What We Believe

We believe that “If it’s not fun it’s not worth doing” so this document and all the supporting documents are written in a fun, story sort of way, our apologies if you don’t get it, it’s just who we are….!!!

Because we care about our people, our customers and our products we have created this document and posted it on the web so that we can all share The Goodtime Pie Co.’s view of the world. We are proud to share OUR HISTORY which spans three generations of bakers.

Without our customers we wouldn’t have a business, so looking after the people who buy our products is built into our DNA.  Customer care is central to everything we do.  We don’t promise anything we can’t do or provide, but we go all out to deliver on what we have promised, on time, and to meeting or exceeding our customer’s expectations.

We deal straight. We believe our customers want to be treated with honesty, openness and integrity, and that doing this creates the conditions for long-term profitable relationships for both of us.

We also believe our customers expect real value for their money and we want them to feel they are receiving it.  The way we run our production is a key part of achieving this.

OUR MISSION is to make the “Best Pies in the World. We want every pie that leaves our place to be the best of the best. Our plant and processes are at the leading edge of bakery innovation and we work relentlessly to stay there. We even make a lot of our own machinery to achieve this.

Along with process and machinery upgrades we are always on the lookout for better ingredients. Our policy is to plough any savings back into the product so enabling further product quality gains. See what we have done so far here

Our commitment to SUSTAINABILITY means we are constantly upgrading our plant, processes, and ingredients to improve product taste, quality, and consistency while reducing resource use and waste. Our primary focus when selecting machinery is to remove the stressful jobs from our process. Upgrades almost always provide significant cost savings from reduced energy use and increased productivity, as well as making better products.

This is ‘virtuous circle’ feeds in itself, once working, but it won’t start by itself.  It has to be powered up and run by engaged, motivated staff willing to accept continuous change and innovation.

We’ve done quite a bit in the sustainability space already but we see it as a lifetime mission. So, check out what we have done so far here.

We value and look after OUR STAFF as we do our customers.  We want The Goodtime Pie Co. to be known as “a great place to work” which is why we have a Staff Representative Committee who are elected, by staff, each year to represent them in all matters concerning them and most importantly to keeping management informed of what’s going on and what they should be doing about it.

We operate a policy of ‘continuous improvement’ with all staff as well as in our processes after all they are the people who make all the processes work.

Most business people will tell you when asked “our staff are our most important asset” well we don’t just pay lip service to that notion we truly believe it and that “happy staff are productive staff” so we do whatever we can to have happy staff.  It’s not always possible because after all people are people and some people have difficulty with “happy”. However, we dauntlessly truck on and do what we can. See some of the cool stuff we do with our people.

At The Goodtime Pie Co. we take HEALTH & SAFETY very seriously. We run Accident and Near Miss registers with every entry being investigated by our H&S committee with resolve or education being the target outcome.  Our H&S committee is chaired by our Product and Food Safety manager as there are significant cross overs between the 2 programs. The committee meets monthly or where needed as often as is necessary to resolve any urgent issues. Health & Safety is a key agenda topic in our board meetings where senior managers and directors take it very seriously and take action where there may be a threat to the safety of our people or property.

In March 2017, we commissioned a full training scheme for all senior staff.  It is called National Certificate in Occupational Health & Safety Level 3. It comprises 11 NZQA Units

FOOD SAFETY is an obvious and very necessary part of any good food business but here at The Goodtime Pie Co. we go to excess, as in a lot of things we do. We first implemented our Food Safety Program (FSP) in 2005 and have maintained and improved on it over the years culminating in a completed revamp of our North Island bakery in 2012/13 which prepared us for an Risk Management Program (RMP) which is like an FSP on steroids. An RMP gives us the right to export to the world.

EXPORT has always been a dream for us guys here at The Goodtime Pie Co.. We finally achieved it on August 2015 with our first container of product leaving for Australia on that date.

When we choose a country to export to or are approached by a country who wants to import our pies then we have to go through another process called an OMAR (Overseas Market Access Requirements) this can be onerous but we are a determined pack of guys and girls so we will always have a go. Find out more about our export capabilities here.

OUR COMMUNITY is an important part of The Goodtime Pie Co.’s heritage. We are involved where we can be and support where we can. To see what we do in this space.

OUR DISTRIBUTION. We are very fortunate to have a distribution network in which we have shares and consequently a good say in how it operates.  The Goodtime Pie Co. had been doing its own distribution for 28 years before it got too big for us.  We located an expert logistics man and formed a company called Focus Distribution NZ Ltd and split distribution out of The Goodtime Pie Co. so we could concentrate on making pies.  Read more about our distribution.

OUR CODE OF CONDUCT.  No matter what sort of business you might have it is really important to ensure everyone knows the rules so that we can all row in the same direction, as they say. To this end we have a set of conduct rules which you can see if you click here.

