The Rainbow Cake Kitchen Story
It all started back in 1951 when Gordon Gibson sold his Model-T Ford so he had a deposit to purchase the bakery and tea rooms in Palmerston Street, Westport. At the age of 21 Gordon was a young, enthusiastic business man and soon realised he was onto a winner.
After many successful years Gordon decided it was time to expand, he built a rather large bakery out the back of the tearooms and it wasn't long before he had to expand again, purchasing big machinery from bakeries in like Ernest Adams in Christchurch.
Gordon and his wife Margaret where the first of four generations to work in the family business. All their children, Diane, Alan, Paul & Raymond have all done their fare share of work in the business. Apart from Diane they have all moved onto their own ventures and at some stage have all owned their own food premises. Diane's husband Pat (McManus) took over as Manager when Gordon passed away in 1982. He has since retired now although his wife Diane still plays a big part in the running of the business. Two of Gordon's grandchildren Mathew and Tracey are both now working at the bakery with Tracey's daughter Paige filling in on school holidays.
During the nineties Rainbow Cake Kitchen was the agent for Ernest Adams, distributing their products around the West Coast and also making the meringues for them in New Zealand and Australia.
These days we solely just sell our own product, and to do this we operate over some very long hours, starting at 7.30pm on Sunday night, our doors are only closed for 5 hours all the way through to 5pm Friday. Operating 23 hours a day requires a work force of 23 staff and we are one of the largest privately owned employers in Westport.