The owner of a popular 24-hour bakery on Ferry Road says they are back open for business following a difficult past few months, and she wants to thank her loyal employees for helping her get through it.

Buns Bakery store owner Yvonne told Chris Lynch Media she has had to put up with death threats, racial abuse, a vicious assault, and working 18-hour days to keep the store open.

The latest blow for the bakery happened last week when the power supplier cut their power for maintenance work, which resulted in the store temporarily closing.

“I missed an email from the company and then had problems getting back in contact with them to get the power restored to the store.

“I am so sorry for not letting our customers know what was going on, but I was stressed and worried and then forgot.”

Yvonne says she tries to make sure the bakery remains open 24/7, one of the few businesses in Christchurch to do so.

“We always try our best to operate the hours we normally do. Although I’m very stressed, we still keep on trying our best.”

Yvonne has been the store owner for nearly 10 years and has been working over 18 hours a day since the start of Covid to keep the business running, which has resulted in her experiencing several health problems.

“Everyone works very hard to keep our shop running 24/7, we work closely as a family.”

Yvonne says her shop has been a victim of an increase in crime across Christchurch.

“Shoplifting is a major problem that happens frequently. It’s happened to me twice, the person came in and grabbed the products from my hand, and just took off.

“One night, I was nearly run over by the shoplifter when I tried to take the registration number of the shoplifter’s car. Several times they said they would smash my face.”

During the holidays, Yvonne had her children working with her at the shop and experienced a terrifying ordeal.

“One person threatened my children that he would kill me one day. My children were scared but they didn’t want to leave me by myself.

“They kept working with me until they went back to school. One time, a person threw a hot pie into my face in front of my children.”

Yvonne says she has also had to deal with abusive racial comments, from individuals who have continuously come into the shop to harass staff.

“Most of our employees are Kiwis but we have Indian staff as well and I am Chinese.

“We have received a lot of racial abuse. People saying “Fu**ing Asians, go back to your own country, this is Maori land.”

“At first I didn’t call the police because I know they are always busy, but recently I called them because that person said several times that “here is his destination”, which to me means he wants to kill me.

“Last week, the same person assaulted my brother in front of our shop. We reported to the police but haven’t got time to make a formal crime report.”

After having to visit the hospital twice and being unable to work, Yvonne says the store’s loyal and hardworking employees helped to keep the shop running 24/7.

“Our employees care about me very much. All of our employees know I try my best to keep the shop going, I appreciate the help very much, and I want to thank our employees and customers for keeping the business operating.

With the bakery getting a steady stream of customers throughout the day, Yvonne says it’s a couple of Kiwi food classics that have always been the most popular items on the menu.

“Most of our products are made onsite. Our most popular items are our pies. We cook out pie fillings and make our pastries daily.

“Our roasted meat sandwiches and meals are popular as well. We also have loyal customers for our pudding and cakes and marshmallow slices.”