Our History

3 Generations of Passionate Pie Makers

Gordon Pollett and his wife Maude had a bakery based in Wellington called Marie Therese during the second world war and beyond. Leo Pollett was Gordon’s second son who worked in his Dad’s bakery from the age of 14. They became one of New Zealand’s larger bakeries. During the cold winter months, they used to supply meat pies to the American soldiers who were camped on the cold Wellington foreshore during the war. The soldiers really looked forward to their early morning “cockle warming” treat.

Leo continued the tradition and eventually opened his own bakery which he called Santa Maria Cake Kitchen, in Napier in 1968 where Phil worked before and after school from the age of 13. After repeated warnings from his Mum who said “whatever you do don’t become a baker” Phil left baking behind and became a qualified engineer.

People would travel across Napier driving past many other bakeries to get Leo’s pies, they were so good. Before Phil left to become an engineer he and Leo had frequent conversations about starting a business that made only pies. Leo reckoned it would be such an easy business model.
Fast forward 5 years. In December 1977 Leo decided to make his dream come true so rung Phil who was in England working as an engineer and offered Phil a partnership in a “pies only” business. Hawkes Bay Pie (Wholesalers) Ltd was started in February 1978 with Leo and Phil as partners.

We developed a very successful business together until 1984 when Leo decided to retire after 41 years of baking. Phil bought the shares and changed the name to The Goodtime Food Company Ltd. The business quickly expanded to the Wellington region and then progressively through the whole country.
In 2015 The Goodtime Food Company bought its Christchurch based sister company, Sunnydays Foods, who had been operating under licence to The Goodtime Food Company Ltd for the prior 10 years.

In 2016 The Goodtime Food Company changed its name to The Goodtime Pie Co. Ltd and is now one of NZ’s largest commercial wholesale pastry goods manufacturers which in the past 12 months made 12 million pies. Quite a leap from our humble beginnings. We produce a wide range of over 130 frozen pastry products.

Phil is well recognised in the NZ Pie Industry, and has been a judge for the annual Bakels NZ Pie Awards for some 13 years. The Goodtime Pie Co. has been awarded many NZ Pie awards over the years (without Phil being one of the judges!)

Our Product Innovations

The Mince & Cheese Pie Story

Most people don’t believe us when we tell them that The Goodtime Pie Co. was the first to market with the Mince & Cheese pie but it’s entirely true. People ask how we got the idea?
Here’s the story.
Phil walked out in to the bakery and caught one of our staff loading a handful of cheese under the lid of a mince pie. Phil asked what the heck he was doing and he responded that his granny always puts cheese on top of their mince meals at home so he thought it would be okay for him to do it to his pie. Phil told him he’d better make him one and the rest is history.
We had a great mixture of reactions, mostly negative when we went to the market but once the potential customer tried it we got the order. We got a lot of new customers out of it and credit this one product to our most prolific expansion way back when…Thanks Grandma!!!

The Multipack Pies Story – (working with our customers)

The multipack pie, usually a 6 pack these days, is found in your supermarket in the dairy deli. The Goodtime Pie Co. was first to market (well apart from one supermarket that is) with a pack with more than one pie in it. Here’s the story.
Phil was in New Plymouth visiting customers. He walked in to a supermarket deli where a staff member was putting 5 pies in to a plastic bag, sealing it and putting a label on it. He said to her “what are you doing” she looked at me blankly and said “putting pies in a bag” I, red faced, said “yes but why” she said “because the boss told me to”. I had to laugh, funny girl, it gave me time to think about rephrasing my questions. I asked her how many she did. She pointed out the door so I went and had a look. There were hundreds of them. I couldn’t leave without one further dumb question I asked ”why only 5 pies”?. She smiled and said “because I can’t fit 6 in the bag”.
I said The Goodtime Pie Co. could do it for her and almost got a hug. The rest is history. We put our 5 pack Classic Mince pies in to almost every supermarket in the North Island. We had the market to ourselves for quite a while before our competitors woke up to it.
At one point in time I had a call from a major supermarket group buyer who congratulated The Goodtime Pie Co. for having a single product that outsold all other fresh food products in the deli with a 78% share of all sales by volume. The Goodtime Pie Co. got an award for that.

The Heart Tick Pies Story- (working with our customers)

The Goodtime Pie Co. was first to market with a range of commercially available pies that had the New Zealand Heart Foundation Tick of Approval. They include Mince & Cheese and Steak and Cheese and 3 others. The tick is very hard to achieve and we spent 2 years and a lot of money trying to achieve it.
Here’s the story.
We are a major supplier to schools and did so to many through a New Zealand wide catering company who had called us in and told us that ALL PIES would get banned from all the schools unless we took the fat and salt out of them they said they would get banned from all the schools. They were well ahead of the government initiative which followed a couple of years later.
Over the next 2 years we worked with them making minor but incremental changes as we learnt how to achieve reductions in fat and salt and an increase in fibre while still keeping the taste. We were successful and decided we should see if we could push the boundaries of our new-found knowledge and see if we could secure the Heart Tick, which we did.
We were actually on TV One news at 6 o’clock on a Sunday night as it caused a big splash in the world of food. The Goodtime Pie Co. is committed to improving the Heart Tick Pies as new technology, with natural food ingredients, comes along. It’s a never-ending process of improvement which we have used, in part, to improve all of our pie ranges.

