Lauren Lulu Taylor, managing director/founder of Secret Kiwi Kitchen, is a long-time supporter of Good Bitches Baking.

She heard about us through her work in the food community and was impressed by the depth of our mahi. 

“GBB is a badass army of bakers who are changing the world in a very specific way,” she says. “Showing up, week after week, baking for people having a tough time. It looks simple, but it goes deep.”

She also loves the Prison Bake programme, because she knows GB volunteers aren’t just showing people how to bake but “teaching them what kindness feels like. And that baking goes back out into the community, completing the circle.”

Lulu, who grew up in the US and now calls New Zealand home, reached out to GBB a few years ago to offer support to our bakers via a discount code on her website. She has kept it active ever since (current bakers: you can find this code on the BMS under National Notices).

GBB’s values align very closely with Lulu’s and remind her of why she started Secret Kiwi Kitchen. “I began the business during the pandemic to bring people together,” she says. “Baking, sharing a moment, creating a bit of joy when it was needed most. It feels like we share that mahi.

Lulu knows there is magic in baking. “Even now, I’m still amazed how a few simple ingredients – flour, sugar, salt, raising agent – can become so many different things.”

She has warm memories of baking throughout her life. “When I was 12, the woman who raised me had a stand at the Martha’s Vineyard farmers’ market,” she remembers. “She sold Vietnamese food which felt quite exotic at the time. Customers were scarce at first. I decided we should try selling brownies. My logic was simple: attract the kids and the adults would follow.” 

Lulu’s idea worked and the farmstand continues to this day, run by a family member.

This ingenuity and resourcefulness have helped her succeed in business and are, of course, the same qualities we see in our GBs.

When Lulu first opened her business, she was managing the flour shortage and sticking labels on with glue sticks.

She now sells a variety of baking mixes – her favourites are the brownie mix (for the happy memories of that stand in Martha’s Vineyard they evoke) and the gingerbread, which ties her to the memory of her beloved grandmother, Martina. 

“There was always a sense of warmth about, a care in the small things,” Lulu says. The gingerbread carries that memory, of “something special being shared”.

Lulu is continuing to support GBB. “Food is one of the deepest universal languages we have,” she says. “It’s a way of connecting, a way of seeing people. I believe anyone, at any time, can be transformed through love and understanding. Sharing food brings kindness.”

Lulu has also kindly written us a blog about using edible flowers. You can read it below.