“Compare Bread” will soon open its doors to the Linden community but it has already gotten positive responses from residents who have sampled the product.
Chief Executive Officer Lawrence Henry said “Compare Bread is a partnership business and our main focus is to impact the lives of residents here. We put people first and we know for sure the profit will follow,” he said.
Henry has lived overseas for many years and although he had successfully established himself as a businessman abroad, he said he has always wanted to return to Linden to help to develop the town.
The journey to establishing the business started two years ago. Henry said at first the partners had toyed with the idea of opening a small bakery attached to another partnership business, Kresent Mall. However, after careful consideration he said the partners realised that neither the location nor the space was adequate.
About 18 months ago they were able to purchase the building that once housed Patnomike in Industrial Area, McKenzie. Since that time the partners have invested over US$2.5M to equip the bakery with state-of-the-art equipment. “Not in my wildest dream have I thought that we would have had to invest this amount of money. We had to take nothing and make it into something,” Henry said.
Technical Director of Compare Bread, Paul Chan, said it was important to maintain a quality service. Chan is an expert in the baked products industry who has worked in more than 25 plants worldwide. He said management intends to focus on the breads and tennis rolls and while their long-term goal is to tap into the international market, their immediate goal is to secure a place on the local market. The bakery will operate an outlet from a central location in McKenzie which it intends to develop into a caf