The Vegan Pie Story – (working with our customers)

One of our biggest customers Z Energy, actively promotes pies through its many sites. They are great to work with and have some great tools which they use to engage their customers. One of the competitions they run saw a rather large feedback from the vegan community who demanded a true vegan pie.
Here’s the story.
Our product development guy Paul, went to work and quickly discovered that this would not be very easy. The problem was that most ingredients which are fine for vegetarians do not meet the strict standards of vegans, this was news to us. However, within a short time Paul did an awesome job and had it sorted even though we had to import some ingredients specially to achieve it.
We released the Mexican Vegan Pie to be astounded by the demand because people that would never even consider eating vegan were hoeing them down, which meant that we ran out of the imported ingredients very quickly. We had to stop supply for a period.
We also had an issue with a very minor ingredient which was not strictly vegan so we withdrew the product immediately, sorted it within 2 hours and started remaking pies that completely met the criteria. We ended up with $15,000 worth of “not quite vegan” pies which we gave away to 2 of the countries City Missions.
Today we have an extended range of 5 vegan pies and a vegan sausage roll.

Our People

STAFF TRAINING starts the day a new staff member begins work at The Goodtime Pie Co.. All our staff go through an induction process to prepare them for working with us.  To make sure everybody knows what we expect of them, and what they can expect from us, our expectations are clearly laid out in our Employee Manual and other important easily accessible documents.

While some new staff have bakery experience when they come to us, others may have none at all. We value the right attitude above most other things so experience comes second when selecting potential staff.

To make sure all our staff are able to work at the level and to the standard we need to make the “Best Pies in the World” they all take part in a structured training programme covering all aspects of bakery work.  This leads on to nationally recognised level three NZQA qualifications, which can be added to their CV. Passing the internally assessed training units also brings a pay rise to recognise the staff member’s new skills and abilities. We believe that no one should be on the minimum pay rate but that it’s up to the individual.

We have a policy to maintain PAY PARITY for our staff so every time the government decides to lift the minimum pay rate the Staff Rep Committee organise discussions with management to negotiate the same rate of increase for all of our waged staff.  They have been successful on every occasion to date.

After six months’ employment staff are offered the opportunity to join a COMPANY SPONSORED HEALTH INSURANCE scheme at no cost to themselves, unless they want to include their family members.  We think this is good for both The Goodtime Pie Co. and our staff, because it enables prompt assessment and treatment should a staff member become ill or incapacitated. This is good for them and, by reducing a staff member’s down time, good for us because a valuable team member gets back on deck faster than might otherwise be the case.

The other smaller BENEFITS The Goodtime Pie Co. provides are;

  • Bright clean facilities in which to relax during breaks while reading the free news papers and enjoying free tea, coffee, including lattes, cappuccinos, mochaccinos and hot chocolate any time of the day. Our staff room has indoor and outdoor areas, and kitchenette facilities, away from the production plant.
  • The pie warmer is always on the go with free pies, sausage rolls, savouries and other products from our bakery.  As well as being a bonus for our staff, this is a key quality control check – who knows better than the people who make them what our products should taste like?
  • On their birthday, every staff member receives a hand-written birthday greeting card with a $20 voucher from the boss.
  • Every work anniversary is acknowledged with a voucher and a round of applause during monthly all staff meetings.
  • After 10 years’ service all staff members get an extra weeks paid holiday for that year along with a long service gift.
  • We also run a Christmas savings club and have frequent Social Club outings for those who are members.
  • We recognise that from time to time there can be friction in any group of people.  To make sure we maintain a harmonious workplace we have developed a Dignity and Respect charter, which applies to all staff.  Developed with, and supported by the Staff Rep Committee, it is prominently displayed in staff areas. 

Most of the above have been negotiated or initiated over the years by the Staff Rep Committee who have an excellent and productive relationship with management.

The Goodtime Pie Co. is proud of our Staff Rep Committee which started in early 2000. They work hard on not only work related matters but also on offering assistance with budgeting, personal wellbeing and many of those sticky issues that can happen from time to time in any family environment.

The Staff Reps purpose is “To Make The Goodtime Pie Co. a Great Place to Work”

Our Community

Community Support

We get a great thrill of being in a position to support the less fortunate people in our community. We produce a lot of pies and not all of them are perfect, we’re continuously working on that but because they standards are constantly lifting nationwide due to the likes of the Bakels Pie Awards, we reckon we will always have seconds. So, no fear to those of you who score our seconds as a gift.
Because we sell our stuff from one end of the country to the other we see all of New Zealand as our community and in some cases beyond.
We actively support;

Women’s Refuge
With product from when our bakers go mad and make too much stuff

The Salvation Army
With product seconds from when our bakers are having a bad day.

