Meet Sonia Haumonté (Vaniyé), New Zealand’s favorite pastry
Organized jointly by the New Zealand-French Chamber of Commerce and Le Petit Journal Auckland, for the second year French Business Awards for New Zealand View New Zealand cafes, restaurants and French bakeries / patisserie. Named New Zealand’s favorite French pastry for the second year in a row, we had the chance to speak with Sonia Haumonté, pastry chef and co-owner of Vaniyé Pâtisserie in Parnell.
Hi Sonia, can you introduce yourself first? where do you come from ? How long have you been in New Zealand?
I am German And the Thaiborn in New ZealandI trained and worked at Paris. Lawrence He is French and is of French origin regimentin east FranceGo to Paris to continue his career. Both are passionate about French gastronomy, and our profession has always revolved around food and good company. Our shared love of French gastronomy prompted us to open our own pastry shop.
How did the story of Vanier begin?
we arrived to Auckland In 2009 after spending nearly a decade Paris. In the early years, we spent time researching/developing and selling Parisian-style cakes in New Zealand markets, all while getting to know the locals. After a few years, we felt ready to open a shop, so we set up our own sweet shop in ParnellSpecializing in high-end pastries, cakes, chocolates and of course, pastries.
How has Covid affected your business? How did you adapt?
Every individual and every company in the world has been affected by this terrible pandemic. It is scary but reassuring that we are not alone in the struggle to live in these times and be able to make a living. We have been directly affected by Covid-19, especially during full containment. We kept paying the bills without income. We also realized that reality and consumption habits would change from now on, so we started planning during the lockdown for an alternative future.
Communication is essential and we have grown and will continue to increase our presence on social networks and send newsletters to our customers. The goal is to improve and drive our online sales, create new recipes and launch new limited range products to sell for a limited time to make it special. We have really focused on productivity and cost control without compromising quality.
What do the French Business Awards mean to you? Why is it important to participate?
It is important for our company to participate and it is a privilege for our entire team to be honored for this award. in home I love youWe attach great importance to preserving and protecting this French culinary heritage. This is more important in today’s modern world. With technology advancing so quickly, it is very easy to lose touch with the joy of doing things manually. Everyone wants to do things faster and tends to choose comfort over everything else. We are grateful to be able to bring so much happiness and emotional fulfillment to people, allowing young and old to appreciate the literal side of what we do. Our goal is to preserve this cultural heritage and pass on knowledge and knowledge to future generations so that they can continue to value this tradition.
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