Ronda Hensley's love for baking paved the way for her to open the doors of Walter & Rose in 2015 to Auckland customers, providing custom designer cakes. Taking pride in presenting quality baked products in all their artistry, every occasion or even just an ordinary day becomes a very special one.
What is your company background, how did you start the business?
“Ronda Hensley is the owner and director of Walter & Rose. Walter & Rose is named after Ronda’s parents and a tribute to the home baking in the cupboards when she was growing up. Walter & Rose is a little commercial kitchen based in the Henderson Valley in Auckland which launched in 2015 and has quickly built a big reputation for quality handcrafted cakes and cookies. Ronda is passionate about answering today’s consumer need for all things natural and bringing to the market baking products that meet this demand. The best of ingredients are used with no additives or preservatives can be found in any of Walter & Rose’s products. Products are made with the very finest ingredients. Free range eggs, New Zealand butter, Equagold spices and Whittakers chocolate, all sourced from local suppliers. Small batches make for a quality product and decadence not often found in today’s bakery goods.”
What is the current product range and variants and how do these products stand out in the market?
“Walter & Rose product differentiator is their natural goodness – baked with ingredients without additives or preservatives. Walter & Rose can also bake with natural food colouring on their iced products, making them a hit with mums with kids – a delicious treat with a difference. The cookies are baked to order, hand decorated, then vacuum sealed. Due to their natural ingredients shelf life is eight weeks.”
“The cookie range includes 100’s & 1000’s, Mini Gingers, Ginger Kids, Sweet Bites and Super Gingers.”
“We also provide a range of cakes. Christmas cakes are a specialty of Walter & Rose, all made with natural ingredients (no additives or preservatives) including free range eggs and New Zealand butter, with the fruit for the cakes soaked in French brandy for four weeks, then baked and left to mature to release full flavour, then each individually wrapped or supplied in a Christmas gift box. They are divine. The cakes come in 1kg or 400g sizes.”
“One of the highlights of a day’s work at Walter & Rose is working with customers to design their own unique cakes for individual orders or as their ranged cakes for birthdays or something special. There’s always a cake that can be created especially just for your customers.”
Where are your products currently available to buy, and are you looking at or wanting to expand your availability?
“Our full range of natural goodness cookies are available in all Farro Fresh and Moore Wilson stores, in addition to a growing number of independent specialty food retail stores and cafes. Plus we provide My Food Bag with cookies for their school lunch box products.”
“We provide wholesale pricing for our retailers and are looking to expand our distribution into other New Zealand stores looking for a cookie product to appeal to their customers looking for a more natural option. Contact Ronda if you wish to be a supplier.”
“We also supply many companies with our line of customized decorated cookies. These are handmade and supplied to our customer requests for launches of products, company birthdays, promotional events and as give-aways.”
“Orders can be placed on line at or by calling Ronda directly. All orders are handled and baked in our commercial kitchen in Henderson Valley, Auckland.”
