focus at work is on producing small goods but he says what he really enjoys is the science behind baking, as knowing how everything works makes it easy to solve problems if they arise.

The competition requires entrants to demonstrate their ability in three areas: a presentation on a given research topic, a 90-minute exam which tests their theoretical knowledge of baking technology, and a five-hour practical session in which they bake a variety of bread-based products.

Judging Co-ordinator Tania Watson says the aim of the competition is to find bakers with potential whose talents can be nurtured through mentoring and development opportunities. “It’s always good to have both plant and craft bakeries represented as they bring different strengths to the competition. We were pleased to have bakers from diverse backgrounds and both the North and South Islands.”

Judge Grant Inns says he wanted to make sure each entrant walked away from the competition feeling confident and proud. Learning and growing is a big part of it,” he said.
Judge Joe Jarkiewicz says he is always keen to see young people compete because of the extra knowledge they gain.

Judge Nathan Roberts, a past competitor himself, says the competition is a huge stepping stone and an opportunity for young bakers to progress their career. “You learn things at the competition that you wouldn’t learn in your everyday job.”

The Young Bread Baker of the Year Competition is sponsored by the New Zealand Association of Bakers and is designed to promote excellence in people emerging from their training.

Follow us on Facebook: Young Bread Baker of the Year
For more information, please contact
Tania Watson – Judging Coordinator
New Zealand Association of Bakers
E: tania@bakingresearch.org.nz
M: 021 1659949

2023 Young Bread Baker of the Year Entrants

Wednesday, November 15th, 2023

Our Young Bread Baker of the Year Competition has kicked off in Auckland this morning with presentations from each of the entrants. We wish them all the best!

Find our more about the entrants in the 2023 Young Bread Baker of the Year Competition. – www.bakeinfo.co.nz/education/apprentice-zone/young-bread-baker-of-the-year/the-2023-entrants/

Follow all the news from the Young Baker of the Year Competition on our Facebook page.

Flour Reports & Flour Testing

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2023

This new information sheet outlines the range of tests performed on flour to ensure it meets the customers’ expectations. The testing of flour covers several specific characteristics which gives the baker an indication of the flour’s strength and stability, and this is done on several different machines.

BIRT – Flour Testing Information Dec2022

2021 Young Bread Baker of the Year Cancelled

Saturday, August 14th, 2021

Unfortunately the Young Bread Baker competition for this year is cancelled.  Given the current uncertain Covid 19 situation we don’t believe we can run a successful competition.  Well prepared candidates are the key to a good competition and this requires time and effort from both candidates and their employers in the weeks leading up to the competition.

Hopefully next year will bring more certainty.  In 2022 we will ensure that anyone who was eligible for the competition in 2020 and 2021 will be able to participate.