Tasty success for piemaker
IF the state of our economy sometimes l eaves a bad taste i n your mouth, this gobsmacking succe ss stor y i s sure to whet your appetite.
The Outback Pie Co. in Bohle began making pies for one simple reason: they c o u l d n’ t f i n d a p i e o n t h e m a r k e t chunky enough to really satisf y a fair dinkum Aussie hunger.
So t hey st ar te d baking pie s t hemselves, ones they say are so beefy they brand them. It’s not some sort of meaty metaphor.
The Outback Pie Co. literally brands the pastry lid on their pies so you know you’re getting t he chunkiest, t astie st Aussie pies on the market.
“We star ted with a quality produc t and a strategy to build the brand of the Outback Pie Co. ,” said Milo Gaffney, who started the business 14 years ago.
“Following that we built our distribution network to become a national supplier over the last 14 years, providing products to businesses like BP ser vice s t a t i o n s , Vi l l a g e Ro a d s h o w t h e me parks and ot her c ontrac t c ustomers across the country.”
It ’s a distribution network that has also expanded internationally, with clients i n Papua New Guinea, t he Solomon I s l a n d s a n d a n u mber o f o t h e r countries.
With such a clear business strategy f rom t he get - go, i t ’s no s ur pri s e t hat Milo wasn’t always a pie maker.
“My background i s working wit h brand advertising agencies,” he said.
“After working in the UK for five or six years, I came back to Australia and saw a good opportunity in the pie business. I was sick of what I was doing so I just went for it.”
While living in the UK, Milo met his Danish wife Camilla Jorgensen. The pair now works together in the familyr un Outback Pie Co., a busine ss t hey star ted from sc ratch that has recently added Woolworths to their impressive list of clients.
“Woolwor t hs ac t uall y c ame t o us and aske d us t o put our produc t i nto Woolworths under what they call their ‘ local sourcing’ strategy,” he said.
“It ’s a st r ateg y where t hey l ook to local suppliers within the area to supply t hei r produc t s t o s t or e s . We worke d with Woolworths on a range of prod- uc t s which t hey ac c e pte d a nd we’ r e now supplying to all the Woolworths store s throughout the Townsville region.”
If the range of Outback Pie Co. produc ts proves succe ssful i n l ocal Woolworths stores, Milo hopes his pies will then be supplied to stores throughout Queensland and even ac ross t he nation.
You c an f i nd The Outback Pie Co. range of pies in the frozen pie section of your local Woolworths.
Each box contains two chunky pies from their Bakehouse Classic s range, including flavours such as their tender r ump steak pie and the mouth- watering rump steak, bacon and cheese.
Other l i psmacking f avourite s i nclude pepper steak, beef and peas, and a good old- fashioned cottage pie.
T h e Out b a c k P i e Co . a l s o b a ke s sausage rolls, t raditional pastie s and t heir new brekky hunger- buster of a beef, bacon and whole egg pie.
To find out more, visit the outbackpieco. com. au or drop i nto your l ocal Woolworths and tr y one of their great Aussie pies for yourself.