Kai Pai Bakery is a 100% Kiwi owned family business, proudly made in Wanaka — and proudly the Most Awarded Commercial Pie Bakery in New Zealand. What began in 2010 as a small retail bakery on the main street of Queenstown has grown, on the strength of Jason Danielson's passion for pies, into a large commercial bakery on Frederick Street in Wanaka distributing over 20,000 pies a day nationwide.
The range is classic Kiwi: rich fillings in light, buttery pastry, with the favourites well covered. The Mince & Cheese Pie — Gold at the 2026 NZ Bakels Supreme Pie Awards — leads a line-up that also includes Lamb & Mint, Butter Chicken and Steak & Cheese Family Pies, alongside an award-winning vegan range. Beyond individual pies there are rolls, petite savouries, party packs and catering packs built for the freezer.
Kai Pai pies reach customers through food service, convenience and supermarket channels across the country, from pie warmers to the freezer aisle, with online ordering available in the lower South Island through Prime Range Fresh. The bakery also supports other Kiwi businesses, children's charities and the Wanaka community, and runs fundraising options for schools, clubs and teams. Behind it all are Jason, the Head Baker, and Julie, who takes care of orders and dispatch — a genuine family operation.
Kai Pai Bakery's pies may be born in Wanaka, but they end up all over New Zealand. From a factory on Frederick Street, this 100% Kiwi owned family business sends out more than 20,000 pies a day to pie warmers and supermarket freezers across the country — and it has the trophy cabinet to show for it. Kai Pai proudly holds the title of Most Awarded Commercial Pie Bakery in New Zealand, with medals at the National Supreme Pie Awards that, the team notes, are unmatched by any other commercial pie manufacturer.
The latest highlight is a familiar one: the Mince & Cheese Pie took Gold at the 2026 New Zealand Bakels Supreme Pie Awards in the Commercial/Wholesale category — a pie that has struck gold before. Fittingly, the pies entered in that category are taken straight off the factory production line, so what the judges taste is exactly what lands in a pie warmer near you.
The story starts in 2010, when Jason and Julie Danielson opened a small retail bakery on the main street of Queenstown. Jason's passion for pie-making carried the business a long way in a short time: within three years it had grown into a large commercial manufacturing operation in Wanaka.
Today Jason is the Head Baker and Julie runs orders and dispatch. The site has seen significant investment in facilities and equipment, lifting capacity to more than 50,000 pies a day — with current output around 23,000. On any given night the bakery works through two to three tonnes of pastry, and its two production lines can turn out roughly 8,000 pies an hour. The family has even fronted TV stories on Breakfast on 1 and Seven Sharp.
Kai Pai's range sticks to what Kiwis expect from a good pie: rich fillings in light, buttery pastry, with the classics well covered. The Mince & Cheese is the headliner, but customers have their own loyalties. 'I love the Lamb & Mint ones, my favourite by far,' one fan writes — 'Butter Chicken is not far behind.' Another reviewer was disappointed only that their Vegan Roasted Vegetable Pie 'didn't last long enough', while a Motueka shopper reported working through their third Steak & Cheese Family Pie in a row from the local New World freezer.
The vegan side of the range is genuinely celebrated, not an afterthought: the bakery's vegan pie earned its own award in 2024, and the line-up includes a vegan vegetable curry alongside the roasted vegetable version.
Beyond individual pies, the catalogue covers Family Pies — the same award-winning fillings in dinner-sized form — plus rolls, petite savouries, party packs and catering packs. Whatever the flavour, the stated purpose is the same: high quality, award-winning products at a realistic and sustainable price.
You won't need to hunt hard. Pies are distributed nationally across food service, convenience and retail supermarket channels, so they show up everywhere from corner-store pie warmers to the freezer aisle — look out for the Family Mince & Cheese, which the team cheerfully describes as 'the same just bigger'. In Otago, Southland and Canterbury, the range — individual pies, family pies, savouries party packs and catering packs — can also be ordered online through Prime Range Fresh.
For cafes, retailers and food service operators, Kai Pai runs a wholesale arm and backs its stockists with promotional material, pie ID charts and allergen printables.
For all the scale, the bakery keeps a local heart. Kai Pai supports other Kiwi businesses, children's charities and the Wanaka community, and runs fundraising programmes for schools, clubs and teams — four easy options for anyone who fancies a freezer stash of pies and savouries for lunches, dinners and easy catering.
Jason sums up the brand as everything he imagines about being a Kiwi: 'Green, earthy, strong, friendly, relaxed, fun, respectful of our culture and recognises our wonderful environment of flora and fauna. Yes it's addictive, but most of all it's an epitome of Aotearoa.'