The French Bakery — La Boulangerie Francaise — has been part of Christchurch's food story since 1978, when it opened on Hereford Street as something the city had never seen: a bakery devoted to flaky, buttery croissants, crusty baguettes, delicate choux pastries and bite-sized petite savouries, rather than the usual pie-and-bun fare. The timing was perfect for a city whose tastes were growing more sophisticated, and a love affair with French baking began that same week.
Four decades on, the bakery has grown into a serious production operation. From its bakehouse at 238 Port Hills Road in Heathcote — where it celebrated its forty-year milestone in 2018, after earlier chapters on Hereford Street and Raycroft Street — a team of more than 100 people produce a huge variety of baked-then-frozen goods: croissants, French and Italian breads, pizzas, pies, pastries and savouries. Bakers are trained in both the tradition and the science of French bread baking, and products are distributed throughout New Zealand by Frozen Food Distributors.
You don't need a trade account to enjoy it, though. The Bakery Factory Shop at the bakehouse is open to everyone, Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 5 pm and Sunday from 9 am to 4 pm. Alongside the breads and croissants you'll find finger food and sliders, foil-wrapped mini garlic bread, assorted muffins, and Portuguese custard tarts imported from The Nata in Portugal. For anything specific, the team can be reached on (03) 366 1670 or at [email protected].
In 1978, a new bakery opened on Hereford Street in Christchurch, and the city's bread never quite recovered. The French Bakery — La Boulangerie Francaise — was a revolutionary thing at the time: not the standard pie-with-tomato-sauce and buns bakery, but a store selling flaky, buttery croissants, crusty baguettes, the most delicate choux pastries and bite-sized petite savouries. Christchurch's food lovers were ready. People quickly learnt to curl their tongues around the French names almost as quickly as around the food itself, and a love affair with French baking began.
The story didn't stand still. In the 1980s the bakery moved to Raycroft Street, and along the way it diversified into baking wholesale for the frozen food market — a pivot that carried its croissants and baguettes well beyond one shopfront. In 2018, The French Bakery marked a forty-year milestone at its current home on Port Hills Road in Heathcote.
Today the company employs over 100 people, and the operation is a different scale entirely. Bakers trained in both the tradition and the science of French bread baking produce a huge variety of baked-then-frozen products — croissants, French breads, Italian breads, pizzas, pies, pastries and savouries — while packers, stores, customer service and sales teams, plus a network of distributors, handle the products (and the clients) with what the team describes as extreme care and kindness. Finished goods are distributed throughout New Zealand by Frozen Food Distributors, so café customers around the country may well be eating French Bakery croissants without realising it.
The easiest way to taste the range is to go to the source: the French Bakery Bakehouse & Bakery Factory Shop at 238 Port Hills Road, open Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 5 pm and Sunday from 9 am to 4 pm.
The finger food and slider range is built for platters. Mini Garlic Bread is the individual version of the bakery's popular garlic bread, sliced into five pieces, wrapped in foil and ready for the oven — and marked vegetarian. Mini Garlic Rolls are injected with a garlic spread so that, once finished in the oven, the garlic permeates the roll. There are Potato Bun Sliders topped with potato flakes, buttery Slider Brioche, Buttermilk Sliders, classic Slider Buns, and Croissants Mini — the classic croissant at 35gm. Assorted Muffins come in cartons of 24 each of chocolate, carrot cake and banana.
The pastry box's quiet star is the Portuguese Custard Tart, baked and imported from The Nata in Portugal. Serve it thawed to ambient temperature, or warm it in the oven for four to five minutes at 180–200°C — as is, or dressed up as a plated dessert.
Beyond the finger food sit the foundations: loaves and crusty baguettes, ciabatta and specialty rolls, grain and wholemeal breads, burger buns, bagels and panini, pizza bases (including a sauced 325mm base) and garlic bread, plus the petite 50gm savouries that were winning people over back on Hereford Street.
The shop sits at the bakehouse itself, so this is buy-direct territory rather than a sit-down café — think of it as a chance to stock the freezer with the same croissants, sliders and savouries that food businesses serve. Hours are 8 am to 5 pm Monday to Saturday and 9 am to 4 pm on Sunday. If you're after something specific, or you're a food business wanting the wholesale range, call (03) 366 1670 or email [email protected]; the latest product catalogue is available via the form on the website, and the distributors page will point you to a stockist near you.
Nearly five decades after Hereford Street, the mission hasn't changed: excellent, very versatile, distinctly European fare. As the team puts it — voilà, and bon appétit.