Volare specialise in baking quality handcrafted sourdough breads for restaurants, cafés and good food stores within the Bay of Plenty and the Waikato. Ozone has been working with the team at Volare for 5 years, bringing delicious baked goods and quality coffee together, the perfect duo.
How did Volare Bread start?
Volare was started by two old school friends, Ed Hemming and Ryan Simmons, in Hamilton in 2009. While he studied, Ryan had been selling home-made Sourdough at Farmers Markets in his spare time. It began growing in popularity and when Ed, a practical-minded engineer, visited his old school friend one day and tried the bread himself, a lightbulb went off in his head. At the time, there was a gap in the market when it came to bread providers in the Waikato and so, with one old oven, a tired mixer, and a clapped-out old van, they set about filling the gap. With Ryan's recipes and Ed's business knowledge, the dream of creating a traditional artisan bakery that produced the highest quality sourdough bread, pastries and cakes began.
How long did it take to prefect the Volare recipe?
It continues to evolve and Ryan is obsessed with his craft so is always looking for ways to improve. But every product we release goes through multiple trial stages and many iterations before it is signed off. Everything needs to reach the Volare standard every time it is made because if there's one thing we are known for, it's the consistent quality of our product. Ryan is still hands on in the training of all our bakers and works hard to empower them all to bring their own creations and expertise to the table as well.
So yeah, I suppose that's a hard one to measure. But to give you an idea, Ryan's been hard at it for over 12 years now, and our bakery runs 24/7, so that adds up to a crazy number of hours perfecting the process.
Volare have opened several sites over the years, was this always the plan? How did you manage growth as a business?
When Volare started, they always had a store attached to the main bakery but the five other stores have been part of a natural progression as demand for our products increased. We now have stores in Hamilton Central, Hamilton East, Hamilton North, Cambridge, Te Awamutu, and Melville at our Main Bakery. I'm not sure either of the guys knew how big Volare would get, they just believed in the product and their dreams grew as the business grew.
What is important to Volare when it comes to coffee?
Just like our bread, it's important that we serve a coffee that everyone can enjoy. It should be quality but accessible to everyone and sourced ethically so that we can minimise our impact on the planet. That's why we love Ozone!
But as to what they love about the company, I would have to say it's our level of service. We know that Volare wouldn't be possible without our community and we try to honour that in everything we do. So whether you're a Wholesale customer or visiting our retail store, we will go above and beyond to ensure that our customers are satisfied. As we like to say, we're big enough to get the job done, but small enough to care!
What do your customers love about Volare?
Well they certainly love our Almond Croissants and the Volare Grain Sourdough – both of those are by far our biggest sellers! We're also known for our Hot Cross Buns, Gourmet Pies & Sausage Rolls, Custard Square, Cakes, Pastries, and Bread.
What is something a first-time customer has to try?
The Almond Croissant, Pies, and our selection of Sourdough breads. All paired perfectly with an Ozone coffee of course.
