Chamnan Ly is originally from Cambodia and came to New Zealand at the age of 15. He studied accounting at AUT and worked for several years before starting PieFee with his lovely wife, Kanha Kong in 2007.
PieFee is a café on Auckland’s Karangahape Road, serving the famous PieFee™ - a barista-made coffee served in a biscuit pie cup. The café also offers homemade pies, fresh sandwiches, cake, slices, and chicken and chips.
The PieFee was invented by Chamnan in February 2017, and went viral on social media. Each cup is homemade and individually hand-crafted with a chocolate lining and variety of sprinkle and chocolate chip garnishes. The hot drink in a biscuit cup was featured on the likes of Lonely Planet, NZ Herald and Australia’s Nine News and became sought after, remaining very popular to this day and drawing customers to the K’ Rd café.
Chamnan describes his approach to baking as charismatic and adventurous while keeping to the classic baking kiwis know and love. He most enjoys making pastries from scratch, especially pies and croissants, and as Head Baker keeps a watchful eye for quality control.
As well as the iconic PieFee drink, the café is known for the variety of pies it has on offer. Chamnan has created unique and award-winning flavours for his pies. Customer favourites include the Spicy Prawn Pie, Breakfast Pie and Curry Lamb Pie alongside classics like Steak and Cheese. Chamnan’s Chicken, Feta and Spinach pie took home the 2021 Bakel’s New Zealand Supreme Pie Awards Bronze Award.
Chamnan has also had success in coffee, as PieFee’s Head Barista. In Sydney, 2018 he was a Breezy Master Latte Art Championship finalist and in 2020 placed in the top 8 at New Zealand’s Latte Art Championship. At PieFee, the coffees are often topped with fun latte art - a testament to Chamnan’s skills.
In his time in the hospitality industry, Chamnan has noted a trend in how health-conscious his customers are but his cooking creativity and long hours of hard work are pushing him through as he keeps his offering in line with what his customers love. For the future, he hopes to continue expanding the business and build awareness around his cafe’s unique products.
