Boasting flavoured sourdough, baked lamb and pumpkin pies, great coffee and even gelato, Quinty Cake and Bakehouse draws customers from all over the Riverina - just don't ask for a humble meat pie.
Story and photos by Margrit Beemster |
THERE’S not a lamington or vanilla slice to be seen. As for sliced white bread, or jam rolls, forget it…..
The Quinty Cake and Bakehouse is not your traditional Aussie bakery.
The fact that it is located in a typical small country town in the southern Riverina, servicing mostly an agricultural community, is unusual as this bakery has the style and type of food you could expect in a trendy inner suburb.
The fact that the business is thriving and that these days between 1200 and 1500 people stop to visit the bakery, rather than just drive straight through Uranquinty 12 km south of Wagga Wagga, is a credit to the couple who have created the innovative and expanding business.
“People tell us that before we came along this place [Uranquinty] used to be a ghost town but we knew a business here would work provided we did it right,” says Tania Gillanders, 31, a local girl, who began work as an apprentice baker/pastry cook in Wagga when she was 15 years of age.
She then moved to Sydney to attend TAFE and further her experience in the industry, which included training people in the business side of running a franchise. She’d always had a dream of running her own business, particularly in or around Wagga Wagga where she knew the market and the community. After teaming up with husband Paul, a New Zealander, five years ago, that dream became a reality.
He might be mostly front-of house these days chatting and serving customers and making excellent coffee but Paul, 30, is a carpenter by trade with skills that came in very handy when it came to transforming a turn-of-the century building into a modern bakery and café, and constructing the café’s tables and outdoor furniture.
The supportive locals and those that regularly drive along the Olympic Way watched the transformation of the building over two and a half years with interest as they slowed down to drive through Uranquinty, one in a series of small towns along the highway.
The building (which these days is bright and welcoming with an old world charm) has an interesting history in a town that means “plenty of rain” and “yellowbox tree” in the indigenous language of the region.
The Federal Hall was built in 1902 and used for many special occasions and dances before it was converted into a store and residence in 1910. In 1940 the Royal Australian Air Force used the premises as a Pool Hall during the war.
“We’ve had people come into the bakery who have told us they used to play pool here,” says Tania.
From 1950 it was a drapery-hardware-grocery store for many years, and in 1960 a service station and garage.
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The couple did all the renovations and alterations themselves with the bakery opening for business on Tania’s birthday on June 25, 2004. With good business acumen they tested the market for their organic sourdough bread at local Farmer’s Markets and had an established clientele by the time the bakery opened.Initially the pair opened the bakery on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and retained their other jobs but it wasn’t long before the demands of their new business took over and these days it provides an income for both Tania and Paul, two full-time apprentices and a number of casual staff.
In a marketing exercise that is working the Gillanders have erected signs on farmers’ properties as you approach Uranquinty to entice visitors. Message like “Hungry”, “Follow Your Nose”, “Obey Your Stomach” and “Have Tart in 20 Minutes” are working well at bringing in new customers, adding to the regulars from Wagga Wagga, Yerong Creek, Albury and Uranquinty.
A successful side-line is “Kids in the Bakery” with Tania and Paul running cooking classes during the school holidays where children kids learn how to make goodies such as pizzas and, a couple of others. And there are plans to start up a mobile catering business, “Quinty on the Run”.
But the main reason the bakery is doing so well is the food. Tania makes a point of specialising in food that is as natural and organic as possible. “There’s no pre-mixes here,” says Tania. “We add all the ingredients one by one and let each ingredient express its own character. We don’t use colourings and we use ingredients such as fruit when they are in season. That’s why our food tastes different to other bakeries. It’s a lot more work but my motto is ‘do it right or else don’t do it, and sleep in.’” (Paul and Tania take it in turns to get up at 3am to start the day’s baking.)
The menu up on the board offers anything but the traditional meat pie. In its place are pies such as Tandoori Chicken, Sate Beef & Vegetables, Potato Pesto, and Baked Lamb and Pumpkin. The bakery specialises in organic sourdough bread (with sun dried tomato, basil, rosemary and olive, or fruit); gluten free bread one day a week; pastries such as lemon tartlets in small, medium and large; and gelato made on the premises.
Over last Christmas Paul and Tania went to Berlin where Tania worked in a bakery for a week to experience how the Germans made sourdough and pastries.
“Their slices are just so moist and delicious,” says Tania who intends to put some German inspired fare on the menu as soon as she takes delivery of a “flash new oven.”
New ideas are something the Gillanders aren’t short of and a visit to this bakery is always satisfying.
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