Auckland City Mission
On the occasions when our freezers get too full

Christchurch City Mission
With donations of product and now weekly donations of pastry to use for their own creations.

Limitless Hope, Napier
A local group supporting and feeding the homeless.

Napier Police Community Support
With product and some cash to support disadvantaged youth.

Child Fund
We sponsor 10 international kids who are in community projects which inspire and support them in their quest to become better educated and self-sufficient. We have been doing this since 1991.

Our Products

Quality is not just about product.  It is about the way we treat people and about the service we offer.  We strive to achieve quality in all we do.  It really makes a difference to how close we get to making the “Best Pies in the World” which, as you know is our mission.

Both our bakeries are only semi-automated to strike the right balance between offering efficient manufacturing and competitive pricing, but also retaining some hand-crafted input to offer a pie that looks and tastes ‘home made’. No two products look exactly the same. We pride ourselves on our product quality, and our reputation in the industry.

We are strong on continuously improving our product while maintaining a fair price. We have a couple of examples of Continuous Improvement you might like to read about further down.

Below are our ranges and a brief reason for their being.

Our Classic Range

We originally started way back in 1978 with just 2 pies on offer. The first was Mince the second was Bacon & Egg. It was so easy Dad and I ran the whole operation by ourselves for the first 3 years. We reckoned it was like the famous Ford Motors business model where you could have any colour car as long as it was black.

We expanded the range to include a Chicken Pie and a Sausage Roll and by our 4th year business had grown by 1,612% with just 4 products. It couldn’t last forever.

Our Classic Range was our first and it still remains focussed on  flavours that reach “Classic” status.

We have done a pretty cool thing or two, for which we are now famous with the Classics. To see what the story is click here.

Our Gourmet Range

Our next expansion was in to a gourmet range which became immediately popular.  We did this because some of our opposition had a crazy idea that it was a great move and I guess they were right. When we hooked up with what was to become our South Island bakery 10 years later they had a similar gourmet range so we had a competition across the country to see who would sell the most per capita over a given period.  The South Island won hands down because they eat more pies in the South (almost 2 to 1) than we do in the North, we reckon they cheated because they knew this and we didn’t. We changed to their range which was called HUB.  When we asked where the name came from they couldn’t tell us and we still don’t know. However, it is still called that and continues to be a winner for us and our customers. We recently added to the HUB range a smaller square VEGAN pie. Read the story behind this here.

Our No.8 Range

We had agreed that our HUB range would never include the standard flavours because that would water down the “gourmet” message. But there was a demand for a “Real Man’s” pie (sorry ladies). We decided that the only way forward was to create a new 230g range featuring the classic flavours but with different seasonings and lots more filling. We started out calling it the “Premium” range but thought that was a bit knaff for a “Real Man” so changed it to No.8 to relate to the likes of the great kiwi number 8 wire and number 8 rugby jersey… works for us mate!!!

Our SunnyDays Range

There are a lot of people out there who want to gobble and go. They don’t want to pay too much but its gotta taste okay.  Keeps the worms from biting and all that stuff. That’s where the SunnyDays range came from. It’s a cheapy but a goody. By the way the name SunnyDays was the original name of the South Island bakery so we have kept their 24 year history alive (as at 2015) with the naming of this range.

Our Metro Range – Heart Tick Pies

We had heard that some people think pies are not good for you, ridiculous I know.  However, we do like to listen to our customers so invented this range of pies aimed at school kids to provide them with a healthier option. This range is a one of a kind in the world as it meets strict criteria that rates very well against healthier eating criteria in most countries of the world.

Once again there is a story to tell so check it out here 

Continuous Improvement

The Flour Story

As our company has grown over the years we have attracted better buying power due to volume which is normal in the world of business.

A flour company came to see us prospecting for our business. They offered us a $60,000 saving on our flour. Our purchasing manager came to see me all excited. I said to him “why don’t we use the saving to improve the quality of our flour”. He went away and came back with several options, more expensive of course. We trialled each of them and decided on the most expensive one which was 2 grades above what we were buying as it gave us the best improvement to our pastry. The quality lifted and the rejects dropped.  It turned out to be a no brainer.

The outcome was that we spent $45,000 of the saving on improving the quality of our product but we still saved $15,000 a year.

We used the $15,000 saving to help fund free health insurance for our entire staff.

The Meat Story

There are several pie categories from the Cheapy Price Fighter to the Premium Gourmet. Here at Goodtime we try to be the best in each of the 5 categories that we supply, they include a range of New Zealand’s favourite pies with the heart tick. Anyway to the story.

The story.

