There aren’t many bakeries where you’ll pass the owner giving away free perfectly engineered bread on the street, but at Ned’s Bake, things are done a little bit differently. And a focus on high-quality products that are left to speak for themselves via word-of-mouth marketing is just the start of it.

Aeroplanes and bread may not have much in common, but that hasn’t stopped former aircraft engineer Ned Radjocic from making big waves in the Melbourne foodie scene from the first day he opened the doors to Ned’s Bake in early 2017.

A passion for good food done well and quality service has seen the South Yarra-based bakery quickly garner rave reviews; however, according to Ned, hard work and homework lies at the crux of Ned’s Bake’s success.

At 27 years old, Ned made the move from his hometown of Naples, Italy, to Melbourne, where necessity forced him to transition from his career as an aircraft engineer to hospitality. Those early days saw him start off at the bottom of the ladder carrying food at an Italian restaurant in Carlton. However, bit by bit he began to work his way up, going on to become a restaurant manager and eventually buying and selling restaurants before transitioning into catering. But after 16 years in the industry, Ned decided he’d had enough and moved back into engineering.

“I became a partner with a man who had been the director of Boeing for a number of years, so we formed a company and worked together,” Ned says.

But, as the saying goes, you can’t escape your destiny, and it wasn’t long before the lure of bread became too strong. Ned sold his share of the partnership and began putting plans in place for his own bakery.

“It was very hard for me to go back into engineering, but I thought I missed the intellectual stimulation it provided. However, I quickly realised my real passion was for food, and I’m a great believer that you have to do what you love to do. It was hard initially to swap from food to engineering, but going back to food? That wasn’t hard at all,” he says.

“I come from a part of the world where bread is a big thing. Bread, for me, is the absolute base of every meal. After I decided to go ahead with opening a bakery, I needed to go and find the very best bread in the world.

“I was sampling breads around the world trying to figure out what I was looking for. I went to Italy, France, Copenhagen and California. When I had found what I was looking for, I began to look for bakers who could make those high-quality products.”

A stickler for doing his homework, Ned scoured Melbourne to find the perfect location before hitting up connections for staff recommendations. His search took him to Berlin, where he secured Australian-born Timothy Baker—who has previously worked with Noisette and Baker D.Chirico—and American master baker Benjamin Tugwell.

Tim and Ben’s work on the bakery’s range began last August, starting with the mother dough, while Ned set out to personally design and construct the perfect space where backpackers could comfortably sit next to suited-up corporate types.

Boasting a simple, contemporary design, Ned says the plan was to keep things simple so as not to detract from the food offering.

“It’s got a concrete floor, a few concrete beams and a steel structure inside, and on the other side is 50-year-old brickwork. I didn’t want to touch it too much because that’s a beautiful architectural feature,” Ned explains.

“We polished the floor and then built the bar and the kitchen out the back. That’s it. I didn’t want to overdo it. I wanted a very bland interior so the bakery’s products could speak for themselves.”

From the second you enter Ned’s Bake, you know your tastebuds are in for a special experience. Baskets of Italian and French-style bread are suspended on ropes or tied to mesh frames in the windows, and colourful displays of buns, tarts and pastries—including the signature pistachio croissant—line the display cabinets.

“We do a variety of products rather than a classic range,” Ned explains.

“The only thing we make that everyone else will make is croissants, because I love pastry and we benchmark ourselves against everyone else.

“But, for example, instead of doing an almond croissant we do a pistachio croissant. We try to surprise the customer and do something new each week. Something that will make them go, ‘Wow, what is this?’”

Another standout item is the green olive grissini. Each new product goes through a rigorous testing process before it’s placed on the bench, with Ned—who says he has a natural affinity for food—making the final call.

Reiterating his desire to let the quality of the product speak for itself, Ned has forgone the typical investment in a marketing strategy, instead choosing to stand out the front of his bakery and hand out free bread to passers-by.

“We opened the doors and for the first few weeks we were just baking, and I was giving some of it away,” he explains.

“I didn’t go out and scream ‘look at me, look at me’ with advertising because the ultimate test is the reaction you get when a customer breaks the perfectly engineered bread and tastes it. Straight away you get a yes or a no.

“I wanted to fill up the counter with the best bread, pastries and staff, and hopefully people try it and keep coming back. That’s very rewarding.”

The menu doesn’t simply begin and end with the bread and pastries—there’s breakfast, lunch and dinner on the menu as well.

As with the bakery, the focus is on producing tasty, real food that’s also a bit different from traditional café fare.

“I already had a vision of the breakfast menu. Then I sat down with my chef, who has previously worked at Vue de Monde, to work it out. I wanted a menu that was a bit different and wasn’t just pastries full of blueberries. We’ve had a great response and, after only being open for four months, that’s not bad,” Ned says.

Admitting it can be difficult to balance the two sides of the business at times, Ned and his team haven’t backed away from the challenge, and are producing top-notch breakfasts such as mascarpone pancakes served with coconut ice cream, strawberries and balsamic vinegar, and Neapolitan pizzas for lunch and dinner.

“Overall, my motto is that quality and service should speak for themselves, and I’m really trying to make a point of providing both at Ned’s Bake,” Ned says.

“People have forgotten the meaning of hospitality means being hospitable to people—making them welcome. I’ve chosen a fantastic team and that’s what we do. We’re happy to see people and we’re happy to look after them.”