BAKERIES TO MERGE

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28822, 17 February 1959, Page 9

BAKERIES TO MERGE

New Firm N.Z.’s Biggest Two big Christchurch bakeries. Stacey and Hawker, Ltd., and L. A. Woodward, Ltd., will merge early next month. It will then Be the biggest baking organisation in New Zealand. Using a combmation of recipes from both bakeries, bread will be marketed under the Stacey and Hawker brand. Ultimately Woodward’s bakery, in Antigua street, will be closed and all baking will be done at Stacey and Hawker's Essex street bakery. Woodward’s staff will be absorbed by the new organisation Woodward’s bakery will cease to - a^l er the amalgamation, but Mr L. A. Woodward will have a seat on the .board of the new organisation. ~T h<L ^e r^,e r will take P’ ace <> n March 2. Shopkeepers in the city and suburbs were told by letter yesterday about the amalgamation. Modern Plant A spokesman for Stacey and Hawker, Ltd., said the decision to bake all bread at the Essex street bakery came about because of the equipment there. He said that his firm’s turboradiant ovens baked bread faster and better than “batch” ovens—used to bake bread in relays—or travelling tray ovens that bake bread on a conveyor belt system. In his firm’s ovens, bread travelled through a tunnel on a sole”—travelling griddles. Hot air in the ovens was recirculated and this meant that less moisture was taken from the bread. Baking took 42 to 43 minutes, compared with 55 minutes in other types of oven.

Commenting on the use of recipes from both bakeries, he said: “Having Mr Woodward on the board means that he will be able to give us a lot of assistance.”