We were using three different grades of meat the cheapy pie obviously had the cheapest meat, however because we have a burning desire to be the best in each category we were skimming the excess fat off the top of the meat cook to make the pie better. What we worked out was that what we were skimming off and sending to the tallow man for free was equivalent to reducing the meat content which we were paying for but adding no benefit or value to the pie itself.

What we did was raise the quality of the meat and reduce the quantity of meat in the recipe (that wasn’t there anyway) by the average amount of fat we were removing from each cook. This gave us a better quality product at no extra cost and no change to the meat content of the pie. Our customers love it.

Our Distribution

We pride ourselves on being the best of the best in all we do including delivery of our products.

Our delivered in-full performance averages above 98.5%.

We achieve this by working closely with our own distribution network which is aptly named Focus Distribution NZ Ltd.

The Goodtime Pie Co. has a 40% shareholding of, and partners with, Focus Distribution to distribute the The Goodtime Pie Co. range of products nationally. The Goodtime Pie Co. works very closely with Focus, in fact we share office space and a management team in Napier. Focus operates with 12 regional branches spread from Whangarei to Dunedin. They have capability in ambient, chilled, and frozen distribution.

Providing our customers with a high service level and going the extra mile is taken very seriously by both Focus and The Goodtime Pie Co..

Focus can manage the products of its suppliers from factory gate to the customer by providing a full service which includes, if required;

Sales Management: We have a very active and energetic National Sales Manager.

Sales Representation: We have 12 sales reps who live in the area they represent.

Telesales Service: We have a team who can ring for orders to be delivered the next day.

Web Ordering: For registered customers.

Order Book Management: Most customer groups only allow their sites to order from a restricted list of products that they determine. We can actively manage that.

Data Transfer: We have a proprietary computer program that allows us to transfer data to any other computer program to save manual data entry. We can transfer invoice detail to suppliers or to customers in whatever format is required.

Focus Distribution has been successfully growing since 2006.

For more information go to www.focusdistribution.co.nz and check out their website.

Our Environment and Sustainability

The Goodtime Pie Co. has a great deal of respect for the world and the people in it.  We have a direct responsibility to do whatever we can to conserve and preserve the assets Mother Earth has kindly lent us. Our best starting place is our own back yard.

Our Commitment

Our commitment is to set a great example by “doing it” so that others may see and then follow our examples by copying our actions.

  • We will continue to strive to minimize waste and improve consumption wherever we can in our business and in our homes.
  • We will make every effort to share what we learn with all other companies and individuals in order to fully realise our commitment to a better environment.
  • We will uphold any prevailing laws and customer driven requirements and adopt them as policy where applicable and/or appropriate.
  • We expect all who enter our working lives to adopt onsite and shared beliefs.  It will include visitors, contractors and staff.

A sign of our everyday success will be staff implementing practices at home and talking about them, other companies ringing and asking for advice or meetings to discuss our sustainability success and ideas which we will always be happy to share.

Our Objectives for 2017

  1. WASTE

We think we do pretty good when it comes to waste but there are still pockets that remain unresolved.

    1. Pastry waste reduction from 60 kilos per day to 10 kilos by December 2017. Some of the products we make under contract have a high waste content as we cannot recycle the scrap pastry due to the nature of the product.  We will work the recipe to improve recyclability while maintaining the same or better quality
  1. ENERGY USE

Although we have done much in this space (see below) there is always more that can be done.

    1. We will install an additional device we have found is proving very successful in the USA which captures and stores heat from heat generating plant, in our case refrigeration plant. This will raise the average temperature of the water introduced to our gas fired water heating system from the current average 28oC to around 45oC. The saving will be in gas used per litre of hot water.
    1. Even though most of our lighting on site is LED (see below) we still have lights in the offices, engineers workshop and in some of our storage facilities that are not.  We will progressively change these over the next 9 months.
  1. SUPPLY CHAIN

The Goodtime Pie Co. has its own distribution network called Focus Distribution.  Focus manages sales and delivery to all our customers and those of others throughout the country. We have not done much work in the sustainability space to date but it is on the agenda.

    1. We are currently working closely with Z Energy, one of our valued customers on a Fuel Project which has the potential to reduce the running costs per vehicle used in the Focus Distribution Network. Fuel savings can be significant.
    2. Our distributors all run refrigeration and depots.  We will in 2018 be rolling out a site by site review to discuss and facilitate energy saving plans for each site.  This will start in 2017 with a distributor conference at which we will present the benefits and the plan.

What We Do on a Daily Basis

  1. RECYCLING
  • Cardboard & Paper: cartons, paper bags, egg trays, paper, layer boards
  • Plastics: Shrink wrap, bottles
  • Metals: steel cans, aluminium cans
  • Glass: canteen glass bottles (no glass allowed in factory)
  • Baked waste: local pig farmer (certified)
  1. MINIMISING

Minimising packaging and reducing our transport footprint are constant targets

  • Larger purchase unit size eg crushed tomatoes in 205kg steel drums vs 2.65kg cans, and 9L sauce bladders vs 1L bottles
  • Bakeries in both islands which reduces transport

Some of the Bigger Stuff we Have Done so far

In 2012 we decided to upgrade our North Island bakery.

