Pie Face, the Sydney-based bakery chain, has signed a memorandum of understanding with South Island Subway owners Jared Palmer and Julian Field to roll out at least 62 stores in New Zealand over 10 years.

The sweet and savoury pie maker, which currently operates 76 sites in Australia and opened its first of eight Manhattan stores last month, will open an Auckland store in April.

Palmer and Field paid an undisclosed up-front fee to Pie Face and will pay a share of royalties, trading profit and marketing levies in perpetuity.

“We are like-minded in our hands-on approach to operations and see a bright future for our brand in the NZ market,” Wayne Homschek, co-founder of Pie Face said in a statement.

Products will initially be imported from Pie Face Australia and then produced under licence in New Zealand.