PERFECT COMBO:
Kaye's Bakery baker Dale Owen with a batch of Rugby World Cup-inspired biscuits made by the Invercargill company.
The logistics of baking 1.3 million rugby ball-shaped biscuits rival co-ordinating the event that inspired them, the Rugby World Cup, but exactly who placed the order remains cloaked in mystery.
Bosses at Invercargill business Kaye's Bakery in Onslow St insist the plum contract is less about doughy espionage and more about commercial sensitivity as the company nears completion of the contract. It is so intense it has led to the company going into production for 24 hours a day across eight days.
Kaye's Bakery founder Evan Penniall said the biscuits were part of a "generic manufacturing" contract for Auckland-based hospitality company Health Pak New Zealand, which supplies small packaged goods to hotels, motels and airlines across Australasia and the South
JOHN HAWKINS/ The Southland Times
However, he could not disclose which of Health Pak's clients the biscuits were destined for, he said.
Describing the contract as one of the most difficult tasks undertaken by the family-owned business, he said negotiations began in earnest last year.
They have had to develop, first a die, or biscuit mould, and then to refine a recipe.
The die, made from bronze with Teflon-coated moulds, was produced in Timaru at a cost of $14,000 once a prototype design was settled on.
The process then moved to developing a chocolate biscuit that would appeal to a diverse range of palates, which involved developing a chocolate essence as well as colouring, Mr Penniall said.
While, he would not disclose how much the contract was worth to the company it was "significant", he said.
General manager Luella Penniall credited staff with making the mammoth task of producing the biscuits happen.
The company had worked to clear its commitments in terms of producing its own products to make room for the round-the-clock manufacture of the biscuits, she said. However, it did have a pedigree in producing large one-off orders, the last being making Anzac biscuits for an Australian company in February.
Baker Dale Owen, who has worked for the company for more than 20 years, devised the recipe for the latest order based on the ingredients specified by the client.
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