The D’souza family, owners of smallgoods shop Trunkey Bacon & Pork in Orange, NSW, share the decisions they made during COVID-19 lockdown, which eventually saw their popular business emerge stronger than ever.
WHEN COVID-19 HIT, THE D’SOUZA FAMILY FEARED THE WORST FOR THEIR 20-YEAR-OLD SMALLGOODS BUSINESS. BUT SMART THINKING SAVED THEIR BACON – AND THEIR POPULAR CHRISTMAS HAMS.
WIND THE CLOCK BACK TO 1992, and imagine a farm out in
Trunkey Creek, NSW, recently bought by a pair of newlyweds.
With her new husband, Fred, away for 14 hours a day working shifts at the local mine, Zanzie D’souza was getting lonely at that isolated farm. “So my dad bought her a pig as a friend,” says their daughter, Bec. “Her name was Mary.”
The D’souzas bred from Mary and soon they had a thriving piggery. But then came the Millennium Drought, which saw Fred and Zanzie struggling to feed the pigs. “After about five or six years of only growing the pigs and selling them to the abattoir, they decided to start their own smallgoods business to cut out the middleman. And that’s how Trunkey was born,” explains Bec.
Trunkey Bacon & Pork turned 20 in March this year – and its 20th year of business has been its most eventful by far. “When COVID-19 happened, I remember the panic on Mum’s face,” says Bec. “We thought, ‘What are we going to do here?’ One avenue of our business is the markets, which had all shut down, and another avenue is wholesale for restaurants and cafes, and they were all closed, too.”
So, Fred and Zanzie conferred with Bec and her fiancé, Brenton Woolley (pictured above), who has been working at Trunkey for two years. Together, they opened an online shop and started contactless home delivery for Sydney customers who couldn’t buy their meat at the markets. “We had to think outside the box,” says Bec. “It worked so well – I couldn’t believe the support from Sydney people.”
Now, with markets back up and running, the D’souzas have stopped home deliveries, but demand at their shop is still on the up (particularly with the Christmas rush for their famous hams). Bec believes some things will never be the same. “People’s mindsets have changed,” she says. “They’re now asking if something is Australian first, and the price is the second question. It is a premium product … but it is Australian and we pride ourselves on that.”
Not only are their products all-aussie, they’re proudly all-orange (and all D’souza), too. “There are only five of us: Mum and Dad, me and Brenton, and our butcher,” says Bec of their paddock-toplate offerings. “I’ve always helped Mum and Dad.
I started out making bacon and egg rolls at the market in Orange, and as soon as I could drive, they said, ‘Off you go, here’s the keys, go do some markets!’”
Essentially, little has changed since those days. “It’s a real family thing. Dad still works on the farm, growing the pigs, and Brenton makes the sausages and salamis and processes the bacon. I run the shop, and Mum and
I do the books. Oh, and my granny does the occasional market!” And that’s how it’s going to stay. “If you get too big, that’s when the quality can slip,” reflects Bec. “We’d rather make sure we’re proud of everything we’re sending out, and people are happy with it.”
Thankfully, they are. “In Orange, you can’t say ‘Trunkey’ without someone saying, ‘I love your bacon’ or ‘We always get your ham for Christmas.’ Orange is a great community for that kind of support.”
Although COVID-19 put paid to the D’souzas’ planned 20th-birthday celebration, they’ve decided simply to postpone the party. “So, in March we’ll celebrate our 21st birthday,” explains Bec. “Mum and Dad have worked really hard and we’re so proud of Trunkey.”
Visit Trunkey Bacon & Pork at trunkey.com.au