Bakery’s on the rise
LA Madre Bakery is positioned for continued growth after bedding down its relocation into a state-ofthe-art boutique bakery in South Geelong that doubled its capacity.
While the summer holiday period was quieter than expected, in part due to the bushfire crisis, the wholesale bakery has set record production levels in the past three months.
Moving to a 1200sq m Fyans St site two years ago has not only given La Madre more room for its staff, it’s also given the business room to grow.
Managing director Tez Kemp said the growth in the business had justified a relocation involving an investment of about $2 million in equipment and fit-out costs.
“We needed more space to cater for the continued demand but we wanted to create the capacity for potential opportunities down the track,” Mr Kemp said.
“While it was a big step moving into here, there’s a long-term vision in where we want to get to.”
Mr Kemp said the award-winning wholesale bakery was operating at about 60 per cent capacity but he was confident the trend towards healthy, artisan-made produce — and the cafe culture that supported it — would continue to drive demand.
A key ingredient in La Madre’s approach is to maintain and promote its brand backstory as a sustainable and ethically conscious business.
It uses like-minded suppliers such as Wholegrain Milling Co and St David Dairy and it has also offset a tripling in its energy use with the move to a larger factory by installing more than 250 solar panels. Installed about a year ago, the panels have cut energy bills by a third.
Wastage is minimised by baking to order, a valuable exercise managed through an investment in online ordering platform Ordermentum which gives the bakery and its 450 clients greater control and visibility of the ordering process. Any leftover bread is donated to charity.
With its complementary range of products in different sizes and styles, the bakery produces more than 200 lines.
“Our unique selling proposition is that we offer a full suite of baked products,” Mr Kemp said. “We are not a one-stop shop because we can’t be all things to all people but we do offer high-quality products and exceptional customer service.”
Now it has the room, part of the future at La Madre could be adding a complementary arm or adding a new business.
“We are actively looking to grow,” Mr Kemp said.
“We will start to have conversations with people about whether we acquire a business to bring into here.”
Distributing throughout Victoria, about 60 per cent of its business is in Melbourne, which includes being the lead bakery for David Jones stores.
“We partner with customers that have got strategic growth plans as well because that helps support our business,” Mr Kemp said. “That has definitely been a successful part of what we do.”
Mr Kemp and wife Anna bought La Madre in 2006 when it employed about six people. It now employs 42.
“We have been careful not to expand too quickly,” Mr Kemp said.
“The market has dictated increases year on year because there’s more cafes around and people wanting to use high-quality baked goods in their offering.”