Artisan by Rangiora Bakery is the café and catering face of one of New Zealand's oldest baking businesses — a bakery that has stood on Rangiora's High Street since 1860, when the first bakehouse there was built by Samuel Chapman next to the BNZ bank.
Now owned by Ron van Til, who took over from his father John in 1992, the business pairs a working production bakery with a welcoming café, opened in 2010. Alongside a cabinet of pies, slices, muffins, breads and seasonal bakes, the 18 High Street site is also home to an in-house cake decorator, catering and boardroom hire.
The bakery's record speaks for itself: New Zealand Baker of the Year six times between 1975 and 1992, winners of the BIANZ Great New Zealand Hot Cross Bun competition in 2020 and 2021, New Zealand's Best Stollen in 2022, and overall Supreme Winner at the 2024 Bakels New Zealand Supreme Pie Awards with the Sumatra Beef Pie.
Artisan is also a wholesale powerhouse, with roughly 1,100 products — 99% bespoke — supplied to cafés, chains, airlines and more across New Zealand, Australia and internationally, all under MPI Food Control Plan certification. Since 2022 the bakery has run on 100% renewable energy, a dedicated gluten-free zone sits in production, and e-bike riders can charge up in the café carpark.
A bakery has stood on Rangiora's High Street since 1860, when the first one was built by Samuel Chapman next to the BNZ bank. More than 160 years later, the baking continues at 18 High Street, where Rangiora Bakery's Artisan Café brings the bakehouse to the public — open 7am to 5pm, every day of the week.
The café, opened in 2010 when the bakery was extended, shares its site with an in-house cake decorator, catering and boardroom hire. But the story here is much older than the café fit-out.
The bakery's own timeline reads like a piece of Canterbury history. Sold and resold through the nineteenth century — to Mr George and Mr Robertson in 1865, Mr T McKelvey in 1876, and Mr and Mrs Pyle in 1896 — it traded as Devonshire Bakery from 1906 and became W Lewis & Son in 1932. It was rebuilt at 90 High Street in 1958, and John van Til bought the business in 1965. In 1992 he passed it to his youngest son, Ron van Til, the current owner; in 1997 the family bought the old railway land at 18 High Street, and the new production bakery opened there in 2001.
The trophies arrived early and often. The bakery was named New Zealand Baker of the Year in 1975, 1980, 1986, 1988, 1990 and 1992 — and the judges have kept coming back since.
If anything has put Artisan in the headlines lately, it's pies. At the 2023 Bakels New Zealand Supreme Pie Awards, the Thai Beef Brisket Gourmet Pie took Silver. In 2024 the bakery went one better: Gold in the Mince & Gravy category, Gold in the Gourmet Meat category, and the overall Supreme Winner title with its Sumatra Beef Pie.
The sweet side has silverware of its own. The hot cross buns won the Baking Industry Association of New Zealand's Great New Zealand Hot Cross Bun competition two years running, in 2020 and 2021, and the stollen was named New Zealand's Best Stollen at the Baking New Zealand Christmas Competition in 2022.
The bakery's product range gives a fair picture of the cabinet: caramel and banoffee slices, custard squares, café and premium muffins, banana bread, churros desserts, cheesecake, chocolate cake and Christmas cake, alongside fresh bread — and, in season, those award-winning hot cross buns and stollen. For something more personal, the in-house cake decorator takes wedding, birthday and celebration cake enquiries through the website.
Behind the café sits a serious production operation. The wholesale food service makes around 1,100 different goods — from savoury to sweet, simple food to complex desserts — with 99% of them bespoke, so each customer stays different from their competitors. Its clients include multi-national chains, quick-service restaurants, cafés, fuel channels, airlines and FMCG brands, and frozen products ship nationally and internationally. Exporting began in 2002 to the Middle East and Asia, with orders to Australia following in 2012.
The site holds New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries Food Control Plan certification under the Food Act 2014, based on the HACCP system. It looks forward, too: 820 solar panels installed in 2022 let the bakery operate on 100% renewable energy, a dedicated gluten-free zone was added to production in 2023, and e-bike riders can charge up at a station in the café carpark.
You'll find the café, cake decorator, catering and boardroom hire at 18 High Street, Rangiora, open 7am to 5pm daily. The bakery shares its latest specials on Facebook and Instagram, so it's worth following along before you visit.