Jay Patey never set out to establish a Tasmanian baking institution, however, that’s exactly what he and his business partner, Emma Choraziak-Patey have done with Pigeon Whole Bakers.

In a foodie haven like Tasmania, carving out a name for your business is never going to be an easy feat. But for Jay Patey and his business partner, Emma Choraziak-Patey, their dedication to producing quality goods has seen them do just that with Hobart institution Pigeon Whole Bakers.

The duo opened their first café, Pigeon Hole Café, back in 2008, which was built solidly around the paninis that were made in-house each day. It was during this time that Jay said he first fell in love with the art of baking, eventually progressing to making sourdough using a wood-fired oven before moving back to a more commercial-style model of baking.

“That was back in 2011. That was when I got a bit more serious and realised bread was what I wanted to stick with and what I wanted to do and wanted to scale,” Jay said, adding although he’s always worked in hospitality, he’s self-taught when it comes to baking.

After selling the café, Jay and Emma initially decided to continue on with the wholesaling arm of their business, but on Sundays would open the doors to the first iteration of Pigeon Whole Bakers so their local suburban community could buy fresh doughnuts and loaves of bread.

Their reputation for high quality products grew, and with it the need to open a permanent retail space. The business was moved to Hobart CBD 11 years ago, where to this day it still operates as Pigeon Whole Bakers’ permanent pastry kitchen. As the business grew the retail and bread production was moved to a purpose-built facility in Moonah, about 10 minutes’ drive away.

Jay said moving Pigeon Whole Bakers into the city was a big step for them, but it’s one that has more than paid off.

Jay Patey

Building a reputation

In the years since the move, the bakery’s product range has shifted to encompass a solid Viennoisserie in addition to the bread selection that helped establish its reputation.

“In the early days we were just bread – think long fermented sourdough loaves – and we had a few variations of that,” Jay said.

“Now, our most popular loaf is a stone ground sourdough, which is partially stoneground flour with a little bit of whole wheat flour and roller milled flour. It’s a classic.

“The next biggest seller now is definitely our Viennoisserie – the croissant range. We supply a lot of croissants and variations of croissants through our retail shop in the city, and all throughout the state of Tasmania now.”

As the Pigeon Whole Bakers’ name has grown, so has demand for its products. Eight years ago an in-store bakery was opened in the Hill Street Grocer in Devonport, in the state’s north.

Beyond removing the need to transport their goods three hours on a daily basis, Jay said it also had proved to be a nice addition to their Hobart-based businesses.

“Logistically it didn’t make sense for us to be driving bread that far daily,” he said.

“We put an in-store bakery within their flagship store in Devonport, and are now distributed out of all their IGA stores in Tasmania. It’s been a really nice addition, and it’s nice for the customers to have fresh bread coming out of the oven when the store opens every morning.”

Jay admits that in order for Pigeon Whole Bakers to carve out a niche for itself in the Tasmanian food scene the bakery had to step up to the plate from the get-go.

“We knew we had to step up to the mark. We wanted to play in the A league and so we had to do the best possible products we could come up with,” he said.

“But, we’ve also got quite a humble, organic approach to what we do. We exceeded our original growth expectations pretty quickly and with a little bit of surprise. Whatever we do seems to be received by the locals and community really well.”

Pigeon Whole Bakers

The right people

A vital aspect of this process, Jay said, was ensuring he surrounded himself with the right team.

Since first opening its doors Pigeon Whole Bakers has since grown to employ 65 staff and Jay said he makes a concerted effort to guarantee everyone in the bakery is considered and well looked after.

“The [baking] industry’s quite subject to burnout, and people not staying in the industry for long periods of time,” he said.

“To counter this, we’ve worked hard over the years to move our bread production to more favourable times of the day, so we can retain good quality staff. We basically flipped our operation around and, without compromising on our end product or end quality, we moved our mixing, dough shaping and production time into the daytime.”

Jay said this looks like having the mixing person clocking on at 5.30am before the rest of the mixing team arrive at 8.30am to work a standard 8.30am-4.30pm shift.

“That’s when the majority of the shaping and cutting and the grunt work of what we have to do is done. We’ve got a team that come in the early evening and start baking everything, which is all done by midnight and then packed for the delivery drivers, who start at 3am,” he said.

“There are a few crews that still have to do the early mornings. Here, the pastry team start in the morning, but it’s not everyone. The main production is happening somewhat in daylight hours.

“It’s a lot more favourable for the team and their wellbeing, which has been really important for us to consider because there’s some really great people in the team. It’s just a matter of what we can do to keep them in the industry and retain them.”

Bread is one of the bakery’s staples

In a modern twist, this has also included setting firm boundaries around his staff being filmed while on shift.

With its visually appealing classic interior design, it didn’t take long for Pigeon Whole Bakers to become a popular background for social media influencers. However it’s proved to be something of a double-edged sword for the business as it meant that although the Pigeon Whole Bakers name was being put out there, Jay’s staff were finding themselves in the line of fire of cameras pointed in their direction each day.

Jay said although for the most part it was harmless, something still had to be drawn to protect his staff.

“People just lose all consciousness of what they’re doing. They pull their phone out of their pocket and, without even thinking, start filming all sorts of things and we weren’t sure about their intent. It was just a bit odd,” he said.

“The staff became uncomfortable, and I had to support my staff. So, we had that conversation and it was really positively received to be honest. I didn’t have one bit of negative criticism over that.”

With so much already achieved, it would be easy for Jay and the Pigeon Whole Bakers to rest easy. However, the coming months will see a fourth addition to the Pigeon Whole Bakers business opening its doors.

Jay said the new site would be a smaller pastry shop, located just three blocks away from Pigeon Whole Bakers HQ, which would focus predominantly on savoury pastries and, of course, a solid coffee offering.

“It’s a really small site, but all the pastries will be proved and baked at the shop, and it will have the theatrics of continuous baking throughout the day,” he said.

“We’re in the last stages of planning. We’re hoping to have it underway by November.”