During the planning process, we decided to see where we could save money by using the latest and greatest equipment and technology.

We did a full review of where we were at and where we would like to be.

We didn’t start out seeing our actions as sustainability we saw them as potential cost saving with a bit of common sense thrown in.

Here are some of the key decisions we made

LED Lighting

We investigated using LED lighting throughout the bakery as opposed to fluorescent. We set some criteria;

  1. The light fittings could not be a dust trap particularly on top
  2. The light quality had to be 750 lux at bench top level in the bakery and as high as 1000 lux in the packing department for inspection purposes. Normal lux around home is about 300 lux.
  3. All fittings had to be easy to clean.

These criteria seriously limited our options. LED was very expensive at the time.

After a lot of research, we discovered a flat panel light which was designed to be used in suspended ceilings. We needed to modify 104 of them to suit our purposes.  We then mounted them flat to the surface, no gaps, on the new poly panel we completely relined our bakery with.

We were told by the LED people that we would save between 40 and 50% on lighting power.

The cost was significant at $51,000.

The payback was, according to our accountant, “far too long to be sensible at 50 months”.  I argued that the benefit of a brighter, whiter light would help staff spot any deficiencies in the product during the manufacturing process which would save us heaps.

He argued that “we can do better things with that money”

I said “It’s like paying it forward, it’ll work, it’s not just about the money”

I pulled rank and we did it anyway.

He was grumpy

VSD –  Variable Speed Drive although not new has become a bit more affordable.

We decided to use VSD equipment for all our motorised machinery wherever possible. The biggest single user of power on site is refrigeration. We retrofitted VSD equipment to the refrigeration compressors and fans where we could. We replaced older equipment with new VSD controlled equipment.

I can sense you have no idea what I am talking about so I will explain.

VSD works by allocating only the horse power required to do the job.  So, if a freezer requires 50HP to operate when under full load the VSD will supply 50hp.  When the load is lower, say on the weekends or when everything is almost frozen it supplies only enough power to the motor to do the job.  So if that’s 15HP then that’s what it supplies.

It saves a fortune in power cost and adds significant efficiency and quality to the freezing process.

Again the cost recovery was long term according to our accountant.  ”Don’t do it” he said…”it’s a waste of money”

We argued…

I pulled rank again…

He was grumpy again!!!

We Reviewed our Processes

We had a close look at our processes including the way we were cooling our product.

It’s a great idea to get the heat out of the pies as quickly as possible as it improves the quality.  (sshh…secret).

We designed and built a special cooling cabinet that takes the product from 180°C external to 50°C internal in just 20 minutes.

The experts said we would need to use powerful refrigeration equipment to achieve a 20 minute cool down.  Our design doesn’t so we save a lot of power.

Everybody Loves Free Stuff

During the build process we consolidated all our plant to just 2 locations.

This enabled us to introduce heat recovery.

We attached heat exchangers to key refrigeration plant.  Attaching a heat exchanger actually cuts the cost of running the piece of plant it is attached to so that’s a bonus.

We use about 4000 litres of hot water a day for wash down and cleaning purposes.

The heat exchangers recover enough heat off our refrigeration equipment to raise the introduced water temperature to our gas water heating system from the normal average of 14oC to up to 40oC with a now proven average of 28oC.

No argument from our accountant the cost benefit stacked up well. It’s nice to see him with his happy face on…..He’s a convert!!

All this stuff is, of course great for the planet and definitely qualifies as sustainable practice, but the big surprise for us was that the cost recovery was by far much, much quicker than we originally calculated.

Here are the numbers.

Prior to Our Refurbish;

Electricity averaged $12,800 per month peaking at $16,000.

Gas bill averaged $3,700 per month

Since we reopened with the new lighting, the VSD equipment and the changes in process;

Electricity now averages $8,700 per month saving $4,100

Gas now averages $3,100 per month saving $600

Total annual savings $56,400

The cost was;

Lighting cost $51,000

VSD Equipment cost $24,000

Heat exchangers cost $16,000 including holding tanks

Our total spend on energy saving plant was $91,000

Our Return On Investment was less than 20 months.

During that same period, we had significant growth in sales so the savings and the ROI are understated.

It turned out to be a no brainer.

Try it, it works

Code of Conduct

The purpose of this document is to describe the way Goodtime does business, and how the company and the people working in it are expected to behave in day-to-day relationships with the company, fellow staff, customers and suppliers. 

We are all individually responsible for knowing and adhering to the values and standards set out in this Code, and for raising the issue with our manager if we become aware it is being violated, or that standards are not being met.

