A heated legal standoff between two major players in Australia’s baking industry has ended with Nonna’s Bakehouse ordered to pay more than $783,000 to its flour supplier, Ben Furney Flour Mills, after the court dismissed claims of ruined bread and financial losses.

The NSW Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Dubbo-based flour mill last week, rejecting Nonna’s Bakehouse’s $2.5 million countersuit alleging that “inconsistent” flour had caused its bread quality to plummet.

Instead, Justice Kelly Ann Rees found the bakery owed $783,178 in unpaid invoices from 2022, plus interest and legal fees.

Nonna’s Bakehouse, known for supplying baked goods to national chains including Woolworths, Aldi, and Harris Farm, had accused the mill of providing flour that made bread sticky and overly water absorbent.

But the court found that the real changes began internally, when Nonna’s head baker resigned in late 2021 and was replaced by production manager Jorge Gironda.

During the trial, the bakery’s director, Francesco Sergi, was found to have told Mr Gironda to return to the bakery’s original recipe—one that skipped the prior baker’s practice of adjusting dough consistency with added gluten or malt.

“Mr Sergi appears to have taken the opportunity of a change of baker to return to the baker’s original recipe,” the judge noted.

Despite multiple meetings and test runs, Ben Furney Flour Mills reported no quality issues with its flour.

The judge was unconvinced by the bakery’s claims of damage. Financial records showed that Nonna’s sales had surged 45 per cent from 2019 to 2023.

“Whatever is said to have been wrong with the flour provided by the miller, it does not appear to have affected sales,” she stated.

The case ends a two-year dispute that saw flour deliveries halted and legal bills rise—leaving Nonna’s with a bitter aftertaste and a hefty tab to pay.