We (Kevin and Esther Gilbert) started our Dunedin-based bakery lives in 2006 when we bought Charlotte Bakery.

Lievito Bakery, an outlet at the Otago Farmers' Market, followed in late 2007, and Charlotte was sold in mid-2008 to allow us to concentrate on just one business.

Over the next four years, this continued to grow from Kevin doing everything by himself on a mostly part-time basis to employing a baker and part-time help to get through the increasing demand for the gluten free breads and associated products. The premises we operated out of became increasingly tight.

In 2011, the search began for new premises, and over a year later, the business moved to its current spot at 47 Otaki Street. The converted warehouse now sports a large bake house, with plenty of room to grow. The added advantage of the site is the showroom which has been turned into our fabulous shop stocking our bakery products as well as NZ produced specialty foods.

At the same time, we changed the company name to Gilbert’s Fine Food, to better encompass the wider-than-just-bakery-product range of goods we now offer for sale. The Lievito Bakery name continues for the gluten-free range of products.

In 2022, we opened a second bakery on Highgate in the Roslyn Village.