Goodtime takes the standards set out in the Code very seriously.  Violations may be cause for disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment.

Goodtime will investigate all reported instances of questionable or unethical behavior with the aid of the Staff Representatives Committee. The company will take appropriate action if improper behavior is found to have occurred.

Trust and Confidence

Goodtime’s success as a company is dependent on the trust and confidence we earn from our employees, customers and stakeholders. We gain credibility by fulfilling our commitments, displaying honesty and integrity in all things, and achieving personal and company goals solely through honorable conduct.

Set the Tone at the Top

Managers will demonstrate the importance of this Code through their actions. We do this through clear and direct communication of behavioral expectations, modeled from the top and demonstrated by example.

Managers are responsible for promptly addressing ethical questions or concerns raised by employees, and for taking the appropriate steps to deal with any issues. 

Culture of Open and Honest Communication

At Goodtime everyone should feel able to speak his or her mind, particularly with respect to ethical concerns. We have a responsibility to create an accessible, open and supportive environment where employees feel comfortable raising sometimes difficult questions.

We demonstrate this by our personal behavior, and by actively supporting the Staff Representative Committee.

Respect for the Law

Goodtime as a company, and all Goodtime staff, will comply with New Zealand’s laws and all relevant regulations.  Goodtime staff will comply with all Goodtime company policies, rules and regulations.

If we are unsure of whether a contemplated action is permitted by law or Goodtime policy, we will seek advice from the appropriate manager.  We take responsibility for preventing violations of law and Goodtime policies, and for speaking up if we see possible violations.

Mutual Respect in the Employment Relationship

Goodtime believes that everybody deserves to be treated with dignity and respect both in our day to day lives, and while at work. We believe this brings out the full potential in each of us, which, in turn, contributes directly to our business success.

Goodtime is committed to providing a workplace that is free of discrimination of all types including abusive, offensive or harassing behavior. Any employee who feels harassed or discriminated against is actively encouraged to report the incident to his or her manager.

For clarity and the removal of doubts in this area, we have a written Dignity and Respect policy which is displayed prominently throughout our bakery. This sets out the behaviors and attitudes that we expect, and those we will not tolerate. Take a look at our Dignity and Respect Charter“.

We think it is reasonable to expect the respect and support we show to our employees is reflected back on to us.  We expect our employees to support Goodtime’s aims and objectives, and co-operate in our efforts to become “a great place to work”.  We expect our employees to to avoid making negative comments about Goodtime, or our products, to their colleagues, their families, or in their personal use of social media.

Respect for our Competitors and Suppliers

We believe in ethical, fair and vigorous competition. We promote and sell Goodtime products on their merits, superior quality, and value for money.

We make our own independent pricing and marketing decisions.  We will not cooperate or coordinate our activities with competitors. We will not solicit or offer improper payments, gratuities, or other benefits in connection with the purchase of goods or services for Goodtime or the sales of its products.

We will not acquire or seek to acquire a competitor’s trade secrets or other proprietary or confidential information by improper means.  We will not engage in unauthorised use, copying, distribution or alteration of software or other intellectual property.  We will not seek to acquire an unfair advantage over our suppliers through improper or underhand means.

Confidential and Proprietary Information

As an employer, and as a business, we have to collect, hold and keep secure various non-public data relating to employees, other individuals and other companies with whom we trade.

Except as required by law, we will never disclose this data to a third party without the express permission of the individuals or companies concerned.

Health and Safety (H&S)

Goodtime is dedicated to maintaining a healthy and safe working environment. We have an active H&S committee that meets monthly, or more frequently if necessary.  The committee is focused on ‘early warning’ and ‘near miss’ reporting, and the prevention of accidents or injuries.  Its work and outcomes are followed closely at Board level.  H&S training is provided to all staff through compulsory Goodtime unit standards.

Staff must report all accidents and ‘near miss’ events to their manager or a H&S representative so the appropriate enquiries can be made, and any necessary actions taken.

Food Safety Program (FSP) and Risk Management Program (RMP)

We will follow the requirements of our FSP and RMP at all times, for all products. These externally audited programs demonstrate to our customers that we consistently and reliably maintain high production standards.  There are no shortcuts when it comes to Food Safety.

Conflicts of Interest

At times, we may be faced with situations where the business actions we take on behalf of Goodtime may conflict with our own personal or family interests.

Determining whether a conflict of interest exists is not always easy. Before engaging in any activity, transaction or relationship that might give rise to a conflict of interest, or the appearance of a conflict, employees must seek advice from their managers.

As a good employer, we must also take care not to place an employee in a situation where a conflict of interest could exist, or appear to exist.

Records and Reports

We will create, retain and dispose of our company records as part of our normal course of business in compliance with all Goodtime policies and guidelines, as well as all regulatory and legal requirements.

True and complete company data must be promptly and accurately entered in our books in accordance with Goodtime’s and other applicable accounting principles.

