Fairlie Bakehouse: Pie flavours that nobody had ever dreamed of
Franz Lieber came to NZ from Austria back in 1979. Working as an executive chef in Aotearoa’s top hotels, Franz soon began to realise that there was more to life. He and his wife had a holiday home near Fairlie and in 2009 decided to open a wee bakery there to ‘see how it goes’. With Franz’s passion for baking and motto of ‘fresh is best’, he was adamant that all the fare had to be made on site using seasonal local produce.
The Fairlie Bakehouse is now world famous in New Zealand for its outstanding pies and amazing fresh baked goods.
“I think people like the unusual flavours of our pies, which was more of an accident than planned," Franz says.
"I had a lot of local salmon available, but nobody puts salmon in a pie! I also had access to locally grown bacon. So I ended up with a Salmon and Bacon Pie, which is extremely popular. It came to a point where I couldn’t cope with the demand of these pies so I introduced a Pork Belly Pie, which is now equally popular!”
Franz’s daughter Sophie and her husband work at the bakery, and they employ up to 50 staff in high season. Their famous pies are stocked in retailers around the South Island, all hand delivered in the Fairlie Bakehouse chilled van.
The Fairlie Bakehouse have accepted Ruralco cards since 2016 and love how the relationship helps to bring in more of the local community.
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