Queenstown’s European Bakery launched 16 years ago and today is a thriving venture delivering authentic European breads across the lower South Island.

Amanda O’Donoghue and Peter Price bought the business in 2019 and are proud of the bakery’s reputation.

“ We had a responsibility to continue the traditional, labour and time intensive way of making bread because it stands out in terms of quality, flavour and goodness,” says Amanda. “ It also supports 20 local employees so it’s very important to us to continue to develop and grow the artisan baking industry in New Zealand.”

The couple recently opened Bread by European Bakery – their first retail space in Frankton.

“ Primarily it’s a response to customer demand as more people want to support local business and to mitigate some effects of Covid on our wholesale business.  It’s a great, interactive local hub where people come to get their bread, coffee from Life’s a Grind, fish from across the road at Harbour Fish and visit the Frankton post office & Summerfields pharmacy around the corner.”

Amanda says wholesale sales makes up 90 percent of the business with bread supplied to Central Otago, Dunedin, Invercargill and the West Coast as far as Greymouth.

“ We even send bread to Milford Sound and our McKenzie country customers love the product so much they drive to Queenstown to pick it up.  We are not willing to sacrifice anything in terms of our quality and how our bread is made, so our growth will be about opportunities that present in line with our values.”

Sourdough is the European Bakery’s signature bread.

“ Our natural sourdough culture is the heartbeat of the bakery and creates the benchmark sourdough breads we are known and loved for. Our passion is bread, we put our heart and soul into it and  our product range doesn’t stray from that breadline so the quality of our product reflects this – we are all ‘for the love of bread’ and our customers.” 

A new delivery van affectionately named Luigi has recently joined the business carrying out small deliveries around Queenstown.

“He is great fun to drive and is essentially a moving billboard designed to turn heads and create conversations,” says Amanda. “We will be using him to support community events and fundraisers in the future.”

For small orders visit the shop at 12 McBride St, Frankton.  For wholesale orders get in touch by email on orders@europeanbakery.co.nz