Two Winners Named In 2024 Bread Baker Of The Year Competition

21 November 2024

Sadat Ali Rahimi of Coupland’s Christchurch has been named NZ Association of Bakers Bread Baker of the Year. Delmari Janse van Rensburg of New World Rolleston was named second in the competition and was awarded Young Bread Baker of the Year.

Both winners have won a grant of up to $15,000 to use for research on a bakery related subject. Delmari has also been nominated to represent New Zealand at the LA Judge Award in Australia in May 2025.

Ali has fond memories of his Grandfather’s bakery in Afghanistan and he wonders if that is why when he arrived in New Zealand in 2014 he took a role as a packer at Coupland’s Christchurch. Ali worked his way through the departments at Coupland’s and with hard work and support from the Coupland’s team he made his way to the bread plant. In 2023 he completed his New Zealand Certificate in Trade Baking (Plant Bread) Level 4. Ali enjoys working on all the different steps of the bread manufacturing process and enjoys the challenge of consistently making quality bakery products.

Delmari didn’t set out to be a baker, in fact she started a degree in Marketing but once she discovered baking, her passion for a career in the industry grew. Originally from South Africa, for the last four years, Delmari has worked in the bakery department at New World Rolleston. In July of this year, Delmari completed her New Zealand Certificate in Trade Baking Level 4. Within her role at New World, Delmari is involved in all stages of the baking process and enjoys the personal satisfaction of seeing the products she has created on the shelf.

The Competition is open to nearly or newly qualified bread bakery apprentices. This year is the first time that the competition has offered two classes of entry, a new open class with no age limit and the original Young Baker class where candidates must be no older than 30 years of age on 1 January 2024. Competitors were required to present a speciality bread and describe their product development process and how they would market their product. Entrants also completed a 90-minute theory of baking technology exam and a five-hour practical session.

Judging Co-ordinator Tania Watson says the “new concept of asking contestants to bring their own speciality breads to the competition worked well with some interesting concepts that were made well and tasted good too.”

Judge Grant Inns echoed the thoughts of the Judging Team by saying “the standard of the entrants was very high this year which is truly a credit to the amount of preparation that the contestants have completed.”

Judge Joe Jarkiewicz said, “he was pleased to see representation across all sectors of bakery industry – in store, craft and plant bakeries.” This has allowed contestants to share with their competitors the different processes they engage in within their bakeries.

Judge Nathan Roberts, a past competitor himself, was also impressed by the high standards this year and said, “that the addition of the open class to the Bread Baker of the Year Competition was a positive new dynamic.”

The Bread Baker of the Year Competition is sponsored by the New Zealand Association of Bakers and is designed to promote excellence in people emerging from their training.

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