Sustainability - People, Product & Planet

We have many team members who have been with us for decades (some for more than 20 years!), and several sets of local family members working within our business. Cottage Lane is built on the passion and commitment of our people, and in turn we aim to take care of them and their communities as best as possible.

We are proud of our track record of responsible employment practices and competitive wages, and we are constantly looking for ways to improve our employee experience. We will be investing heavily in training and development programmes across all levels of our workforce, and will soon be launching a specialised Cadet programme. We will also be establishing some exciting employee benefit initiatives in the coming years!

Staying involved and giving back to our community has always been important to us! We regularly support organisations across our regions such as the Life Flight Helicopter, Wairarapa Kids Triathlon, Wairarapa Sport Awards, Wairarapa Bush Rugby Union, Wairarapa Hospice and the Wairarapa Cancer Society.

We’ve been breaking baking boundaries for decades, and our ‘taste’ for product innovation isn’t going anywhere! We will be exploring ways to reduce cost per unit for our customers without compromising on quality. This will involve reengineering our procurement systems, investing in resilient infrastructure, automation and technologies that increase efficiency, and simultaneously upskilling our staff.

While we work on strengthening and future-proofing our infrastructure and processes, we will also be keeping an eye on emerging product categories, health trends, and the needs and lifestyles of our customers. So, we will be bringing you the innovative, nutritious, healthy, high-quality baked goods that we have become known for, well into the future!

Sustainability is an ongoing commitment for the entire Cottage Lane team, no matter how large we grow. We will continue to improve our systems and processes, implement green initiatives and find more ways to create positive outcomes for the environment!

We will be focusing on plant-based nutrition, extensive research into environmentally friendly packaging, developing our site-wide recycling programme, and we intend to participate in the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). So, we have been making great progress in ensuring that Cottage Lane can craft excellent food products while operating sustainably and responsibly.

As a leader in the foodservice industry, we will be working hard to minimise emissions across our entire supply chain. We aim to source as many of our ingredients locally as possible, and our procurement team aims to work with highly trusted, ethical suppliers and distributors who are also mindful of their carbon footprints.