Zaida's - Te Aro

Why? Well... Zaida means granddad in Yiddish - in a friendly, grandchildren on the lap, pipe-and-slippers type of way. And our bread business started with our Zaida, Charlie Chait, way back in 1920 when he left his home in Poland and jumped on a boat to New Zealand.

Then there was Anzie. She came from a grand family who rode around St Petersburg in sledded carriages in the snow, wrapped in bearskins. With jewels and those great hats Russians are famous for. There was a mansion and servants, and dressing up for dinner. You know, the kind of things you read about in old books with yellowing pages that smell of nostalgia, lace collars and romance. Then came the revolution and everything was taken away. They packed what little was left of their possessions and got on a boat.

Same boat! And somewhere on-board Anzie met Charlie and stole his heart. They fell in Love. None of this friended on facebook malarkey, no dating. This was old fashioned Love. With a capital L. And remember this was the OLDEN DAYS. Not the olden days your kids ask you about, you know, just before ipads. But the REAL olden days, and they got engaged 35 seconds after first setting eyes on each other..

Now that he had this beautiful new fiance Charlie decided he needed to set about creating the kind of life he felt she deserved. He rented a small space in Dixon Street and called it Farm Poultry Supplies Ltd. Catchy right?...No marketing department. Back then you just told it like it was. And it worked because he worked. Boy did he work! Charlie got up at dawn to chop, slice and package the fresh produce he sold all day in the store. He plucked chicken and ducks round the back in the evening, washed up in a bucket and slept above the counter in the attic. Slowly he built up the business, and years later the store was passed on to his son and daughter-in-law. Martin and Jane turned it into the Dixon Street Delicatessen. (See the pattern there?) We know you've heard of it. Everyone had back then. Remember the Post? Having inconveniently existed 35 years too early for Google, some people on the other side of the world addressed a letter like this...

To: Martin and Jane, They have 3 children and own the best delicatessen in Wellington, New Zealand.

And it got there! Well it would wouldn't it. Now, amongst all the exotic things from all over NZ and the world they were selling, they also began to bake bread. (and NZ's first Bagel) Eventually the bread got so popular they opened a separate bakery business to keep up with demand. Using the same intricate branding strategy that had worked so well for them over the years they called it the Brooklyn Bread and Bagel Company.

Then we moved the business to where it is today. And it's still as wonderful as it ever was. Only it's not in Brooklyn anymore... Which makes the name a bit awkward. So we've renamed it Zaida's in honour of Zaida... Who started it all.

Same business, same people, same great bread... Better name!