We will cooperate fully with any auditor engaged to perform an independent audit of Goodtime books, records, processes or internal controls.

Gifts, Gratuities and Business Courtesies

Goodtime is committed to competing solely on the merit of our products and services. We will avoid any actions that could create a perception that favorable treatment was sought, received or given in exchange for gifts, gratuities, meals, refreshments, entertainment or other benefits from persons or companies with whom Goodtime does or may do business.

We will neither give nor accept business courtesies that could be perceived as inducements that would violate laws, regulation, or Goodtime’s policies, or would cause embarrassment or reflect negatively on Goodtime’s reputation.

We recognize that it is a long-standing business practice for suppliers or other companies to give gifts to Goodtime, or individual Goodtime staff, at various times of the year, particularly at Christmas, and that refusing or returning such gifts would be impractical, or cause offence. 

Individual Goodtime staff may therefore accept gifts on behalf of Goodtime.  However, all gifts to individuals of greater than nominal value (e.g. promotional ballpoint pens, writing pads, etc.) will become Goodtime property to be declared to the General Manager, who will decide how the gifts are to be distributed among Goodtime staff.

Personal Use of Company Resources

Employees and those who represent Goodtime are trusted to behave responsibly and use good judgment about the fair and reasonable personal use of company resources.  Managers are responsible for the resources assigned to them and are empowered to resolve issues concerning their proper use.

Media and Social Media

Goodtime is a high-profile company in our community, and from time to time, employees may be approached by reporters and other members of the media.  To ensure that we speak with one voice and provide accurate information all media inquiries should be directed to the General Manager.  All press releases must be authorised by the General Manager or his/her deputy.

Employees who receive enquiries about Goodtime via social media should discuss their response with their manager.  The expectations laid out under the ‘Mutual Respect’ heading above apply in this case.

Do the Right Thing

Several key questions can help identify situations that may be unethical, inappropriate or illegal. Ask yourself:

  • Does what I am doing comply with the Goodtime Code of Conduct and company policies?
  • Have I been asked to misrepresent information or deviate from normal procedure?
  • Would I feel comfortable describing my decision at a staff meeting?
  • How would it look if it made the headlines?
  • Am I being loyal to my family, my company and myself?
  • What would I tell my child to do?
  • Is this the right thing to do?

DIGNITY and RESPECT in the WORKPLACE

We are committed to a workplace that treats everybody with dignity and respect.

This means we must all act reasonably and with consideration for each other.

We hold that everyone, whatever their position in the workplace, deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. No one should suffer bullying or harassment. As this can put at risk the health, safety and wellbeing of our staff, we have adopted a policy of zero tolerance to bullying or harassment at work.

Unacceptable behaviour

Generally, workplace bullying is any behaviour or action that is unreasonable or undesirable at the place of work, or otherwise related to employment, which intimidates, humiliates and/ or undermines a person or a group of people.

Bullying behaviour would generally meet the following criteria:

  • It is repeated.
  • It is unwelcome and unsolicited.
  • The recipient/s considers the behaviour to be offensive, intimidating, humiliating or threatening.

Most reasonable people would consider the behaviour to be offensive, intimidating, humiliating

or threatening to the individual at whom it is directed, or to others who witness it, or are affected by it.

There is no fixed list of bullying behaviours. However, the following behaviours, especially where repeated or occurring as part of a pattern of behaviour, could be considered bullying:

  • Spreading malicious rumours or untruths about a fellow employee, or about us.
  • The use of emails or social media sites to insult, ridicule or intimidate a fellow employee, or the company.
  • Setting a person up to fail.
  • Overbearing or unnecessary supervision, overloading someone with work, or not providing enough work where others are fully occupied.
  • The use of abusive or humiliating language, physical intimidation, or physical force.

Exclusion, victimisation or any form of unfair treatment.

While a single incident of unacceptable behaviour may not be considered bullying, it will not be ignored or tolerated. In all our interests, we will intervene to prevent incidents from escalating. This will help prevent further incidents occurring.

It is however important to remember that, as employers, we have a legal right to direct and control how work is done, and that our managers, supervisors, and team leaders are expected to monitor workflow, give feedback and manage performance. There are bound to be occasional differences of opinion, conflicts or problems in working relationships – these are part of working life but legitimate performance management, carried out appropriately, is not workplace bullying.

Our responsibilities

We accept we have a duty of care in relation to the health, safety, and welfare of our staff, and that we should take all reasonable steps to ensure the psychological wellbeing of our employees while at work. We therefore intend to:

Lead by example

  • Identify bullying or harassment.
  • Deal promptly and decisively with any incidents.
  • Observe accepted performance management and disciplinary processes.

Your responsibilities

  • Treat each other and us with respect, as you would wish to be treated.
  • Report any instances of bullying or harassment to management.
  • Assist us where necessary with any investigation into incidents.
  • Participate in the established processes to resolve any issues.